problems brewing pilsner

[cb74644]

So my second ever batch f home brew and thought I would try Pilsner.
So when i was making the mixture instead of using 23 liters i accidentally filled to 24 liters. I was also 100g short of brewing sugar and shops were shut and figured 100g wouldn't make a huge difference.
Anyways took an original hydrometer reading of 1010. It fermented away for just over a week now and has stopped bubbling. Now the hydrometer reading is 1002 so basically 0% alcohol.
Now I am new to this so this may be fine but as a newbie was hoping someone could advise whats going on and if this will be ok to bottle now.
Thanks

 

[ss4ivan]

That seems low for your OG. What was your recipe and brew process?

 

[poptarts]

If i had to guess you dont know how to use your hydrometer

 

[porterpounder]

Pilsner brewing is ambitious for a second brew. The yeast and fermentation temperature schedule make the big difference in getting a delicate, clean beer. 1.010 is practically water. 1 L increase would not take a beer that should br about 1.048 to 1.010 so somewhere you miscalculated your malt/sugar addition. If you are using sugar to fortify the wort, any type of plain table sugar will work. Sugar usually isn't part of the ingredient bill for a pilsner, but some kits still use it.

If the gravity is stable at 1.002 then you can bottle it, but your're looking at a 1% ABV beer (1.010-1.002)*1.2= 0.96 %ABV.

 

[huckbof]

is brewing sugar = DME?

post the total amount used

1010 is really low

if your SGs are correct you have 1.05% alchol by volume and you used
the equivalent of 650g of DME

 

[Darwin18]

You most likely read your hydrometer incorrectly.

 

[wailingguitar]

If this was an extract brew, which I assume it is, you probably didn't have the extract mixed in well and your gravity sample was unbalanced towards water. That happens frequently

 

[TeamAshBrewing]

An OG of 1010 is very low. I assume you topped off your wort volume with water to a total of 24L. An extra liter of water wont dilute that much. 100g short of sugar also wont result in that low of an OG. My calculations (brewersfriend.com) are in gallons and ounces, but a rough conversion is an extra 1L of water affects the OG by about .001. And each 100g of corn sugar is also about .001.

How much LME or DME did you use? And how much total sugar?

As for bottling, with any home brew, I wait at least 2-3 weeks. Pilsners, lagers, and other lighter beers, I wait 3 or more weeks. Yeast is done making alcohol when your FG is stable for a few days. But you still want to let the yeast clean up after itself.

 

[cb74644]

So as I am brand new to this I have used this...

http://www.wilko.com/cider+beer-brewing/wilko-delicate-pilsner/invt/0318380

Its a simple 40 pint brew kit from a local store where you heat the tin mix in the water add the yeast and leave to brew. Due to this I am unable to give any detail as to the quantity of stuff used apart from the fact it was supposed to have 1kg of sugar and I used 900g and 23ltrs of water and I used 24ltrs.
Is there anyway I can save this brew as don't really want to be drinking weak larger flavored water!
Can I mix in more sugar and leave it longer?
Thanks for all the help.

 

[McGarnigle]

Unless you forgot to add the extract, your hydrometer measurements are wrong. No idea whether your beer will taste weak or not.

 

[cb74644]

image of hydrometer readings attached. Looks like the reading has changed sightly since the last which is a good sign i guess!

 

[cb74644]

hopefully images of hydrometer are attached. The reading looks like 1006 now, assuming I am reading it correct....

 

[cb74644]

another pic

 

[TeamAshBrewing]

I would question your OG reading, or as wailingguitar pointed out. Your wort wasn't mixed well.
Also as a side note, that kit uses about 2kg of malt and 1kg of sugar. That's a lot of sugar and can produce off flavors. If a kit calls for sugar, I would substitute malt extract. The only exceptions are usually when you are brewing very large beers such as barley wines. However, it is ok to use sugar at bottling.
As for tossing it or not. I guess the only way to tell is to taste it. If you get a buzz and it tastes good, you read the OG incorrectly and is worth bottling.

 

[cb74644]

Thanks.
If i stir in more yeast could this save it?
Also for future with malt extract do you use the same quantity of this as you would sugar?
Cheers

 

[schokie]

More yeast won't help, only more fermentables. However, if you followed the directions with the kit regarding sugar additions, etc, I wouldn't worry about it.

Take your OG reading and throw it out the window. Ignore it. Even if you didn't add any additional fermentables like sugar or DME your OG should be higher than that. It's a common problem with extracts. If you don't stir well you'll get a false OG reading. The top off water rises to the top, which is what you're reading. In the future, make sure you stir vigorously before taking your reading.

I would use a little bit more DME than sugar. Corn (or cane) sugar provides about 46 points per pound per gallon (pppg). DME is about 40 pppg. So for example, with a 5 gal batch (19L), one pound (1.1 kg) of sugar increases your OG by .009 and the same amount of DME will increase it by .008. Add/subtract/multiply accordingly for your desired gravity increase. Try to limit the pure sugar to about 20% of the total fermentables. More than that can thin out the body a bit more than you'd like.

It looks like you're reading the FG correct.

Out of curiosity, what temp did you ferment at?

 

[cb74644]

Thanks
The temp tends to be between 16-19 degress.
Cheers

 

[tgmartin000]

Test your hydrometer in plain water. It should read 1.000.

 

[cb74644]

Yep it reads 0.

 

[SmokeyMcBong]

I'm gonna leave this right here just in case...

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTvmYaQq6Mc[/ame]