Disappointing FG...

[BeerOfThePeepHole]

For my second brew I made an American IPA. Followed the kit instructions well, let it ferment for 2 weeks in the primary and figured I'd let it bottle condition over the next few weeks.

The problem is when I took my hydrometer reading the beer had a 2% alcohol level. Is that normal?

1st Readings pre fermentation:
- 27% sugar
- 1.20 OG
- 16% Alcohol by volume

2nd Readings pre bottling:
- 4% sugar
- 2% Alcohol
- 1.1 FG


The kit did not come with instructions on what the OG/FG should be which is kind of annoying; any suggestions?

 

[Captain Damage]

First off, completely ignore the %sugar and %alcohol scales on your hydrometer. They were neither designed for nor apply to beer brewing. The only scale you should look at is the specific gravity scale that reads to 3 decimal places.

Secondly, the gravity readings you're saying you got are so far off anything you should get for any stage of an APA, I'm pretty sure you're reading your hydrometer incorrectly.

Did your kit include a recipe or ingredient list you can post so we can figure out what your numbers should look like?

 

[BeerOfThePeepHole]

Ingrediants:

DME - Unlabled
White Labs Yeast - California Ale
LME - Unlabled
Bittering Hops
Finishing Hops

Unforuntately I don't have any more details than that.


Today is not my brewing day hahah. I just went to start another batch and as i dropped the bag of grains into the boiling pot it spilled open releasing the grains into the water. Is there any point of continuing at this point?>

 

[Captain Damage]

Looking at my own hydrometer, and at what you say you're readings were I'm thinking your true gravities might actually have been something like:
OG = 1.062
FG = 1.015
These are much more in the ballpark and correspond to an ABV of 6.13%. That's a little heavy for an APA, but still much more normal.

 

[Captain Damage]

If you have a mesh strainer you can strain out the grains as you pour your water from one pot to another. Or use a nylon paint straining bag from the hardware store or home center.

Do you know how much DME and LME? Was the LME canned? The cans are usually a kilo
and a half - 3.3 lbs. We can reverse engineer this.

 

[mikebowman]

Ingrediants:

DME - Unlabled
White Labs Yeast - California Ale
LME - Unlabled
Bittering Hops
Finishing Hops

Unforuntately I don't have any more details than that.


Today is not my brewing day hahah. I just went to start another batch and as i dropped the bag of grains into the boiling pot it spilled open releasing the grains into the water. Is there any point of continuing at this point?>

do you know what the weights of the DME and LME were?

and yes, your second batch is certainly worth continuing. while its better to get the grains out of the water before you boil, i'm sure its not the biggest deal. you'll probably extract some compounds that aren't ideal, but i'd imagine it'll still be drinkable

 

[BeerOfThePeepHole]

Great advice guys thanks.

No the LME was bagged. Unfortuantely I disposed of the bags they came in.

I suppose I am reading the meter wrong.

As far as straining goes I don't have another 5gal pot to transfer it to. What I am thinking I can do is to just do the boil process and then remove them when I transfer to the fermenter. However if this is a recipe for failure I'd rather just save the remaining ingrediants for another day instead of making this entire batch (Russian Imperial Stout) and it turn out really off.

 

[ajf]

Your OG reading is much too low. It is impossible to miss the OG by very much with an extract kit, unless you forget to add the extract, or add far too much water.
It is however easy to get a wrong reading if you don't mix up the wort enough before taking the reading. (It takes a lot of mixing).
Your FG reading also looks a bit low. Have you checked the hydrometer in 60F water? It should read 1.000. If it reads 0.996, then just remember to add 0.004 to every reading.

-a.

 

[Captain Damage]

Um, actually both of his numbers are wayyyy too high. Maybe a result of missing the decimal, but certainly a result of misreading.

 

[Captain Damage]

You should try to remove as much of the grain from the pot as you can before you boil it. You can pour it into one of your buckets, straining it, and then back into the boiling out.

 

[McGarnigle]

Where did you get the kit from? That would help. I'd guess 3 lbs DME and 3.3 lbs LME.

Also, you don't want to boil your grains, whether they're in a bag or not.

 

[ajf]

Um, actually both of his numbers are wayyyy too high. Maybe a result of missing the decimal, but certainly a result of misreading.

Yes, you're right. I subconsciously added what I assumed was a missing decimal.

Assuming a normal triple scale hydrometer, 27 Balling ~= gravity 1.120 ~= 16% ABV.

But 4 Balling ~= gravity 1.015 ~= 2% ABV

The 1.015 looks about right, and the 1.120 is much too high (not low). Could still be because of not stirring, or possibly taking the reading before adding top-off water.

I must read more carefully in future.

-a.

 

[terrapinj]

you could pour the water with spilled grains through a strainer into your fermenting bucket and then pour the H2O without grains back into your kettle to do the boil and then steep the grains as you would regularly

 

[RM-MN]

You could even be really patient and strain the grain out of the water with a slotted spoon or a tea strainer. However you do it, you beer will be much better with most if not all the grain out before you bring the water to a boil.