Hydrometer Readings: What do Mine mean?

[EthanDH]

I've been brewing for three years now and I finally decided to use a hydrometer again. I put it in my wort at the required temp. 65 degrees. Here are my numbers...
Balling: The side that starts at zero and has the largest space between it incriments. Its goes by fives.
My number: 5
Specific Gravity: On mine it starts at .99.
My number: 1.16 ish
Potential alcohol: Goes from zero and in incriments of one.
My number: 2

So balling is 5, SG is 1.16, and potential alcohols is 2.
Here is my recipe. 5 gallons
American Wheat:
Briess Golden light DME. 3lbs
Gambrinus honey malt. 1 lbs
Briess Bavarian Wheat DME. 2 lbs
1 oz hellertau
1 oz saaz
White Labs WLP 320
According to my recipe my numbers should read as follows...
OG 1.040
Fg 1.008.
I don;t know what my numbers mean in respect to what the recipe calls for them to be. Am I low? Am I high? Potential Alcohol of 2%? I need help with these numbers and maybe an explanation of how mine are not similar. Thank you to whoever lends some wisdom on this.

 

[devilishprune]

Okay, so at what stage is your beer? Did you just brew it? Has it been fermenting a while?

No matter, it will NOT be 1.160 gravity no matter what, not with those extracts. Did you mean 1.016?

Don't really pay attention to the potential alcohol scale, based on your specific gravity you can determine you ABV. The main scale you should be concerned with is the gravity scale, as long as you're brewing beer anyway. Since you used all extract, you can calculate your original gravity, and since (I assume) you measured your specific gravity after fermentation, you can use this to calculate your ABV.

Your original gravity (OG) is a density measurement of your wort compared to distilled water. It basically measures how much fermentable sugars you have. Your FG (final gravity) is a measure of how much sugar you have left after fermentation, taking into account that the presence of ethanol is going to lower this number (ethanol is less dense than water). Your ABV should be between like 3.5-4.5. Search for a calculator in google and you'll be golden.

Your FG in this case is high (IF your fermentation is complete), but that's to be expected with extract, which usually finishes at about 1.020.

Hope that helps some.

 

[EthanDH]

It was 1.016 and I did it right before I pitched the yeast

 

[EthanDH]

If it will finish around 1.020 and my OG is 1.016 how does your gravity increase with fermentation? Seems kinda cockeyed to me.

 

[goose1873]

what have you been using for the last three years? refractometer?

 

[EthanDH]

I used a hydrometer for a bit but when my readings continually came out well off of what they should have been I ditched it. Any thoughts on my numbers though?

 

[Yooper]

I used a hydrometer for a bit but when my readings continually came out well off of what they should have been I ditched it. Any thoughts on my numbers though?

Those numbers don't make a bit of sense.

I wonder, when you brewed, did you use some water at the end to top off the fermenter? Your reading of 1.016 seems like it's almost all water, and closer to what an "end" reading after fermentation would be.

With those ingredients, you should have had an OG of 1.040. That's what the kit says, and the sugars don't disappear. But if you didn't mix up the water and wort very well, you may have taken more water than wort into the sample and got a false reading.

You can ignore the brix/balling and the potential alcohol scales. They aren't really useful for our style of brewing. Winemakers use them but they don't give you the easiest info like the Specific Gravity scale does.

 

[EthanDH]

You got it yooper. I topped off with about a half gallon of water to get my full five gallons.

 

[Yooper]

You got it yooper. I topped off with about a half gallon of water to get my full five gallons.

Well, that happens often. You can plan on your OG being 1.040. When fermentation is finished, another reading will give you your FG. Fermentation mixes up the wort very well, because of all the churning, so you don't have to worry about it. Your next reading will be much easier!