High SG Reading?

[Ayla]

We did our first brew last night & all was going great until we took the SG reading with the hydrometer. What should have been about 1.040 (beer making) was instead 1.056 (ie: wine making).

We're guessing from this that too much dextrose was added, but the kit that we purchased (Cooper's Blonde) came with 1kg of dextrose & no information on how much/little to put in. We looked it up online & it appeared as though about 1kg was used with 23 litres of liquid so we put the whole thing in.

Questions being:
Will this higher SG reading mean anything over the brewing period? Will the beer still be ok? Will it just take longer to finish the fermentation? Will there be a higher alcohol content?

For future brews we'll obviously start with less dextrose, but can it be added gradually while you're filling the fermenter with water? In other words, can it be added anytime up until you put the yeast in?

 

[headbanger]

The beer should be fine, though it will be a bit stronger than target abv. Dextrose, or any other sugars, should be added during the boil in most cases.

1.056 isn't all that high, if you have decent attenuation during fermentation your beer should finish around 6% abv or so, maybe a bit higher.

RDWHAHB and let us know how it turns out.

 

[Clementine]

Dextrose, or any other sugars, should be added during the boil in most cases.

As the OP is using a coopers kit there is no boil (according to the instructions), I only say that as he/she might get confused as this is all new to him/her.

You did the right thing, I can't remember what coopers kits call for in terms of sugar additions however as you were adding dextrose and not malt extract you can just expect a high alcohol content with out a huge change to flavor as dextrose is 100% fermentable (before anyone corrects me yes I know some will be left over as yeast won't eat everything my point is that much DME would alter the flavor profile significantly). When I was making Coopers kits (college) we put anything with sugar in it in the brew just to get high alcohol content it was still drinkable... for college kids in Australia!

Clem

 

[Calder]

1.040, and 1.056 are both beer numbers. Wine starts at 1.080 (now someone will chime in that that is wrong).

I have a beer that I started last week at 1.100. That is not normal. My average is 1.060, and I can't remember when I last made one below 1.050 (maybe never).

Increasing sugar will add alcohol without flavor. That's not really a good thing unless you just want to get a buzz. Too much will make it seem like rocket fuel. A little will go un-noticed to the average person.

I would say don't worry about it. The yeast will be happy, you will make beer. Got to start somewhere.