Upstate12866
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Just a curious question here.
Made a hoppy brown ale with extract and a little steeping grains, using some random "US Ale" yeast (I think it's comparable to US-05). OG 12.8 Bx/ 1.052. Took some gravity readings and got a steady 5.5 brix for three days. Decided to bottle at day 16.
That day I decided to first rack into a bottling bucket, then add sugar solution to prime. After racking, the gravity raised from 5.5. to about 6.5 Brix. After priming 3 gal with 77.5g of table sugar, the gravity read 7 Brix. Each reading was taken at least two times just to be sure.
I did some math and played with some online calculators; it seems that 77g of sugar will raise 3 gallons of beer about 2.6 gravity points or about .6 brix. This suggests my actual gravity was around 6.4 or 6.5 Brix at the end of fermentation. Also, a FG of about 1.009-1.010 (6.4 Bx) is more in line with my expectations than a FG of 1.003 (5.5 Bx).
Has anyone encountered something like this before? I usually just take a reading from the fermenter then rack into a bucket containing priming solution, so I don't usually take readings of just the beer after racking. I was not expecting this and it has occupied my thoughts since.
My best guess is the wort stratified into layers of different density, so when I took readings from the top, I got an inaccurate number. I suppose I could have also kicked up yeast into suspension when racking.
Does yeast or other stuff in suspension affect gravity? I.e., should I expect an increase in gravity whenever I agitate things?
And do you think a stable reading from the top of the primary vessel is still a reliable indicator to tell me the beer is done fermenting? I would prefer to continue to just sample from the top rather than agitate things or draw from deep inside the vessel. Especially because I bottle after just the primary step--less agitation is better for me.
Thanks in advance for any thoughts you may want to share.
Made a hoppy brown ale with extract and a little steeping grains, using some random "US Ale" yeast (I think it's comparable to US-05). OG 12.8 Bx/ 1.052. Took some gravity readings and got a steady 5.5 brix for three days. Decided to bottle at day 16.
That day I decided to first rack into a bottling bucket, then add sugar solution to prime. After racking, the gravity raised from 5.5. to about 6.5 Brix. After priming 3 gal with 77.5g of table sugar, the gravity read 7 Brix. Each reading was taken at least two times just to be sure.
I did some math and played with some online calculators; it seems that 77g of sugar will raise 3 gallons of beer about 2.6 gravity points or about .6 brix. This suggests my actual gravity was around 6.4 or 6.5 Brix at the end of fermentation. Also, a FG of about 1.009-1.010 (6.4 Bx) is more in line with my expectations than a FG of 1.003 (5.5 Bx).
Has anyone encountered something like this before? I usually just take a reading from the fermenter then rack into a bucket containing priming solution, so I don't usually take readings of just the beer after racking. I was not expecting this and it has occupied my thoughts since.
My best guess is the wort stratified into layers of different density, so when I took readings from the top, I got an inaccurate number. I suppose I could have also kicked up yeast into suspension when racking.
Does yeast or other stuff in suspension affect gravity? I.e., should I expect an increase in gravity whenever I agitate things?
And do you think a stable reading from the top of the primary vessel is still a reliable indicator to tell me the beer is done fermenting? I would prefer to continue to just sample from the top rather than agitate things or draw from deep inside the vessel. Especially because I bottle after just the primary step--less agitation is better for me.
Thanks in advance for any thoughts you may want to share.
