First beer batch high ABV

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bjjoell67

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I bottled my first home brew today. It's a hefeweizen that I let ferment for about 3 weeks. I've read my gravity 3 days in a row and got the same reading on each. But if my math is mathing, my ABV is 8.5%, which seems crazy high to me. Is this normal or did I royally screw up this batch?
 
That’s pretty high for a Hefe. More info is needed to offer any insight. What was the recipe and your process? Did you record OG and FG?
I followed the directions in the kit I got from northern brewer. The OG was 1.070 and the FG is 1.005. The only thing I can think is that I cleared the container of the malt extract they provided, which added more sugars.
 
Starting gravity was 1.070. Final gravity is 1.005.

I used 6lbs of wheat malt syrup, 1lb golden light DME, and .5lbs of grain.

I'm new to this, so I hope I answered your question.
How much water did you use and what was the final volume going into your fermenter?
 
Starting gravity was 1.070. Final gravity is 1.005.

I used 6lbs of wheat malt syrup, 1lb golden light DME, and .5lbs of grain.

I'm new to this, so I hope I answered your question.
If your gravity readings are right, then your ABV calculation is correct. I didn’t think that amount of extract would give such a high starting gravity, but I could be wrong. I would have thought it’d be more in the 1.050 range. Did you do a partial boil, perhaps, and measure the original gravity before you diluted/topped up?
 
If your gravity readings are right, then your ABV calculation is correct. I didn’t think that amount of extract would give such a high starting gravity, but I could be wrong. I would have thought it’d be more in the 1.050 range. Did you do a partial boil, perhaps, and measure the original gravity before you diluted/topped up?
I tested the OG just before I added the yeast and put it to rest for a couple of weeks. I noticed the yeast was extremely active after about 12 hours. The instructions said I should notice yeast activity after 1-2 days.
 
When did you take your OG measurement? Sometimes when adding top up water, there is some stratification that occurs and can possibly skew the reading if the wort wasn’t mixed well.
I took the reading just before adding the yeast and putting it to rest. Maybe it wasn't mixed well. That is a possibility. The brew smelled great when I bottled it today, so I've got that going for me 😅
 
It will be beer! And probably taste good, though probably not very much like a hefe. (Why do kit makers insist on WB-06? Especially now that there are two much better dry options available.)

(And the WB-06 is the reason for the high attenuation, too; it is diastaticus.)

Not every kit recipe is a winner, but most are decent. Try a few more!
 
It will be beer! And probably taste good, though probably not very much like a hefe. (Why do kit makers insist on WB-06? Especially now that there are two much better dry options available.)
Because kit makers are usually just focused on filling the catalog to say "look how many kits we have for you". I have a strong suspicion that no one is actually workshopping those recipes.
 
You can do the math on extract recipes pretty easily. For liquid extracts assume 38 points per pound per gallon, for dry its 45.

6 lbs syrup x 38 = 228 + 45 for your one pound of dry = 273 total gravity points.
273 points / 5 gallons should be about 1.054.

.5 lb of steeping grain, I’m assuming thats for color or something, isn’t going to add a whole lot more. For the sake of argument, lets say 1.055.

When you’re working with extract all your gravity points are known. There are only 273 points available in those extracts, without adding anything else. So either the hydrometer reading is not right or the extract would had to have been dissolved in less than 5 gallons total.

You have to correct a hot hydrometer reading for temp, but even if you took a hot reading it would be lower than normal, not higher.
 
Did that come with 2 cans of liquid extract or was it bulk packaged? When they come in cans, those liquid cans are usually 3.3 pounds each. Metric conversion or something I guess. If its 2 cans, you would’ve had 6.6 pounds. But that math on that still only gets you to about 1.059 or 1.060.
 
Did that come with 2 cans of liquid extract or was it bulk packaged? When they come in cans, those liquid cans are usually 3.3 pounds each. Metric conversion or something I guess. If its 2 cans, you would’ve had 6.6 pounds. But that math on that still only gets you to about 1.059 or 1.060.
It came with one 6lb bottle of malt extract.
 
I'm with bwible on this. LME usually gets you .71 points/lb. DME is usually around .84. The extract would put that around 1.053. .5 lbs grain will add about .02 to that. You're looking at around 1.055 total. I've used WB06 many times, and 1 of my more common recipes with it comes in around 1.048, and I usually get down to around 1.012. I'm thinking the OG for the OP's recipe should be around 1.055, and FG around 1.015. It's possible that the extract was not mixed in very well when the OG was taken.
 
Since WB-06 is a diastaticus strain, I would be concerned about slow, continued fermentation after bottling. It's been a while since I read up on diastaticus, so I'm not really sure how much of a concern that is. As I remember, it is largely an issue with future batches due to any residual yeast left in the fermenter from less than perfect cleaning. Can anyone comment on this?

Edit: My concern is about possible bottle bombs.
 
Since WB-06 is a diastaticus strain, I would be concerned about slow, continued fermentation after bottling. It's been a while since I read up on diastaticus, so I'm not really sure how much of a concern that is. As I remember, it is largely an issue with future batches due to any residual yeast left in the fermenter from less than perfect cleaning. Can anyone comment on this?

Edit: My concern is about possible bottle bombs.
This is my first batch so there shouldn't be any residual yeast on the equipment. However, I appreciate the information and will be sure to ensure that everything is cleaned accordingly.
 
Final report, it was a success. Beer is great even at room temp. Good color and carbonation. I'll find out soon enough if the avb is actually 8.5. Thanks for everyone's help.
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