Pitching Yeast Wrong? Cant Read Refractometer?

[BrewforYou86]

Alrighty Fellas I think I have some serious yeast pitching issues. So I decided to make a Sierra Nevada knock off. These are the ingredients that I used.
• 6 lbs. (2.7 kg) light dry malt extract
• 1 lb. (0.45 kg) crystal malt (10 ºL) 4 oz. (112 grams) crystal malt (40 ºL)
• 1 oz. (28 grams) Chinook hops (bittering)
• 1 oz. (28 grams) Cascade hops (flavor)
• 1 oz. (28 grams) Cascade hops (aroma)
• 5 oz. (140 grams) priming sugar
Priming sugar was corn sugar and the yeast that I used was Danstar American Westcoast. I Steeped, sparged, boiled, cooled and then pitched the yeast. The wort was at about 70 degrees and my OG was 1.050. I pitched the yeast and then covered it up and let it sit at around 64-70 degrees for 7 days, then I dry hopped the remaining hops for another 10 days. As I went to bottle last night I noticed that the beer was extremely cloudy and the gravity was at 1.028. This puts my ABV around 2.8%. Very confused why it would be so low. I am using a refractometer to measure my gravities. Will my ABV rise with the priming sugar? I just do not know what I am doing so wrong. I am hoping it will condition more in the bottles. I am going to let is sit at or around 70 degrees for 2 more weeks before opening it.

 

[Natdavis777]

You need to take your final gravity readings with a hydrometer opposed to a refractometer. Not saying you cant with a refract, but you have to do a conversion since alcohol is now present. By using an online calculator, your real FG is 1.005. I love my refractometer, but I always do my FG measuring with a hydro for accuracy


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[kh54s10]

Did you run the numbers through a correction program to account for the presence of alcohol? The refractometer measured refraction of light and the presence of alcohol disturbs that. You need to correct for that. Mathematically.

I suspect the FG was much lower.

 

[BrewforYou86]

Oh I did not try that. I will have to do that to check the numbers.

 

[Anders9962]

I almost threw my refractometer in the bin the first time I used it. I didn't know about the alcohol changing the value either =)

I was freaking out until I found the tool in beersmith.