For my first brew I picked up a Brewers Best American Amber Ale. I followed the instructions and ended up with an OG of 1.050 which is right where the OG should be according to the paper that came with the kit. The problem is it does not have a FG number. It just says fermentation is complete when there is no bubbling in the air lock for 48 hours. Then it says to bottle. Well it seemed to soon to bottle and I took a reading and it was 1.020ish. So I let it sit another 3 weeks or so and the gravity has been hovering around 1.015 or so. This gives me a abv of 4.25 but, the recipe sheet says that I should end up with 4.75 abv. To get this I should have a FG of 1.012 or so and I am wondering after 3 weeks of the same reading is fermentation all done?
First brew question.
- Thread starter durus5995
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I'm not super highly qualified, but after 3 weeks I would definitely say that fermentation is complete. Due to myriad variations in your specific set up you won't always reach the exact FG. I think its fine.
Usually your beer continues to ferment a little after bottling (this is most likely how you get carbon dioxide into the bottle). This means that your final abv will be about .25 to .35 % higher after the beer has been bottled and set aside for a couple weeks to carbonate.
..never trust and air lock as a calculator. Some of my brews don't even bubble but i just look inside the bucket after 4 days after pitching my yeast and sure enough there is always krausen. Just my 2 cents.
Thanks for the rapid responses. One more question. The brewers best came with a bag of priming sugar and all it says is to boil 2 cups water. I was wondering if I should use the entire bag or if there is a recommended amount to use per 5 gallons? The directions really dont specify.
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Boil a pint of water (2 cups) add the whole bag should be 5oz or like 2/3 cups of Corn Sugar. Just boil for like 50secs..at most until its dissolved but boiled. You can just go ahead and dump the whole pint of sugary water hot don't have to wait for it to chill. 2 cups of water vs 5gallons of liquid equals close to no temp change. Stirr a couple times with a sanitized stirrer. Avoid over stirring don't want to shake it up and oxedize your beer= card board taste. Some people chill their boiled water and sugar mix put it in a bottleing bucket and rack over it so don't need to really stirr i've never tried it. One time i didn't stirr and let it sitt for about 10 mins, thinking gravity would do its work. Half my bottles where gushers and ended up with beer all over my face and shirt the other half where barely fizzy.
