Gravity/ABV Question

[PhoenixCoyote]

Hello,
I made the AHS Anniversary English Pale Ale. Reading has been the same the last 2 days, so transfered to secondary. I used the Danstar Windsor British Style dry yeast, since there was no advice as to what kind of dry yeast to use.

For this extract kit, OG is 1.051, FG is 1.014. Mine was 1.058 and 1.019. I also used the Brew vent abv boost for an extra 1%. The kit did not say what the ABV should be, but with the gravity given for it, it works out to 4.8. My final ABV is 5.10. This was the first time i used the brew vent, vint? I can see it did not raise it 1%, not even half of that.

Has anybody else used this extra boost? and if so, did it raise a whole 1%? Did i do something wrong? I know my primary was fermented at a higher temp., which i found out a couple days later. 78-80. Only other thing i put in my boil was irish moss, and i did put the vent in while boiling.

One more thing, i had to make this in 2 pots, if that matters. Thanks!

 

[MalFet]

All that abv boosters do is add a little bit of extra sugar to raise your OG with fermentables. I am assuming that the 1.058 was measured after you added the booster? You can estimate your actual ABV as a function of the difference your OG and FG, and in the case of this beer your final gravity didn't come in as low as the recipe predicted it would. So, without the booster, your gravity would have been more in the neighborhood of 4.1-4.3%.

FG is always just an estimate, but you might want to look into your fermentation temperature control and pitching rates.

 

[PhoenixCoyote]

All that abv boosters do is add a little bit of extra sugar to raise your OG with fermentables. I am assuming that the 1.058 was measured after you added the booster? You can estimate your actual ABV as a function of the difference your OG and FG, and in the case of this beer your final gravity didn't come in as low as the recipe predicted it would. So, without the booster, your gravity would have been more in the neighborhood of 4.1-4.3%.

FG is always just an estimate, but you might want to look into your fermentation temperature control and pitching rates.

Hi, thanks for your reply. Yes, the 1.058 was after i added the booster. I was hoping for the 5.8% with the booster for a final abv. But as you said, the FG was not as the kit quoted. Thanks.

 

[Lumberg1]

It looks like it didn't attenuate fully. Did you re-hydrate the dry yeast before you pitched it? If not you probably killed off a good portion of your yeast, making them use more of their energy reproducing instead of making you delicious alcohol. ALWAYS re-hydrate dry yeast, no matter what it says on the package. It's not hard at all and it will save you headaches down the road.