Final Gravity Reading

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BronskiBrewski

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just brewed my first batch of beer. I brewed an amber ale that the recipe said the target final gravity should be 1.013. I just bottled it yesterday after one week in a primary fermenter and then 3 weeks in a secondary glass carboy. When taking the gravity reading before bottling it was at 1.024. i took this gravity reading at 64 degrees. Any idea why it was so much higher than what it was supposed to be at? Or where i could have gone wrong to get this higher gravity? Any chance that my beer is still going to be drinkable?
 
First, it is going to be drinkable that is for sure. What was your original gravity compare to the one of the receipe. If you brewed with pellets, it will put your gravity much higher if some pellets where in your sample for the reading.

Also, 1.024 at 64 F is still 1.024 corrected. Anyway, I wouldn't worry if I were you
 
You racked it off the yeast after only 1 week. Never rack the beer until it's at FG. That's likely why it stalled at 1.024. I don't secondary unless I'm oaking or something. I leave it in primary till it hits FG. Then another 3-7 days to let it clean up & settle out clear or slightly misty. And hop pellets shouldn't raise the gravity. The hydroemter just measures how much sugar is in solution by the specific gravity.
 
just brewed my first batch of beer. I brewed an amber ale that the recipe said the target final gravity should be 1.013. I just bottled it yesterday after one week in a primary fermenter and then 3 weeks in a secondary glass carboy. When taking the gravity reading before bottling it was at 1.024. i took this gravity reading at 64 degrees. Any idea why it was so much higher than what it was supposed to be at? Or where i could have gone wrong to get this higher gravity? Any chance that my beer is still going to be drinkable?

You should have left it in the primary for a few weeks, no need to secondary that beer. I'm guessing you racked before it was done fermenting and there isn't enough yeast to finish the job? heat it up a bit, or add some more yeast to get the gravity down to where it should be, or else if you bottle it that high you could get some bottle bombs.
 
Most likely the cause was due to under pitching the yeast, poorly aerating the wort, fermentation temp and racking the beer off the yeast before fermentation was complete. Could be one or any combination of the three factors.

This I am assuming was an extract batch with top off water involved so the OG stated on the recipe should have been your OG regardless of what you read and IMO 1.024 is a little high regardless so the beer will have a sweeter finish than expected but if the gravity was stable for the 2-3 weeks in secondary there should be no concern of bottle bombs.

One thing I will add is to be sure your hydrometer is calibrated, it should read 1.000 in distilled water at 60F. Any reading different you will need to add or subtract the difference when you use it.
 
Oh sure, it'll be drinkable. It'll be slightly more malty than intended but it should be fine. To break the 1.020 barrier on a lot of yeasts, you're going to need to use:

  1. Yeast nutrients
  2. Wort oxygenation
  3. and proper pitching amounts

You can use any number of online yeast pitching calculators to get the right amount of yeast to pitch into your beer for a good fermentation. Yeast nutrients are inexpensive and you can either make your own (use the search feature in the forums) or just buy some from your LHBS. Wort oxygenation requires either shaking the hell out of your wort in the primary fermenter (in my case, a bucket) for five minutes or so or getting some pure 02 from a hardware store and use it with a small regulator and airstone. Brewing supply companies carry them, and pre-filled pure 02 tanks are cheap (less than $10) at lowes and home depot. Check their welding supplies section.
 
Most likely the cause was due to under pitching the yeast, poorly aerating the wort, fermentation temp and racking the beer off the yeast before fermentation was complete. Could be one or any combination of the three factors.

This I am assuming was an extract batch with top off water involved so the OG stated on the recipe should have been your OG regardless of what you read and IMO 1.024 is a little high regardless so the beer will have a sweeter finish than expected but if the gravity was stable for the 2-3 weeks in secondary there should be no concern of bottle bombs.

One thing I will add is to be sure your hydrometer is calibrated, it should read 1.000 in distilled water at 60F. Any reading different you will need to add or subtract the difference when you use it.
 
You racked it off the yeast after only 1 week. Never rack the beer until it's at FG. That's likely why it stalled at 1.024. I don't secondary unless I'm oaking or something. I leave it in primary till it hits FG. Then another 3-7 days to let it clean up & settle out clear or slightly misty. And hop pellets shouldn't raise the gravity. The hydroemter just measures how much sugar is in solution by the specipic gravity.

An hydrometer measure the density of the beer. It helps the brewer know how much sugar there is in the beer. But if there is some pellets in the sample, that will raise the weight of the beer and hence, the density.
 
An hydrometer measure the density of the beer. It helps the brewer know how much sugar there is in the beer. But if there is some pellets in the sample, that will raise the weight of the beer and hence, the density.

It'd raise the weight of the beer,but def NOT the density. Density has to do with the liquid itself,not what's floating in it. Hydrometers don't work by weight.
 
An hydrometer measure the density of the beer. It helps the brewer know how much sugar there is in the beer. But if there is some pellets in the sample, that will raise the weight of the beer and hence, the density.
I don't think that's quite right. Pellet hops don't dissolve, they typically aren't even suspended. They mostly sink to the bottom. Suspend and floating particals don't effect solution density. Think of it this way: if you put a hydrometer in a swimming pool and then had a block party on a hot day and everyone got in the pool the hydrometer is going to read the same value.

The only way I could see particals being an issue is if there was so much that the hydrometer was actually sitting in the sediment in the sample, or if they were floating in the surface and obscuring the view.
 
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