My first Gravity Reading

[nostalgia]

I too failed to take an OG reading for my wheat beer. I took a reading after letting it ferment a week and it was at 1.0140 - 1.0160.

I was looking for opinions on:
A) If this is normal for wheat beer?

Sounds about right. My beers usually finish anywhere from 1.008 to 1.014. I'd still give it another week or two before racking it off the yeast.

B) Does this mean I will have a low alcohol content?

Impossible to tell without an initial reading to compare against. You need to know how much sugar you started with so you can determine how much the yeast ate and turned into alcohol.

If it's an extract recipe, we can guess for you if you post the recipe.

C) Should I add anything (like sugar) to it to increase either alcohol or FG?

That's up to you Personally, I don't care about ABV as long as it tastes good, so I would not add anything.

Remember the gravity reading tells you how much sugar is left in solution. So the lower the reading, the more sugar the yeast have eaten. The more sugar the yeast have eaten, the more alcohol they have produced.

The % on the back of the hydrometer reads under 5%. Does that reflect my alcohol content?

No, it does not. For homebrewing, we ignore that reading and just use the 1.xxx scale. I know it's for wine but I don't know how to use.

-Joe

 

[IPANY]

Hey Joe,


Thanks for the info. You help clear some things up for me.