need advice - low ABV and OG

[Edbert]

I confess to being a newbie, but I'm in the right forum for that

I've always strictly adhered to me recipes by doing one week in the primary (bucket) and 1 week in the secondary (carboy) then bottle. I messed up somehow on this batch by getting a low OG after the boil, it was supposed to be 1.049 and I had 1.043. On top of that I used a yeast I'd never used before, the recipe called for White Labs 320 which I have read is a slow starter and long working strain.

So what I did was wait over 10 days before transferring to the carboy since there was still activity in the airlock at the 1-week point which I've never had before. When I did that I measured 1.018 which says I get a 3.23ABV, quite low and lower than I care for. Another thing I noticed is that upon transferring I have visible fermentation and an active (slow but busy) airlock even now at 13 days after the boil. Taste is fine, but the ABV is really low.

So the question is; what can I do do raise the ABV? Wait another week or two and check FG before trying anything? I'm afraid if I wait too long there wont be enough left for carbonation. Add some sugar/honey? Pitch more yeast? Or am I just screwed by having such a low OG?

 

[woozy]

Okay...

First of all, don't follow schedules. Rely upon gravity readings. Wait until final gravity is reached before transferring to secondary. You can tell if final gravity is reached when your specific gravity reads the same (doesn't drop) over a several day period. (You don't need to measure every day; measure one and then three days later.)

So with that, the answer to your question is: Wait a week or two until your FG stabilizes. I bet it will end up a bit lower. Don't worry that there wont be enough left for carbonation. There will be.

And don't bottle early. If it isn't done fermenting you'll get bottle bombs.

That said, one week in primary is way to short a period of time even for fast brews.

 

[n240sxguy]

You could make a small batch of higher OG wort using some malt extract. Or you could add sugar or honey like you mention. I haven't used that yeast before, but it does seem to be taking its time. What temp are you fermenting at? The yeast carbonate with additional sugar that you add when you bottle, so that shouldn't be an issue. Also, I would say skip the secondary usually; unless you do a lager, or plan to leave it in the fermenter for over a month.

 

[EODstads]

a couple questions. 1. Are you using a beer software or doing lang math to figure your ABV? 2. After you transferred was there still airlock activity?
If it was my batch I would allow it to sit for a while longer and see where the FG goes. If all activity has stopped than you can attempt to re-suspend some of the yeast in the secondary fermenter and see if activity starts again. You can also attempt to re-pitch another yeast strain that has low lag, high attenuation and flocculation. The beautiful part is that you have beer! one of the first batches that I made I thought was incredibly low on the ABV but in reality I was not doing the math properly and was using a refractometer and when I was using the brix converter hadn't accounted for the fact that the wort was fermenting. while the wort is fermenting the reading is a little lower than the reading that you may have taken

 

[Edbert]

I'll try to answer all of the questions in one post...

1.) Fermenting temperatures were on the high side. I pitched at about 74 degrees and the first day or two I had it down around 68-70 by sitting in a sink full of icewater, been about 74 since then. never had any issues with low ABV before when using room temps for fermenting, usually around 68-70 in winter and 74-76 in summer, then again I've never been far below the mark on my OG before. I always make ales, but this is a first for this yeast.
2.) No software. My recipe says to subtract the FG from the OG and multiply by 131. Do you think my ABV calc is in error?
3.) There was little to no airlock activity when I started transfer. The agitation o the transfer seems to have wakened it up a bit. It is not HIGHLY active but I am getting a bubble every 30-45 seconds.

I really do not know what the FG is yet, it was 1.018 right after the transfer, but I'm sure it has come down some since. As long as there's no time limit on adding additional gravity I think I'll let her sit another 70-10 days. Only problem with that is that my previous batch is running low

I'm not worried I've ruined my beer, just don't want a tasty brew with ABV below what I'd get with cans of BMC.