Red Ale....Problem??

[evans5150]

Hello all,

Today is bottling day. My OG for my red ale was at 1.056...pretty good. But 2 weeks after a good fermentation and settling in the garage I have a FG of 1.030. Seems pretty high to me. Anyone see a problem?

Here is the recipe:

6 lbs. Amber Malt Extract
1 lb. 60L Caramel Malt
1 lb. Light DME
2 oz. Cascade Hops
2 oz. Willamette Hops
White Labs California Ale Yeast

Thanks in advance,

evans5150

 

[Sasquatch]

What temp fermentation? How's it taste? I bet it's still sweet. Let it sit another week, I reckon.

 

[evans5150]

What temp fermentation? How's it taste? I bet it's still sweet. Let it sit another week, I reckon.

It fermented vigorously the first 2 days at about 67-70 degrees inside the house. Then I let it sit inside for another 5 days. I put it out in the garage for the following week where the temperatures were anywhere between 38 and 61 degrees. It actually doesn't taste too sweet. It tastes pretty good. With the gravity's that I have and the calculations plugged in, the beer should be at 4.1% alcohol which is a little low.

 

[Sasquatch]

All you can really do is let it sit, and keep taking hydrometer readings. If they stay stable for a week... well, what can you do? Bottle er up and hope for the best.

 

[evans5150]

All you can really do is let it sit, and keep taking hydrometer readings. If they stay stable for a week... well, what can you do? Bottle er up and hope for the best.

Damn. Oh well. We're out of town next weekend so I won't have time to bottle it up then. Today is a day off from work so I'll just bottle it up today and hope for the best. I'm hoping the corn sugar conditioning will help it out with the slight rise in alcohol.

 

[RichBrewer]

Be careful. If there are still unfermented sugars in your beer you could end up with exploding bottles. Do you know the temperature of the beer when you measured the gravity? If it was in the 30s that could account for the higher reading.

 

[evans5150]

Be careful. If there are still unfermented sugars in your beer you could end up with exploding bottles. Do you know the temperature of the beer when you measured the gravity? If it was in the 30s that could account for the higher reading.

I brought the fermenter into the house and had it inside for the past 3 days so I could measure the gravity today before bottling. It was about 66 degrees when I measured it.

 

[UNOmar]

Do you know the temperature of the beer when you measured the gravity? If it was in the 30s that could account for the higher reading.

Doesn't it work the other way when you're below 60 deg F? If the 1.030 measurement was taken @ 30 deg the actual should be 1.029 according to http://www.leebrewery.com/hydromet.htm

[Edit] spelling.

 

[Lou]

Doesn't it work the other way when you're below 60 deg F? If the 1.030 measurement was taken @ 30 deg the actual should be 1.029 according to http://www.leebrewery.com/hydromet.htm

[Edit] spelling.

umm...that's not the other way...you said the same thing he said...

 

[UNOmar]

umm...that's not the other way...you said the same thing he said...

Whoops, didn't think that one through. Better lay off the homebrew.
Carry on...

 

[evans5150]

I did have it back in the house for 3 days at 70 degrees before today and there was no sign of fermentation. There were small clumps of bubbles on the top of the brew but no foam. So I guess the bottom line question is this:

From all of your past experience...do I have a SLIM chance of these bottles bursting on me??

Thanks,

evans5150