Missed FG, and kegged. How can I fix?

[tyhawkins9]

It's been a busy year with a newborn and new house, and to be honest I've I'm piss poor with my timing. Getting that out of the way first!
Brewed a celebration clone BIAB from MOREBEER. Hit a good OG of 1.075, pitched 2 packs of 05, didn't take any further readings with my refractometer, until after I dry hopped and was reading 1.035. Didnt think anything of it and kegged it and washed my fementer. Now I'm realizing I'm significantly short on my fermentation and the beer is too sweet to drink. I'm not sure how this would work, but I'm thinking of bringing the beer back to room temp, adding a spunding valve, and repitching some form of yeast., but not sure if this would work, if there is enough O2 to even restart fermentation etc. Any advice?

 

[odie]

just pull the keg and let it sit at room temp for a while. Shake it up real good to suspense the yeast.

well, since you did not ferment in the keg, there will be very little yeast in the keg. It could start up again but will be lagging or very slow to progress. But there is certainly dormant yeast in the beer.

you could tap a cup of beer out, mix in some fresh yeast, then pour it back in thru the gas post or PRV hole with a small funnel. AFTER de-pressurizing the keg real good first.

See what happens in the next week or so.

 

[day_trippr]

You may actually be in good shape. If you did not apply a correction factor to your refractometer reading you will have an erroneous result.

For example, try this calculator... Refractometer Calculator - Brewer's Friend

Cheers!

 

[DBhomebrew]

Don't touch that beer!

Using your reported gravities, I found their corresponding Brix "equivalents".

Using  those and a standard WCF of 1.04, your FG is 1.013 for an ABV of 8.2%.

https://www.brewersfriend.com/refractometer-calculator/

 

[wdavis2003]

Do not use a refractometer to calculate FG. Sounds like the beer being sweet is all in your head! If you have a hydrometer, take a sample and check FG. Obviously, you would need to de-gas the sample first for an accurate measurement.

 

[DBhomebrew]

Use a refractometer for FG, just use it in conjunction with a calculator.

 

[Miraculix]

Use a refractometer for FG, just use it in conjunction with a calculator.

Refractometer error in alcoholic solution is not linear and differs from wort to wort. At best, a "correction" calculator can bring your into the right direction, but better would be indeed to use a hydrometer.

 

[DBhomebrew]

The refractometer post-pitch debate has been had elsewhere on the forum. For the OP, a beginner on their first batch wondering if their brew is finished fermenting and within range, a refractometer with a calculator is perfectly suitable.

You yourself have admonished me to worry less about 1.012 or 1.013. Judge the beverage in the glass, no?

 

[DBhomebrew]

You may actually be in good shape. If you did not apply a correction factor to your refractometer reading you will have an erroneous result.

For example, try this calculator... Refractometer Calculator - Brewer's Friend

Cheers!

To be clear, this isn't a case of not using the "[wort] correction factor". That only skews the numbers ~4%. This adjusts for different sugar types and proportions thereof. You use this WCF in either Part I or II of the calculator shared.

The problem here is the lack of using a calculator to account for the alcohol. This regularly puts a typical beer's apparent FG in the 1.025-1.030 range. This is the point of Part II. This is not wort specific. The various models are fairly accurate. I'll let someone with more experience take over from here if they so choose. @dmtaylor

 

[day_trippr]

Tell us you didn't know exactly what was meant...

 

[DBhomebrew]

Someone new to these terms might appreciate the clarity.

 

[Miraculix]

The refractometer post-pitch debate has been had elsewhere on the forum. For the OP, a beginner on their first batch wondering if their brew is finished fermenting and within range, a refractometer with a calculator is perfectly suitable.

You yourself have admonished me to worry less about 1.012 or 1.013. Judge the beverage in the glass, no?

Especially a beginner is way better off with the easiest route which would be just to use a hydrometer for everything and be sure about what you read is what you have in front of you.

 

[IslandLizard]

Someone new to these terms might appreciate the clarity.

Let me add some extra clarity, then...

A refractometer measures the light refraction of a sample. IOW, it shows how much the light is bent due to the substances in the test sample. Most (sugar) refractometers are calibrated for a sucrose solution in pure water being the % Brix scale.

Now beer is not just a solution of sucrose in water. It also contains alcohol as well as a percentage of different sugars, such as glucose, maltose, maltotriose, etc.

The mixture of those typical sugars present in wort (or beer) yields a slightly higher refraction index (about 4% higher) than pure sugar (sucrose) does. Since the refractometer's scale is based on % Brix, not wort (or beer), therefore a Wort Correction Factor (WCF) is applied. The WCF of wort (or beer) that's typically used is 1.040 (that reflects the extra 4%). But it could be different depending on the actual wort composition (or the beer) that's being tested.

To complicate matters, the presence of alcohol also skews the reading, because alcohol bends light much more than the sugars do.
Therefore, the amount of alcohol needs to be taken into consideration. This can be accomplished by using a Wort Refraction Index (WRI) calculator with alcohol present, such part II of this one at Brewer's Friend. You simply supply the original wort gravity before fermentation (OG, in % Brix) and the current refraction reading of the (alcohol containing) sample.

 

[dmtaylor]

We can make this complicated, OR...

We can just tell everybody to use Part II of brewersfriend.com.


In this case we can probably get away with the latter.

 

[day_trippr]

Hopefully we can trust the OP to simply read the page I linked before use

Cheers!

 

[Deadalus]

Where does it say the OP is on their first batch? They just say they have a newborn and a new house.

Taking a hydrometer reading would obviate the refractometer discussion. How long did the beer ferment for and was it temperature controlled? Two packs of the yeast into a five gallon batch, is that correct? After you dry hopped is ambiguous in regard to when you took the reading. It could mean immediately after you dropped the hops in but could also mean at the time you were done with the dry hopping and were kegging. Seems the latter but just trying to clarify. I completely understand being frazzled here too. IF it's your first baby, it gets better and they will sleep through the night. (Mostly and eventually)

 

[Deadalus]

I am also seeing US-05 reported as a strong fermenter with good alcohol tolerance.

 

[eliastheodosis]

Okay, not diving into the deep end of the convo but, @tyhawkins9, if you took the reading with a refractomer, got 1.035, and did no correction of that number then the beer is almost surely fine.

If you did taste it then your mind might be playing tricks. I would definitely say that a 1.013 beer at 8.2% would taste a little sweet to my palate. A 1.013 FG is not exactly high but the sweetness from the alcohol and a hefty chunk of crystal in a Celebration clone could make it taste a little sweet at the first sip.

There is some useful info above, for sure. However, if that 1.035 is from a refractometer, you didn't correct it, and the ferment seemed normal then that beer is done. If that's the case and you try to "fix" it then you'd probably be doing more harm than good

 

[dmtaylor]

Rather than guessing what is going on and asking a ton of questions and continuing to argue with each other, maybe we should just wait for the OP to come back. Seeing as how this is his first post in the last 10 years, it could be a while.

 

[tyhawkins9]

Hi all! did not expect that type of response! thank you kindly.

1. Refractometer calculator: holy smokes that makes a difference, did not know I needed to correct after fermentation! Thank you Daytrippr and DBHomebrew
2. Not my first or even 10th batch, but just because I went through the motions of heating up water and putting in barley yeast and hops does not mean I learned anything.
3. This batch was the first time I was able to crush my own grains and used a 200 micron bag and was ecstatic with the results. never been able to get a full 5.5 gallons of clear wort before!
4. First time I've also used my newly ported kettle, so I think I had very little dissolved oxygen in the wort as there was basically zero disruption (read sloshing around)
5. "How long did the beer ferment for and was it temperature controlled?" Fermented for 10 days in a guest bathroom shower, and then dry hopped. It's not temp controlled, but due to child the house is a held around 70ish degrees according to my thermapen.

6. "Two packs of the yeast into a five gallon batch, is that correct?" Yes

7. "After you dry hopped is ambiguous in regard to when you took the reading. It could mean immediately after you dropped the hops in but could also mean at the time you were done with the dry hopping and were kegging." I took the reading after 5 days of dryhopping as it was transferring into the keg

8. Seems the latter but just trying to clarify. I completely understand being frazzled here too. IF it's your first baby, it gets better and they will sleep through the night. I should clarify here, shes now 18 months but its gone by faster than expected and each month is a new form of chaos, but its absolute bliss!

I've pushed the C02 a little harder, and set the johnson controller a bit colder and its starting to really crisp up. I dont post often because I can usually find someone who's asked the question prior, and since I'm a terrible brewer, my comments are more for comedic value which no one ever appreciates anyway.
Thank you all for the input! I'm digging into the calculators now and I should have relaxed and had a home brew. DOH

 

[mac_1103]

They just say they have a newborn and a new house.

Newborn, new house, new beer, new brewer... same difference, right?