Gravites and abv off after primary fermentation?

[bignick270]

At the end of December I brewed my first extract kit, Black Jack Pumpkin Stout from Jasper's Home brew (https://www.boomchugalug.com/product/black-jack-pumpkin-stout/). -- can find the recipe on that link.

Unfortunately I messed up on some details during the directions and my OG and FG were off.

First I missed the part in the recipe that called for 1.75 gallons during the boil, I used a full 5 gal boil. I also forgot to top off boil off when adding to my primary.

Second my thermometer stopped working during the boil process so I was crippled during the cool down process. I may have pitched my Safale 04 too hot. I tried the best I could without a backup thermometer.

My OG was at 1.056 read with a refractometer (calibrated with distiller water). The recipe called for 1.066 to 1.070.

After 10 days I started to check the gravity and it looked like the fermentation had stopped. Before racking to my secondary I took a sample and the gravity was at 1.036.

Using online calculators, it appears that my abv is 2.49%.

At this point I tasted the sample and it tasted good but sweet and it smelled like a stout.

Now as the beer is in the secondary I am worrying about bottling.
Does my beer contain too few yeast cells to carb in a bottle?
Will I have to much sugars remaining and achieve bottle bombs.
Do I need to add priming sugar at bottling due to my readings?

Should I add some part of a yeast packet in my secondary to restart fermenting?


By the way I have a fermentation chamber and I have had the temp at 66F the whole time.

Also since I messed up with the water volume, it looked like I was around 4.25 to 4.5 gal when I racked to my secondary.

 

[Yooper]

Using a refractometer is great- until fermentation starts. Then, alcohol in the solution skews the reading so that the reading is useless.

Use a hydrometer, and you'll find that your beer is more like 1.012-1.018 or so.

 

[LLBeanJ]

The fact that you got any fermentation at all means you didn't kill your yeast. There is still plenty of yeast in suspension for bottling.

Did you check FG with your refractometer, as well? If so, did you use one of the online calculators to make adjustments for the fact that there is alcohol present? Once alcohol is present in the beer, a refractometer's reading is not accurate and needs to be corrected. Do you have a hydrometer? I personally use a refractometer pre-fermentation and a hydrometer post-ferm, as it's just simpler that way.

Since this is an extract batch, I'm not sure how you ended up with a low OG AND a less than planned batch volume. Those two variables should be inversely proportional to each other... i.e., planned volume should equal planned OG, >planned volume should equal low OG, and <planned volume should equal high OG. Measurement error in OG reading, perhaps?

 

[Jphillips13]

Extract kits contain a known amount of sugar. If you use all the extract and end up with the correct volume then you hit your OG. You ended up with less than 5 gallons so yours ended up higher. I bet the reading was low because it is very hard to mix top off water well.
I would've left it in primary until fermentation was done. Your brew could be done, especially if you're using a refractometer. I don't own one but have read they aren't accurate after alcohol has been produced. If you have a hydrometer check it with that to see where you really are.
Whatever temp you pitched at is done and can't be changed now so.... Next time you could put your fermenter in your temp chamber overnight to get down to pitching temps.
Should be plenty of yeast for bottling but I wouldn't until you're sure it's done.


Lol. A lot of responses while I was typing on my phone

 

[Grizzlybrew]

I second the refrac pre-ferm and hydrom post-ferm. Also, is the refrac auto temp correcting? Make sure your temps are taken into account when taking gravity readings. I'm assuming you used something similar to the More Beer spreadsheet (found here: http://www.morebeer.com/products/brewing-refractometer-dual-scale.html )

Also, no one mentioned, the full volume boil. I'm not sure what your IBUs were supposed to be, but I suspect that the full boil allowed for more hop utilization and prob resulted in a more bitter beer,

 

[bignick270]

Thanks guys. I did not realize the refractometer was not accurate when alcohol is present. My hydrometer that came with my kit broke in shipment so I need to get a new one. I did not record my brix value so I will have to see if I ca figure that out.

My refractometer came from midwest supplies and it says that it is an automatic temperature correcting refractometer.

 

[Jphillips13]

This is a pretty low ibu recipe. I don't think the full volume boil will make a ton of difference in this case, but certainly could in other brews.
Seems like the biggest issues could be pitching temp. and less volume into the fermentor.
I looked at the recipe and it looks pretty yummy. I bet if pitching temps or headspace in secondary aren't a problem it should turn out well.

 

[doug293cz]

It is possible to use a refractometer both pre, during, and post fermentation. I do it all the time. After fermentation starts, you have to use a calculator to correct for the presence of alcohol. I use the one here (http://seanterrill.com/2012/01/06/refractometer-calculator/). You might be off by a couple of gravity points, but you can be that far off with sloppy hydrometer technique as well. Since I am mostly interested in whether fermentation is done or not, absolute accuracy is not critical. All I really need to know is that the gravity is stable.

Brew on

 

[pablosbrewing]

At the end of December I brewed my first extract kit, Black Jack Pumpkin Stout from Jasper's Home brew (https://www.boomchugalug.com/product/black-jack-pumpkin-stout/). -- can find the recipe on that link.

Unfortunately I messed up on some details during the directions and my OG and FG were off.

First I missed the part in the recipe that called for 1.75 gallons during the boil, I used a full 5 gal boil. I also forgot to top off boil off when adding to my primary.

Second my thermometer stopped working during the boil process so I was crippled during the cool down process. I may have pitched my Safale 04 too hot. I tried the best I could without a backup thermometer.

My OG was at 1.056 read with a refractometer (calibrated with distiller water). The recipe called for 1.066 to 1.070.

After 10 days I started to check the gravity and it looked like the fermentation had stopped. Before racking to my secondary I took a sample and the gravity was at 1.036.

Using online calculators, it appears that my abv is 2.49%.

At this point I tasted the sample and it tasted good but sweet and it smelled like a stout.

Now as the beer is in the secondary I am worrying about bottling.
Does my beer contain too few yeast cells to carb in a bottle?
Will I have to much sugars remaining and achieve bottle bombs.
Do I need to add priming sugar at bottling due to my readings?

Should I add some part of a yeast packet in my secondary to restart fermenting?


By the way I have a fermentation chamber and I have had the temp at 66F the whole time.

Also since I messed up with the water volume, it looked like I was around 4.25 to 4.5 gal when I racked to my secondary.

I think your current SG is 1.023 ~4%ABV.

Ignore the SG side of your refractometer and use a calculator with the Brix side. In my opinion dual scale refractometers should be outlawed. I prefer a single scale Brix that I can read.
http://www.northernbrewer.com/refractometer-calculator/