Primed before FG reading...

[dieden187]

Ok, noob mistake. I added priming sugar before I took my FG.

Specific gravity goes as follows...

OG was 1.079 (target was 1.062)

I had almost exactly 2 gallons of beer and I added 2 oz of dextrose.

FG (after priming. Oops) was 1.040

This still seems pretty high, even after adding the dextrose. I'm not concerned with whether or not primary fermentation done, because it sat in primary for exactly a month. How much would an ounce per gallon of dextrose increase my SG, and given these numbers what might my FG and ABV be around?

 

[stvo]

Mr. Beer?? The Kits should have SG and FG on them and they should be very accurate.... you could probably get that info from the internets

 

[dieden187]

Mr. Beer?? The Kits should have SG and FG on them and they should be very accurate.... you could probably get that info from the internets

No, it was all grain. It seems like it didn't attenuate worth crap. 1.079 down to 1.040 with 4 weeks in primary. It tastes INSANELY sweet, but there wasn't any action in the fermenter for over 3 weeks. I didn't pull thiefs because I was only working with 2 gallons, so I guess it could have still been creeping down? I just don't think 2 oz of dextrose in 2 gal of beer could account for much of an up in sweetness.

 

[WoodlandBrew]

Primed beer does taste s little sweet, but it sounds like you are passed that. If you are using a refractometer are you correcting for alcohol? 2 oz in two gallons will give you about 3 gravity points. So it's probably mash temperature.

 

[cluckk]

Two ounces of dextrose should only add around 5 points and on top of that you probably dissolved it in enough water to pull the ratio back down close to the actual gravity.

Are you reading the hydrometer right? Right scale? Letting it settle? Spinning it to dislodge any bubbles?
Are you adjusting for temperature?
I'd ask if you are sure active fermentation is done, but you already answered that.

1.079 to 1.040 gives you 5.11% ABV. But at 1.040 that would be extremely sweet--extremely.

 

[dieden187]

1.079 to 1.040 gives you 5.11% ABV. But at 1.040 that would be extremely sweet--extremely.

That is exactly how it tastes. Hydrometer was settled, measured at 68 degrees, no bubbles... The only thing I can think of is that I didn't aerate the wort starting out (other than the splashing from the siphon) so maybe the yeast petered out.

For better or worse, it is bottled. I guess we will see just how distastefully sweet it is in 3 weeks.

 

[dieden187]

I wonder if my 3724 Stalled on me. I wasn't able to keep fermentation any higher that 72 or 73

 

[Gduck]

I wonder if my 3724 Stalled on me. I wasn't able to keep fermentation any higher that 72 or 73

The Belgian Saison yeast is notorious for stalling out in the 1.035 to 1.040 range. It needs either plenty of time or letting that temp ramp up pretty wild. I've had sluggish ferments with it where I had to ramp it up in to the 80's to get things progressing at a decent rate. It's a great yeast, but it's finicky as heck and can take a lot of babying to get it to ferment out.

 

[dieden187]

If that's the case, I'm going to have some major bottle bombs on my hands. Maybe my 1 liter grolsch bottles will burp the excess before they explode... #wishfulthinking

 

[dieden187]

Would a rubbermade tub and an aquarium heater get it up to the 80's? Or would it take a second heater?

Edit: would an aquarium heater get a tub of water and the fermenter up to 80ish, not the bottles.

 

[Gduck]

Would a rubbermade tub and an aquarium heater get it up to the 80's? Or would it take a second heater?

Edit: would an aquarium heater get a tub of water and the fermenter up to 80ish, not the bottles.

Unfortunately that I don't know, never tried it. What worked well for me was just a cheap heating pad and I set the fermenter on top of that. Before I had a temp regulator I would just monitor the fermenter temp with one of those stick on thermometers to make sure it didn't get too hot. I guess some of the fancier heating pads you can set temps for, though I have no idea how low they go down. These days I have a Johnson controller hooked up to the heating pad so it can shut off when I get it where I want it.

 

[WoodlandBrew]

I use a 50 watt heater in 5 gallons of water. It can get the water temperature about 10 degrees above ambient.

 

[dieden187]

So, I put all 7-1 liter bottles in an ice cooler just in case they bombed on me. I noticed fairly quickly that every time I opened the cooler to check on them, I could smell CO2 really heavily. I'm guessing that it kept fermenting (past just carbing) because I opened one up today after 3 weeks of conditioning and 2 days in the fridge. It wasn't insanely, overly sweet. I seriously had ZERO expectation of a drinkable beer after everything being bottled at 1.039..... It is only a little sweet for a saison. I'm trying to figure how these could have cleaned up to a drinkable beer, not bombed, and not been gushers, but I'm at a loss.

Edit... Grolsch style, flip top bottles.

 

[dieden187]

Here's the finished product... A little sweeter than I'd have liked, but still definitely a Saison.

 

[Gduck]

The head on that makes it look like a nice dessert mousse!

 

[Doomsday]

Root beer float!!!! Mmmmmmmmm

 

[dieden187]

The head that never stops... That's a cap of head in an empty glass! At least the lacing and head retention were amazing. Now lets just get the taste a little drier, tarter and all around more "true to style"