Relevance of gravity reading

[mappler]

I have a beer I am ready to keg. FG is supposed to be 1.014-1.018. SG of the brew is 1.022, and has been there for a week. I'm planning to keg this, but I was curious. What kind of a disparity do you need for this number to be off enough to want to do something about it?

I am assuming 1 point and we are in the margin of error.
20 points we have a major discrepancy.
Where between 1 and 20 should I care?

Thanks,
Matt

 

[BobC]

Your FG has to be taken in contrast to your OG. For instance a OG of 1.082 is giving you a 8% ABV. This would mean your yeast did a great job and you have nothing to worry about. Where as if your OG was only 1.052 you would only have a 4% ABV indicating that you may have a problem like under pitching your yeast or you didn't a good conversion during your mash. I hope this helps it's 4am for me.

 

[phuff7129]

I am not sure how you arrived at your estimated FG but if it is accurate then 1.022 is too high.

You may try giving your yeast cake a little swirl and rouse the little yeasties, bump up your temperature, and give it a few more days to see if you can get it to come down. If not you may need to pitch some more yeast.

I had a 1.078 OG brew stall at 1.022 and I had to pitch another yeast packet and I was able to get it down to 1.014 and it came out great.

If you want to give me the specifics about your OG, the yeast you used, fermentation temps, I might be able to give you an idea why it stalled. Also if it is an extract brew, extracts are famous for stalling around 1.020. I would not keg it where it is right now.

 

[Hojo3322]

I was having very similar problems getting my OG down. I now make starters for all of my beers (regardless of OG) and it has done wonders for them. It is a very easy process and is an great way to improve the quality of your beer. This guy does good job of explaining the process if you are interested

 

[suprchunk]

I am not sure how you arrived at your estimated FG but if it is accurate then 1.022 is too high.

But we don't know what his OG was. It definitely would be too high if he started at 1.040, but as mentioned above, if it was substantially higher it could be in the ballpark of being finished. Heck, it could be too low.

 

[phuff7129]

But we don't know what his OG was. It definitely would be too high if he started at 1.040, but as mentioned above, if it was substantially higher it could be in the ballpark of being finished. Heck, it could be too low.

Right. That is why I qualified the statement by stating if the expected FG is accurate. I am assuming that if he has an expected FG then it was calculated from the OG (which is unknown) based in the attenuation capabilities of the yeast (also unknown). If his expected FG is 1.014-1.018, and that number is accurate, then his gravity of 1.022 is too high and he needs to take steps to attenuate his beer further.

It would help if the OP would jump in here with this information or all we can do is make assumptions.