Lager Final Gravity

[Wfu1bunn]

Brewed a lager for the first time. Fermented at 55-60 degrees for 10 days or so. Bubbles in airlock practically stopped. Has been layering at 35 degrees for 10 days. Checked gravity for first time today and it was 1035 but should be 1012 to 1013. Beer was an extract recipe. What should I do to get gravity where it should be? Thanks

 

[doug293cz]

Brewed a lager for the first time. Fermented at 55-60 degrees for 10 days or so. Bubbles in airlock practically stopped. Has been layering at 35 degrees for 10 days. Checked gravity for first time today and it was 1035 but should be 1012 to 1013. Beer was an extract recipe. What should I do to get gravity where it should be? Thanks

How did you check the gravity? Did you measure SG before you lowered the temperature for lagering?

Brew on

 

[Wfu1bunn]

Checked SG with refractometer. Did not check SG before lagering. This was my first lager by the way.

 

[Yooper]

Checked SG with refractometer. Did not check SG before lagering. This was my first lager by the way.

Oh, then that's fine! Refractometers don't read mixtures that have alcohol in them. Check with a hydrometer, or do some googling for correction software (which is still not accurate, but better than a simple refractometer reading) and it should be absolutely fine.

Refractometers read the refraction of light through a sucrose solution- and alcohol skews the reading so that the straight refractometer reading is useless once fermentation begins. Take a hydrometer reading, and you'll be right in the ballpark I'm guessing.

 

[Wfu1bunn]

Awesome. Thanks for the help.

 

[Wfu1bunn]

Gravity was 1035 today. FG should be at 1013. Have 3 more weeks to lager at 35 degrees. After that should I raise temp to 60 degrees for a few days to hopefully get to that target FG? I never moved beer to secondary so should be plenty of yeast. Thanks.

 

[Yooper]

Gravity was 1035 today. FG should be at 1013. Have 3 more weeks to lager at 35 degrees. After that should I raise temp to 60 degrees for a few days to hopefully get to that target FG? I never moved beer to secondary so should be plenty of yeast. Thanks.

No. If the gravity is 1.035, it should be raised to the diacetyl temperature now and encourage the yeast to finish up the fermentation and then clean up the diacetyl. this all has to be done before the lagering period in order to ensure active yeast.

It's really unbelieveable that the SG is 1.035, though. It's impossible for it to be the same with the refractometer and a hydrometer. So one of the readings is obviously incorrect, and that makes both are suspect. Is the hydrometer reading 1.000 in plain water?

 

[FloppyKnockers]

Gravity was 1035 today. FG should be at 1013. Have 3 more weeks to lager at 35 degrees. After that should I raise temp to 60 degrees for a few days to hopefully get to that target FG? I never moved beer to secondary so should be plenty of yeast. Thanks.

I always do the diacetyl rest (63°) after initial fermentation has stopped which normally takes at least a couple weeks. Then I start bringing the temperature down to lagering temps after the three-day rest.

Ideally, the rest needs to take place right as the krausen (the swampy bubble layer) has fallen. Because in your case it probably already has (has it?), I would just lager it for a good six weeks, at least, then check gravity with a hydrometer. After fermentation is complete, go ahead and bottle, keg, or stick a straw in there (I don't judge) and enjoy.

EDIT: But, then again your yeast will be happier if it gets to do the rest. Not sure what to do here since the window has passed for the rest to be effective (as far as getting rid of diacetyl, anyway). I would probably still raise the temp for a few days to wake the yeast so it can finish doing what it does. You might just have a bit of off flavors. Not too bad though.

 

[FloppyKnockers]

No. If the gravity is 1.035, it should be raised to the diacetyl temperature now and encourage the yeast to finish up the fermentation and then clean up the diacetyl. this all has to be done before the lagering period in order to ensure active yeast.

It's really unbelieveable that the SG is 1.035, though. It's impossible for it to be the same with the refractometer and a hydrometer. So one of the readings is obviously incorrect, and that makes both are suspect. Is the hydrometer reading 1.000 in plain water?

Or just listen to this lady ↑↑↑↑...she's knows one or two things about this stuff

 

[Wfu1bunn]

Did the D-rest for 2 days before lowering temperature for lagering. The hydrometer does read 1 in water. The clone recipe suggested to raise temperature to 60 after lagering for one month. Still think I should raise temp now?

 

[Yooper]

Did the D-rest for 2 days before lowering temperature for lagering. The hydrometer does read 1 in water. The clone recipe suggested to raise temperature to 60 after lagering for one month. Still think I should raise temp now?

If it's not done fermenting, then certainly yes.

 

[Wfu1bunn]

My mistake. SG IS 1020 not 1035. Thoughts?

 

[Yooper]

My mistake. SG IS 1020 not 1035. Thoughts?

Then if it is 1.020, it is time for the diacetyl rest. It is maybe done, but probably not quite. It shouldn't be chilled until it is 100% done.

 

[Cyclman]

As usual, Yooper is 100% on. You don't want a lager to be sweet. Warm that baby up, give it a few days, then lager it to clear it like crystal.

 

[Wfu1bunn]

It has been lagering for 2 1/2 weeks. Are you saying to raise the temperature now for a couple of days and then lower the temp again?

 

[Yooper]

It has been lagering for 2 1/2 weeks. Are you saying to raise the temperature now for a couple of days and then lower the temp again?

If it's not done, you don't want to keep it cold. You may want to repitch yeast, if you racked before lagering, but hopefully you have enough active yeast to ferment it out. THEN, and only then, can the lagering process be properly done.

Bring up the temperature so the beer can at least ferment out. If it's not fermented out, and it's not done, the beer will be ruined. So yes, bring the temperature up until it is indeed done. This may be longer than 'a few days'.

 

[Wfu1bunn]

Ok. Raising temp to 60. Never moved beer from primary so should be enough yeast to finish fermentation. Thank you so much for sharing your expertise!!

 

[mutterback]

I'm on here researching lagering schedules before brewing my first, so clearly I'm no expert but a thought occurred to me. Did you warm the hydrometer sample up to 60, 66 degrees or whatever temp you hydrometer is calibrated for? I believe it's the cooler samples that read a higher than actual gravity.

 

[ChefK]

Hei, I hope it is ok to ninja threads here in this forum, I am new to brewing. I did not want to open a new post for something that seems to be a frequent asked question.

For Christmas I got the Coopers Lager kit, Followed the instructions as good as i could. Everything went perfect the krausen came up and settled. SG dropped and Dropped ... until it reached 1013 and the following day 1013 and so it continued.
I started the brew a month ago 04.01. and until today nothing changed. Last week I went to the local homebrewer shop and asked for advice, they told me to try a RockCandy syrup(if i am not mistaken) so I added it and he said to wait a few days and then test again (testing with a Hydrometer) even went and bought a second hydrometer just to be sure.

But it is still stuck at 1013 and I am so tempted to stir the Yeast on the bottom of the bucket. I am not at the point of dumping quiet yet but I am almost at the end of hope I do not think a FG of 1013 is what I should be aiming for.

Any advise or tip or even a hint is highly appreciated, I do not want to dump my liquid gold please


-- edit -- since this thread did not get any views the whole day I opened my own.