Chinook IPA recipe HELP!

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Foellarbear

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Hello brewers! This is my first home brew ever and went with the Chinook IPA recipe. I had a question about specific gravity. I followed the instructions exactly has followed with the recipe. Initial SG: 1.08 (which I thought was high for this beer) and did my final SG: 1.01, which translates to an ABV: 9.19%. So I sampled the beer and by all accounts it takes like it should, of course without the carbonation. Of course I had a couple sips and woah I can really feel the alcohol, ALOT. Am I doing something wrong? I don’t understand why the initial SG was so high. I plan on bottling tomorrow. Any suggestions or recommendations are welcome.

thanks again!
 
What SG did the kit say to expect?

If it was an extract batch you might not have mixed it well enough before taking the SG and picked up a sample with a high concentration of extract. But that should 'even out' during fermentation and not actually end up with higher ABV. Is your volume significantly lower than expected?
 
Extract kit using a partial boil and topping off with 2-3 gallons of water, by chance?

if so, the gravity reading was most likely not mixed well when you grabbed a sample.
 
What SG did the kit say to expect?

If it was an extract batch you might not have mixed it well enough before taking the SG and picked up a sample with a high concentration of extract. But that should 'even out' during fermentation and not actually end up with higher ABV. Is your volume significantly lower than expected?

The kit is an extract and OG expectation is 1.053. I am 2 weeks into fermentation and by all accounts it looks compete.
 

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Extract kit using a partial boil and topping off with 2-3 gallons of water, by chance?

if so, the gravity reading was most likely not mixed well when you grabbed a sample.
The sample reading was taken from the spigot, not from the top of the 5 gallon bucket.
 
If it's extract and you got your volumes right, it is most likely just as the others said, not well mixed.

So just continue as usual, it's going to be good!
 
If it's extract and you got your volumes right, it is most likely just as the others said, not well mixed.

So just continue as usual, it's going to be good!
Ok, so should I auto-siphon from the top of the fermenter bucket to the bottling bucket and then mix before putting into bottles?
 
If you have a spigot on the fermenter vessel, I would skip the siphon and attach a hose to that spigot for transfer. Make your priming solution, put it in the bottling bucket, and open the spigot on your vessel. Have the bucket on the floor, and the fermenter on a counter, or a chair (just want to utilize gravity), and try to have the hose coiled on the bottom of the bucket a bit. Having it coiled on the bottom reduces splashing and give it a bit of a circular motion to aid in mixing the priming solution with the fresh beer.

If you do use the auto siphon, and its your first time, I would practice with it a few times. Sounds silly, but siphons can be super awkward to prime the first few times.
 
If you have a spigot on the fermenter vessel, I would skip the siphon and attach a hose to that spigot for transfer. Make your priming solution, put it in the bottling bucket, and open the spigot on your vessel. Have the bucket on the floor, and the fermenter on a counter, or a chair (just want to utilize gravity), and try to have the hose coiled on the bottom of the bucket a bit. Having it coiled on the bottom reduces splashing and give it a bit of a circular motion to aid in mixing the priming solution with the fresh beer.

If you do use the auto siphon, and its your first time, I would practice with it a few times. Sounds silly, but siphons can be super awkward to prime the first few times.

Yes I just got another pull from top of the fermenter bucket using an auto-siphon and the color is completely different, taste a little different too. Would you say that I should wait to get a final SG reading after it is in the bottling bucket with the added priming sugar?Also do you think the issue I am having with high ABV is because of not mixing well?

I attached another picture of it.
 

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Would you say that I should wait to get a final SG reading after it is in the bottling bucket with the added priming sugar?
No. Get one before adding the priming sugar. You'll want to see that its holding steady and completely fermented.

Also do you think the issue I am having with high ABV is because of not mixing well?
I dont think you have an actual high abv issue. Extract kits are pretty precise with their recipes. If you added all the extract and added the correct volume of water, then your gravity prior to fermentation was most likely 1.053, but the sample you had taken just wasn't mixed very well, therefore giving you an incorrect reading. Its very common with extract brewing, especially with beginners. It all evens itself out during fermentation.
 
Basically, relax. It sounds like you followed the directions and theres nothing to worry about. You'll be enjoying those bottles soon enough.
 
Just reiterating what has been said. The original wort was likely not mixed well giving a false OG (Original Gravity) reading. The yeast will eat it all up and the gravity of the finished wort will be the same throughout. There is no reason not to use the spigot. The color difference is likely due to the yeast settling (flocculating) leaving lighter color at the top of the fermenter.
 
Congrats! You made beer! Don't get stressed out over the little things early on, you can figure out issues later. When you transfer the beer to a bottling bucket (before adding the the priming sugar) it will all be well mixed and you can get an accurate gravity reading.
 
I greatly appreciate all the help from everyone! I will provide an update once it’s complete. I can already tell this is an awesome brew community.
 
I wouldn't use the spiggot with a hose. In my case, I never get the hose fully filled so there is always air in the tube oxygenating the beer. Hop flavour bye bye.

If you can, meassure each portion of sugar for each bottle separately, fill it in each bottle and then use a bottling stick, attached to your spiggot to fill your bottles. Those sticks are a great way in limiting oxygen ingress due to transfers through a hose or oxygen ingress from the bottling bucket. You also won't have problems if the sugar solution won't mix properly in your bottling bucket with the beer, this happens sometimes.

Minimise the headspace in your bottles (but not to zero!!!!), 4 mm of air in the headspace is enough. You can do this by pressing the bottom of the bottling stick to the inside of the neck of the beer bottle. That slowly releases a bit more beer and you can theoretically fill it up to the rim, but don't, a little bit of headspace is necesasry for the liquid to expand when temperature changes.

A bottling stick is a cheap thing but well worth it, especially for hoppy beers like IPAs and APAs.
 
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@Miraculix a quick fix for air getting into the siphoning hose is to use a small zip tie as a clamp on the spigot. Works wonders.

And I agree 100% on a bottling stick. Most starter kits include one (I assume you mean a spring tip bottling filler)
 
when did you take the OG measurement? A 30 point difference is too much to tribute to jut mixing IMHO. Did you perhaps measure before topping off?
 
@Miraculix a quick fix for air getting into the siphoning hose is to use a small zip tie as a clamp on the spigot. Works wonders.

And I agree 100% on a bottling stick. Most starter kits include one (I assume you mean a spring tip bottling filler)
I do have a spring tip bottle filler, and I bottled all the beers successfully. Just need to wait 2 weeks now. Thanks!
 
I do have a spring tip bottle filler, and I bottled all the beers successfully. Just need to wait 2 weeks now. Thanks!

Wooohooo! You probably already know this, but keep those bottles in as warm a place as you can find, to encourage the yeast to do their business. 70F - 80F is perfect. After they are carbonated, then move to a cooler (or cold if possible) space.
 
when did you take the OG measurement? A 30 point difference is too much to tribute to jut mixing IMHO. Did you perhaps measure before topping off?
I took the OG measurement after I transferred the cooled wort into the fermenter. I had not added the yeast yet. I can confirm that I did not agitate the bucket after adding the yeast as well.
 
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