Hydrometer reading for OG and FG the same?

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snipper_cr

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So I am really hoping this is not a case of stuck fermentation but it seems that way from my reading. I know alot of people get stuck at 1.02 but I am stuck at 1.01 which also happens to be my OG. I am brewing a British Extra Special Bitter (6lbs LME, 1LB DME, some specialty grains, and London yeast) and I let it sit in the primary for a 8 days.
Fermentation started wtihin 24 hours, and continued for about 72 hours at full intensity. Another day or two dwindled it down to no action. I let it sit for sometime and then racked to a secondary fermenter (problem number one maybe). As I am still a learning brewer, I only just remembered to take a gravity reading. It came up basically 1.013 and my starting gravity was 1.010. Did I really suck that badly at aerating my wart? I made sure to really aerate it and short of putting a bubbler in it, thought I got it quite well.
My temps were very consistent although slightly on the warmer side for this brew (68-72 consistent, 64-66 recommended).
Palmer says cold could have stopped it but it never got cold like that. I had an Activator package and within 3 hours the package was bulging so I know that works.
I also took a little taste of the beer and besides being warm and flat, it tasted actually close to what I was looking for - both taste and aroma. So that probably is the most important part.
Any ideas though?
My only thought was I was using the hydrometer wrong but is it that difficult? I have a long tube it came in, filled it with beer and plopped it in, making sure it was floating. Read the level at the beer per the instructions.
 

Hippie

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My guess would be that you had a bad OG reading, as I don't see you getting a rise in gravity...
 

brian_g

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Your OG is wrong. I don't know how, but it must be. Assuming your doing a 5 gallon batch, you should have at an OG of 1.047-1.054 and a final gravity 1.011 - 1.014. The final gravity sounds right, but the OG is way off. Unless you accidentally forgot to add 6 lbs of malt. Look at your hydrometer closely. They usually come with three scales, SG, Brix, and PA. You want to make sure your looking at the SG scale. You may have been using the wrong scale for your original gravity. For example, if you looked at 10 Brix, your original gravity would have been 1.040. That would have been a little light for a 5 gallon batch, but within range for a 6 gal batch.
 

goetzUM

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I'm pretty new to this but it sounds like you just took a bad OG reading. I was taking really low OG readings at first, and it turned out I wasn't mixing up my wort with the water enough when I first put it into my carboy. I was grabbing the thin watery mix off the top and not the thick wort mix, so my hydrometer readings were very low.

If you followed a recipe, your OG shouldn't be really close to the OG listed in the recipe. Most likely your OG was actually around 1.040 and your FG reading is correct.

Plus, with all that fermentation activity you witnessed, you know that it should have dropped far more than that.
 

Minn-Still

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Sg was 1.110 fg was 1.005 , run 5 gallon is over13% by math , how do determine the amount of alcohol should collect say 90% still ?? Math from fg to gallon
 

danb35

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You've revived a 14-year-old thread to ask this, which probably isn't especially helpful. But with that said, if your measurements are correct of OG of 1.110 and FG of 1.005, regardless of the quantity of beer, that works out to just under 14% ABV. There are any number of web calculators that can work it out for you, or just do (OG - FG) * 131. I'm afraid I don't otherwise understand what you're asking.
 
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