Stuck Fermentation? or Done?

[pkiller001]

Hey all:
It's finally time to bottle my 1st imperial stout. Or so I thought. I checked a sample a few days ago and the reading was 1.056; the reading today was 1.056. Sounds great, bottles are in the dishwasher getting sanitized; sanitizing the bottling bucket, and I've lugged the carboy upstairs from the basement. Even finished off my little sample, and it tastes delicious.
And then I checked the FG I'm supposed to have, according to the recipe, and I'm about 15-20 points high.
Now, I've never been great with the hydrometer: my OG readings always seem low, and yet my 1st two beers have come out wonderfully. I figured I'd just make sure that the yeast were done fermenting, and then bottle. So.... I bottled away.

Then I remembered all these stories about "bottle bombs." Someone please tell me to relax, and don't worry about it. Tell me that I'm not about to dump all this work into the basement sump pump when all my bottles explode!

 

[nukebrewer]

RDWHAHB. You've bottled, so it's pretty much out of your hands. If you're worried about bottle bombs, try to keep the bottles a little cooler than normal. Since it's a lower carbonation beer, I don't think you'll get enough CO2 to bust the bottle, even if you were high on your FG. Best of luck and RDWHAHB, again.

 

[moti_mo]

That 1.056 sounds pretty high for a beer that doesn't taste ridiculously sweet. I've been worried about my Belgian getting into the 1.02 - 1.026 range (SG ~1.10). I tasted it when it had gotten down to ~1.040 and it was REALLY sweet. I can't imagine a beer at 1.056 tasting that great. What was your OG? What FG does the recipe call for? Have you ever checked that hydrometer against water to make sure it reads 1?

 

[pkiller001]

Funny you should ask;
I always get my hydrometer readings wrong. The OG was around 1.085 or so, but was supposed to be 1.100 or higher. The recipe called for a FG around 1.035-40, if I remember correctly. I can tell you the beer isn't too sweet. It has a nice bitter coffee flavor with a lot of chocolate on the nose.
I did, at one point, check my hydrometer, and it seems to read true. I simply seem to be inept at reading it in my beer.

 

[McKBrew]

You have the potential for serious issues here. If you have the recipe, I'd be interested in seeing it, especially what kind of yeast you used and whether or not you made a starter.

Best case, your hydrometer is wrong. Otherwise you are looking at a 4% ABV imperial stout that sounds to me like it got stuck. I'd taste a big sample and see if you can actually detect a strong alcohol taste, which might be the best bet on determining if it fermented fully.

In your case, I'd seriously recommend putting those bottles in some sort of sealed rubbermaid bucket ASAP just to be safe.

 

[brewjunky]

that's really high gravity for that beer brew smith has a final gravity of 1.018-1.030 for that style of beer.

I don't think that it could be 1.056 and not be sweet you must be reading the hydrometer wrong if that's not a sweet brew.