Gravity Conundrum

[Selbs]

I'm at the carbonation step of a two stage fermentation of an Imperial IPA, and had a most unusual gravity issue come up at the force carbonation step of the process.

My gravities have been the following up to this point in the process:

1.068 @ Mashout
1.105 @ Yeast Pitch (90 minute boil)
1.041 @ 2nd Rack (after one week of primary fermentation)
1.072 @ Force Carbonation (two weeks after 2nd Rack)

The 1.072 makes no sense to me, and all of my other batches have followed the logical progression (i.e. lower). This is the first batch that I have force carbonated, so the only variable I can identify from my previous batches is that I cooled the beer for ~20 hours before taking the last sample. I allowed it to get to room temperature before taking the reading, and even cross-referenced the reading with another hydrometer to make sure I hadn't messed up the one I was using.

Can anyone shed light on why my beer is reading higher at this stage? The fermentation has been controlled at 65 to 68 degrees in a converted fridge, and the sampling tasted on target with a beer simply needing carbed to finish up nicely (i.e. not overly sweet as the reading would suggest).

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers!

 

[Brandonovich]

Are you taking this reading with carbonated beer, or right before you carbonated it?

 

[Selbs]

I forgot to thief a sample before cooling the beer, so I took this reading after refridgeration, but before force carbonation.

 

[Nashbrewer]

How cold was the beer when you took the 1.072 reading? I've read a good bit on this forum and it is repeatedly stated that most hydrometers are calibrated for 60F. If it was at 40F I would expect the density of the water to have increased considerably and would make it look like the gravity is much higher than it is. Just my guess.

 

[nickharbour]

I'm at the carbonation step of a two stage fermentation of an Imperial IPA, and had a most unusual gravity issue come up at the force carbonation step of the process.

My gravities have been the following up to this point in the process:

1.068 @ Mashout
1.105 @ Yeast Pitch (90 minute boil)
1.041 @ 2nd Rack (after one week of primary fermentation)
1.072 @ Force Carbonation (two weeks after 2nd Rack)

The 1.072 makes no sense to me, and all of my other batches have followed the logical progression (i.e. lower). This is the first batch that I have force carbonated, so the only variable I can identify from my previous batches is that I cooled the beer for ~20 hours before taking the last sample. I allowed it to get to room temperature before taking the reading, and even cross-referenced the reading with another hydrometer to make sure I hadn't messed up the one I was using.

Can anyone shed light on why my beer is reading higher at this stage? The fermentation has been controlled at 65 to 68 degrees in a converted fridge, and the sampling tasted on target with a beer simply needing carbed to finish up nicely (i.e. not overly sweet as the reading would suggest).

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers!

are you using a refractometer? A lot of people new to refractometers don't realize you need to do conversions when you're dealing with fermented beer. Alcohol drives up the OG reading in the refractometer. Eventually you'll just start taking all reading in brix and save SG measurements for the calculators later on.

 

[Selbs]

How cold was the beer when you took the 1.072 reading? I've read a good bit on this forum and it is repeatedly stated that most hydrometers are calibrated for 60F. If it was at 40F I would expect the density of the water to have increased considerably and would make it look like the gravity is much higher than it is. Just my guess.

I didn't take the actual temp, but waited well over an hour to drop the hydrometer in it anticipating that it would warm up to room temp by then. It felt very comparable to the room temp at the time, which was 71 degrees.

 

[Selbs]

are you using a refractometer? A lot of people new to refractometers don't realize you need to do conversions when you're dealing with fermented beer. Alcohol drives up the OG reading in the refractometer. Eventually you'll just start taking all reading in brix and save SG measurements for the calculators later on.

It was just your typical hydrometer, and then was validated with another hydrometer that gave the same reading. I haven't upgraded to a refractometer yet.