Never panic until the FG reading is in...

[jtmwhyte]

I brewed a batch of Edwort`s Kolsch a couple of weeks ago using saaz as my flavouring hop. Evertyhing went well on my brew day and hit temps and volume dead on. To my surprise my cooled OG reading was 1.034 (10 points lower than expected). I was convinced that I`d have a tasty 3% session ale around for the summer, but not in the abv range I wanted. Fast forward to today. I took a hydro reading and it hit 1.002! I guess pitching that slurry from my last batch got them working overtime. That is some crazy yeasty action right there! Ironically this will land me in my +-4% target range. The moral for newer brewers out there is not to panic about low OG. RDWHAHB

 

[pelipen]

Don't panic, but know how to compensate. 10 points in your case is nearly 25%. You would probably want to adjust hops if you don't adjust gravity. A FG that low will be more dry as well, likely accentuating the hops. I wouldn't use ABV as your go-by. But, if you like the product, it's still beer, so...

My kolsch is having a hard time staying in the keg.

 

[brewit2it]

I would think the moral of the story is cheap LHBS hydrometers aren't exactly precision scientific testing equipment. Taking a guess here but It sounds like the paper sleeve in yours shifted so both readings were inaccurate but the delta (which is what you need to measure ABV) remained the same so it's all good in the end.

 

[brewski08]

I would think the moral of the story is cheap LHBS hydrometers aren't exactly precision scientific testing equipment. Taking a guess here but It sounds like the paper sleeve in yours shifted so both readings were inaccurate but the delta (which is what you need to measure ABV) remained the same so it's all good in the end.

+1

take a gravity reading of water. if it's significantly less than 1.00, time to get a new hydrometer.

 

[Fid]

i would think the moral of the story is cheap lhbs hydrometers aren't exactly precision scientific testing equipment. Taking a guess here but it sounds like the paper sleeve in yours shifted so both readings were inaccurate but the delta (which is what you need to measure abv) remained the same so it's all good in the end.

+1

take a gravity reading of water. If it's significantly less than 1.00, time to get a new hydrometer.

+2

Think these guys may have hit the nail on the head here.