White Claw Experiment - Strange Numbers

[dnye]

Hey guys,

Following the trend in the world of potent potables, I have several friends that love White Claws. I saw Adventures in Homebrewing had a white claw kit and it was only $20 so I figured I'd give it a shot and see if I could make em.

From the very beginning I had weird results. The directions called for a 2 gallon boil with the provided priming sugar. I believe it was 3# 7oz. Boil for 5 minutes and cool, then top up to 5.25 gallons and add yeast. Said OG should be between 1.029-33. After boil and cooling I added water till 5 gallons and took a gravity reading and it was 1.027. I was really confused so I took gravity with hydrometer and my refractometer to double check and both confirmed. I was confused because there shouldn't be any efficiency here as I'm just adding sugar, so I don't know how I could be low especially with less water then called for unless the bags of sugar were a little light. So first mystery, but not a huge deal. I pitched the provided US-05 after rehydrating in a little water (it got very bubbly before pitching) and let it rest in my basement.

A week later the mystery intensified. I pulled a sample and checked the gravity and the hydrometer said 1.039. It had gone up 10 points. How can that happen? It can't right? I did notice that there were a lot of bubbles in the sample and it tasted carbonated, could that cause problems for the reading?

So I let it go longer and noticed it was still bubbling slowly. I thought the basement was a little cold so I turned on a space heater and it bubbled with a little more vigor. A week later it was at 1.019. The recipe says it should hit below 1.000. A few days later I checked again and still 1.019 so starting to lose hope. Waited another few days and now it's at about 1.012.

So I don't know exactly what help I'm looking for other than, this is the strangest brew I've ever experienced. Has anyone tried a hard seltzer? Anyone ever seen a gravity reading increase? Is there anything that can cause this other than saying my hydrometer was wrong? The recipe is just water, corn sugar, and minerals does this provide a suitable environment for the yeast or should I have added some sort of nutrients?

Thanks!

 

[grampamark]

The mystery, to me, is why someone would pay $20 for 3 1/2 pounds of sugar and an instruction sheet.

Seriously, it’s likely your volume measurements might have been a bit off. The higher gravity reading after a week of fermentation could have been the result of too small a sample which let the hydrometer bottom out in the cylinder (ask me how I know ).

 

[dnye]

There was also a bottle of flavor extract and yeast and minerals and clarifying agent! I actually looked at piece mealing it and the kit wasn't a bad deal. But you're not wrong.

 

[RPh_Guy]

• The sugar wasn't properly mixed, causing the first inaccurately low gravity reading.
• Volumes may have too low, causing a higher gravity reading than expected once the sugar mixed, or carbonation may have affected the reading. The sample should be degassed before measuring the density.
• The yeast may not have been properly rehydrated, leading to a delayed start and slow fermentation.
• What "minerals" were used? Proper yeast nutrients were not provided, leading to a slow and/or stalled fermentation.

Sounds like a really crappy and overpriced kit.
Get some Fermaid O and add it.

 

[dnye]

Minerals were 2.5g Magnesium Chloride, 2.5 g Epsom Salt, 3g baking Soda

 

[HB_ATL73]

The sugar wasn't properly mixed, causing the first inaccurately low gravity reading

This.
Done it before myself. I thought I missed my OG by 20 pts on one of the first kits I ever brewed.. I went back and added an additional bunch DME to the primary- I swear that pale ale ended up being 9% ABV

 

[tnbrewer371]

• The sugar wasn't properly mixed, causing the first inaccurately low gravity reading.
• Volumes may have too low, causing a higher gravity reading than expected once the sugar mixed, or carbonation may have affected the reading. The sample should be degassed before measuring the density.
• The yeast may not have been properly rehydrated, leading to a delayed start and slow fermentation.
• What "minerals" were used? Proper yeast nutrients were not provided, leading to a slow and/or stalled fermentation.

Sounds like a really crappy and overpriced kit.
Get some Fermaid O and add it.

A tsp of fermaid for every two gallons will fix attenuation problems with sugar water. Trust me. I’ve locked in this recipe