Oops - racked without hydrometer -? 2 do?

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abp689

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Had a busy weekend (bottled a Honey Nut, APA, and a Wheat) and racked my 1.066 Porter after 14 days on the primary. But I forgot to check the gravity - until after I racked the beer.

Ended up with a Gravity reading of 1.030. Should I add more yeast; or will another month on the secondary finish the beer out?

*I did notice the airlock bubbling the night before, just got caught up on "bottling day".
 
Well this is easy. Build a time machine, go back, and do it right.... ;)

I think you are probably OK -- you'll get the rest of your fermentation in secondary, as long as you keep it a fermentation temperature. You likely have enough yeast still in suspension to keep it going. Take another hydrometer reading over the next couple of days, and see if it continues to drop.
 
There is plenty of yeast in there but it could take another week or so before the yeast builds back up to get fermentation going again. I wouldn't do anything for a couple weeks, then take another reading.

Oh yea, ~slap~ on the hand for racking before checking. :D
 
Can someone briefly explain why you should check the Gravity before you rack? I understand what the hydrometer measures but don't exactly understand the numbers.
I just brewed my first batch last night and got an OG of 1.050. It came out to what the kit said it was supposed to come out to but if it was any higher or lower I wouldn't have a clue what it meant
 
Basically, you don't want to pull the beer off of the yeast until it is finished fermenting. By knowing your OG you can get an idea of what your FG(final gravity) should be. Since his beer started at 1.066 the FG should be somewhere around 1.016(25% of OG).

The FG of your 1.050 wort should be around 1.012-1.013. This is all assuming the yeast used has apparent attenuation of 75%. Numbers should be adjusted according the apparent attenuation of the yeast.

So, basically it helps you understand when the fermentation is complete.
 
Additionally, you generally want to take two hydrometer readings before racking. You are looking for readings across two to three days without a change in the reading. If it doesn't change, fermentation is complete. If it continues to drop, then fermentation is still going on.

No, it could be that you want to leave a little residual sweetness. Then you are looking for a target gravity. I used to brew a honey amber using buckwheat honey. Because honey is fully fermentable, it can tend to thin your beer while adding to the alcohol. So I used to stop fermentation slightly before it was done.
 
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