Is this it?

[ChuckinWA]

Hi Gents, new brewer here. Great forum here BTW.

I just fermented my 3rd batch, an extract IPA. I decided to try dry hopping it, so after about 10 days in the fermenter I added 1 oz of hops. While I had the lid off I took a gravity reading, and was pretty disappointed. My OG was 1.036 and the reading after 10 days was only 1.015. I had expected more, was I wrong? It tasted pretty bland. Here's the specifics:

1 Can LME (4 lbs of John Bull, if memory serves)
2 lbs amber DME
1 packet of dry yeast, rehydrated (it came with the can of LME)
Fermented in my basement at a constant 69 degrees. It had what looked to be a good start to fermentation, starting within 12 hours and bubbling at about 1 per second for 2 days or so.

After I took my latest gravity reading, I swirled it around and put it in another room, which is a little warmer at about 72 degrees. That was 3 days ago. When I get home this weekend, I'll take another gravity reading. At that time, it will have been about 2 1/2 weeks since brew day.

Finally, here's my question. If the gravity remains as before, what can I do? I assume the yeast is my problem, but it had such a nice start to fermentation I can't be certain. Shall I pitch some fresh yeast? More this time? How about my temperature - I thought a 69 degree room would be perfect. Thanks gents, I hope i can save my beer!

 

[Picobrew]

What brand of yeast was it? If it was a kit yeast, it might have had some pretty dead cells. You could pitch some more yeast, and if you want to finish very dry, you should select some very attenuative yeast. I have finished a couple beers with nottingham. Others might be able to provide you more advice here. Even adding more yeast, it might be hard to get it below 1.015. 1.036 is a kind of low starting gravity, is that what the kit said the gravity should be?

Let us know when you take a reading.

 

[Shooter]

Please tell me that was a can of hopped extract!!!

 

[ifishsum]

If it's still at 1.015 this weekend I'd probably call it done. Chances are it was the yeast, IMO those kits don't come with the greatest yeast and it's usually advisable to use a fresh package of US-05, Nottingham or something else. But at this point it's questionable whether pitching another yeast will change much. And don't make any judgments about the taste at 10 days, it will be much different after more time and bottle conditioning.

As far as temps, your 69 is fine if not maybe a little high. If the room was 69, your beer was fermenting in the 70s because fermentation creates some heat. I try to keep my ales fermenting in the 64 range if I can (beer temp), and they still finish up just fine. I really don't think your temps are the reason it finished at 1.015.

I vote to bottle it up at the 3 week mark (or longer) and see how it is after a few weeks in the bottle. You'll have a different beer on your hands, and you'll probably be pleasantly surprised.

 

[ChuckinWA]

Thanks for the quick replys guys. Yes it was kit yeast, yes it was a hopped extract, and I'm embarassed to say I have no idea what the kit said the OG should be!

I'll post again after my next reading this weekend. So Ifishsum, you really don't think I should pitch more yeast? I figured it may help at least a little bit. If not, I'll follow your advise and give it some time and hope for the best. If it doesn't work out, we'll chalk this batch up to learning experience!

 

[mc_eric]

That seems like a really low OG for an IPA, but the FG seems about right. I would say the beer is done fermenting and you just have some really weak IPA.

Just my opinion.

 

[ajf]

I'd also wager that you didn't mix the wort and top off water sufficiently when you took the OG. With 4 lbs LME and 2 lbs DME, you would have an OG of about 1.047 (assuming a 5g batch). With extract, it isn't really possible to miss the OG if you end up with the right volume.

-a.

 

[annasdadhockey]

I would say you got a bad reading for the OG. The wort was probably not mixed well with the top off water(I'm assuming that you did not do a full boil), so your OG was probably actually higher.

EDIT: Damn, ajf beat me to it...gotta type faster

 

[HillbillyDeluxe]

+1 to what you have been told thus far. Your original OG was incorrect, sorta hard to screw up gravity with extract kits. Here are a couple of suggestions that might make all your brews better in the future.
1. Do full boils if you have the equipment. Prevents this gravity reading problem.
2. If you full boil do your LME add last and in the last 30 min of the boil.(Reduces twang).
3. And i believe most importantly. Relax, it's gonna be beer. i dont even take a gravity reading for 3 weeks(Exept on my 10 day Wit) and if i bottle i dont try the first one for a month.

Enjoy your brew.

 

[ifishsum]

Honestly, I don't think re-pitching yeast usually solves anything (unless the original yeast was completely dead). Here's why - the first yeast you pitched would have multiplied in numbers by several times before it started fermenting the beer, so a package of new yeast is only adding a small number of cells compared to what's already in there - and they can't really multiply significantly because there's no oxygen left, and very little sugar left to eat.

I also think that you probably had a higher OG than you measured, it's a common problem with topping off. I think you'll end up with good beer if you see it through and stop worrying too much about it. It's very common for new brewers to fret too much about their beers and try to fix something that wasn't really amiss. Hence the term, RDWHAHB (Relax, Don't Worry, Have A Home Brew).

Cheers!

 

[Sithdad]

They've got it right with the top-off water problem. I just did that to my last kit, a Belgian Wit. My OG came out as a 1.035 when it should have been 1.06. I figured that just adding the water would have been enough action to stir them together. I let it ferment out and the FG was right on the money. I just bottled it 3 weeks ago and just drank my first one on Labor Day. Still needs some time to condition, but it was good. Now, the Bavarian Wheat I bottled over a month ago is JUST getting good, and I have 12 left.
Patience really is an important ingredient to home brewing. You'll fully understand that once you've drank nearly all of your beer while it was still green and then you'll drink one that is 1-2 months old and you'll be like, "why did I drink it so soon!"

 

[ChuckinWA]

Thanks again to all. I actually did a full wart boil, so maybe I screwed up my reading some other way. I'm gonna do as suggested, and RDWHAHB! (I had been wondering what that stood for).

 

[Vuarra]

-1 for doing a full boil on a pre-hopped kit. I understand that the OP is adding more hops, but in pre-hopped, all that has been done. Boil the water, add bittering hops to the boiling water and any additional DME or LME, follow boiling schedules for that, let it cool slightly, heat up the can and add it to the wort. Boil everything else but the extract that is pre-hopped.

 

[Hang Glider]

It is also possible that the brands of DME/LME you used had higher unfermentables than other brands. That would give you a higher finishing number than you wanted.

You might consider alternate brands of the extracts, adding your own hops, and choosing your own yeast - these might get your numbers closer to what you anticipated.

Welcome to HBT!

RDWHAHB comes from Charlie Papazian's book - it's a good read even though somewhat dated.

 

[broadbill]

Two things:

Did you adjust for temperature when you took your OG?

As far as the blandness...you used a pre-hopped LME, did it specifically say to add the 2lbs amber DME? IIRC (its been awhile since I used those canned kits) those are supposed to be used "as is". I wonder if you would have had an IPA, but diluted out the bitterness by adding the extra DME. Just a thought...

 

[ChuckinWA]

Update:

I took another gravity reading tonight which showed a little more change, from 1.014 about a week ago, to 1. 011 today. I went ahead and kegged it after 22 days in the primary. The sample tasted better also (which may have been due to the dry hopping). We'll see what the final product is like.

Broadbill: actually I did NOT adjust for temp (I should read my hydrometer directions more closely I guess). In each case, the beer was about 70* F. I got the idea to add the extra DME from the local homebrew shop when I brewed my first beer. The guy said it would give some extra body. I suppose I took his advise to mean I should add extra DME to ALL of my extract brews, which probably isn't the case. At any rate, my first beer tasted much like flavored water anyway.

I did notice something strange when racking into the keg tonight though, which I haven't seen before (keep in mind this is my 3rd brew). I got A LOT of air bubbles appearing in the line. I HOPE that this was CO2 coming out of soloution. My other idea for a possible cause was a poor seal on my tubing which was allowing some outside air into the line. I didn't find any obvious leaks, nor did I hear any "sucking sound" when I put my ear up to it anywhere , so hopefully this was not the case. I also kegged my 4th beer immediately afterwards (a nut brown extract) using the same tubing, but did not have the same phenomenon. Ideas?

 

[northernlad]

You guys are legendary at talking us noobs off a ledge.

 

[Vuarra]

Chuck... good call. Not always does dissolved CO2 become fizzy in the container, but with the changing pressures during racking and siphoning, that's when it comes out of solution.

Hopefully you've followed the idea that your beer should have the same SG for at least three days before conditioning (granted it's a lot harder to have a bottle bomb in a keg... but I've seen worse). In general, you'll be fine.

 

[HillbillyDeluxe]

WOW! I remember when i was that paranoid! Experience will dull that bro. PAAAAATTTTIIIEEENNCE!!!!!!!!