BrewnWKopperKat
(Ο_Ο)
Without the details (e.g. the revised recipe), it's hard to accurately detect and troubleshoot FG issues.
Hefeweizen Extract stalled 🤔
- Thread starter Art2019
- Start date
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If the recipe was for 1.053 at 5 gallons and you add one extra pound of malt extract (assuming dry malt extract since it usually comes in 1LB increments), that should only raise the gravity by (1.044 / 5 = 1.008) or an OG of 1.061. If you measured higher than that:
1. Your instrument is out of calibration.
2. Your wort was stratified and you pulled a denser sample than the average of the entire batch.
3. Your total volume was lower than 5 gallons.
4. Any combination of the above.
Anecdote as a homebrew store owner for 10 years.
Customer on the phone: "I have a stuck fermentation".
Me: Is the fermenter a white plastic bucket?
Customer: Yes
Me: How do you know it's stuck?
Customer: The airlock isn't bubbling
Me: The lid seal is leaking.
That conversation is about 75% of all "stuck fermentation" calls.
The other 25% is:
Customer on the phone: "I have a stuck fermentation".
Me: How do you know it's stuck?
Customer: I measured the gravity and it's really still high.
Me: Refractometer?
Customer: How did you know?
There is a small subset of the above where the customer is actually using a triple scale hydrometer but they read the potential alcohol scale after fermentation.
1. Your instrument is out of calibration.
2. Your wort was stratified and you pulled a denser sample than the average of the entire batch.
3. Your total volume was lower than 5 gallons.
4. Any combination of the above.
Anecdote as a homebrew store owner for 10 years.
Customer on the phone: "I have a stuck fermentation".
Me: Is the fermenter a white plastic bucket?
Customer: Yes
Me: How do you know it's stuck?
Customer: The airlock isn't bubbling
Me: The lid seal is leaking.
That conversation is about 75% of all "stuck fermentation" calls.
The other 25% is:
Customer on the phone: "I have a stuck fermentation".
Me: How do you know it's stuck?
Customer: I measured the gravity and it's really still high.
Me: Refractometer?
Customer: How did you know?
There is a small subset of the above where the customer is actually using a triple scale hydrometer but they read the potential alcohol scale after fermentation.
Or
5. You really added 3 lbs of DME instead of 1.
But it actually would take 4 lbs, and I don't think it comes in 4 lb bags.
1. No, my instrument was calibrated properly
2. No. It was stirred thouroughly just prior to testing
3. That could've been possible since I tested prior to dumping in fermemter & was probably 3.5-4 gallons before transfer.
4. 2 & 3
5. Definately not
It comes in 1, 3, & 5 lb bags....when it really gets down to it, it was almost half of a 3 lb bag from a prior brew. So 1-1.5 lbs.
So, using a refractometer calculator expressed above (#3) how would I account for the dilution?
2. No. It was stirred thouroughly just prior to testing
3. That could've been possible since I tested prior to dumping in fermemter & was probably 3.5-4 gallons before transfer.
4. 2 & 3
5. Definately not
It comes in 1, 3, & 5 lb bags....when it really gets down to it, it was almost half of a 3 lb bag from a prior brew. So 1-1.5 lbs.
So, using a refractometer calculator expressed above (#3) how would I account for the dilution?
What's your point? Looking for advice not criticism. I already stated what I was using.
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BrewnWKopperKat
(Ο_Ο)
An OG measurement implies that 1) the full volume of wort is present and 2) the wort is uniform (not stratified).
So the measured SG was 1.085 before topping off to 5 gal..
- OG 53 in 5 gal + 1# DME = 53 * 5 + 44 = 309 GPs.
- 309 GPs / 85 SG = ~ 3.64 gal of wort
OG 62 with WB-06 at 90% attenuation suggests FG at ~1.006 (ABV ~ 7.3%).
BrewnWKopperKat
(Ο_Ο)
It took 37 replies to get to incorrect OG (measured before top off) and FG (measured using the SG scale on a refractometer).
@dmtaylor @mac_1103 & @Bobby_M (and a couple of others
) offered solid advice based on the information available at the time.A complete recipe with notes on how OG and FG was being measured would have make this discussion a lot easier.
BrewnWKopperKat
(Ο_Ο)
A solution for your FG reading was suggested in #3, but you didn't actually apply it until #13. The original gravity issue wasn't fully addressed until #37. Your original specific gravity was not 1.085 and your ABV is not 10.4%.
Unless you know exactly what the volume was when you measured the SG and exactly how much water you added, you really can't correctly account for the dilution. If you did know that the volume was exactly 3.64 gallons and the wort was well mixed when you measured the SG at 1.085 and you topped off to exactly 5.0 gallons, then accounting for the dilution is simple arithmetic as in #37. So (again) if you really had 3.64 gallons at 1.085 and you topped off to exactly 5 gallons then (85*3.64)/5=61.88 so your actual OG was 1.062. And if your final gravity really is 1.007, then your ABV is about 7.2%.
People have been trying to help you. It would have been a lot easier if you had been a little more forthcoming with relevant information.
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I wasn't criticizing you in that post but I will now. Take this as constructive criticism. If you get defensive, you'll learn nothing. If you have all the answers, don't ask any questions.
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Original Gravity is the measurement you take of the final wort before the yeast begin fermentation (AFTER any dilution water is already added and well mixed).
You can take a specific gravity reading prior to water dilution, but then you have to use a calculator or simple averaging arithmetic to arrive at the post dilution original gravity.
