Fg Higher Than Anticipated

[saturn]

Hi all

I have brewed a lager which is still in the fermenter
The SG is around 1060
FG is 1012
this is much lower than I had planned
I have only brewed to 21 litres

Means that the lager will be around 7.1% which is bit heavy for my taste (massive understatement)


is it possible to add another litre or two of water and bring the alcohol down?

 

[coloneldom]

G'day Saturn,

First of all mate, what was your original recipe? How much of the ingredients were fermentable etc? I know I once had a very high SG reading that wasnt true to the ingredients I used, most likely because they werent completely dissolved in the fermenter when I took the reading, so that may be your problem.

The only problem I seewith adding more water to your brew is oxygenation of the wort if it splashes round to much and you also increase the risk of infection. If you can do it carefully, maybe using chilled boiled water you may be able to avoid this.

But I'd wait until some more experienced members give you a reply first as well!!

Cheers

 

[0M39A]

brew a light strength beer and blend them?

what did you expect with a 1060 OG?

 

[saturn]

brew a light strength beer and blend them?

what did you expect with a 1060 OG?

I expected it to stop around 1018 so the alcohol would have been a bit higher than I like but acceptable

 

[saturn]

G'day Saturn,

First of all mate, what was your original recipe? How much of the ingredients were fermentable etc? I know I once had a very high SG reading that wasnt true to the ingredients I used, most likely because they werent completely dissolved in the fermenter when I took the reading, so that may be your problem.

The only problem I seewith adding more water to your brew is oxygenation of the wort if it splashes round to much and you also increase the risk of infection. If you can do it carefully, maybe using chilled boiled water you may be able to avoid this.

But I'd wait until some more experienced members give you a reply first as well!!

Cheers

Recipe
Black Rock lager kit 1.7
1.5 liquid malt
500 LDME
20 x 20gm saaz


I only filled to 21 litres because generally I steep some grains. I left them out and only realised when I was filling the fermenter so I made a decision on the run. Really thought it would finish the ferment a bit higher around 1018.

 

[Pennywise]

With those ingredients you definetly should have had an FG of 1018, 1016 at the least. What temp did you take you FG reading at? Is you hydrometer accurate?

 

[saturn]

With those ingredients you definetly should have had an FG of 1018, 1016 at the least. What temp did you take you FG reading at? Is you hydrometer accurate?

Took the temp at around 14/15 degrees

Hydrometer - seems OK (do they break-and if so how do you tell?)

 

[Pennywise]

Took the temp at around 14/15 degrees

Hydrometer - seems OK (do they break-and if so how do you tell?)

If it breaks, you'll have glass everywhere they don't get unusable from age. Most hydrometers are calibrated to 20 deg celcius, some are 15 deg, but if you have a look here http://www.howtobrew.com/appendices/appendixA.html you'll see that 6 deg does stuff all when taking a reading. The only other two things that come to mind is when you measured the extract, could your scales be faulty? Or is the measurements on the fermenter accurate? But then again if you OG was spot on, makes things a little more confusing

 

[0M39A]

Did you actually use a real lager yeast? they will chomp through a fair bit of sugar, and in my experience with them, attenuate better than most ale yeasts.

2kg of malt with only a regular kit is a lot of extra fermentables. i would be more worried about how unbalanced this beer is going to taste, as there will be a lot of malt sweetness, but bugger all bitterness to back it up.

then again, if you put 20x20g saaz into it... im a hophead myself, but 400g is extreme

anyway, as i said, i would be looking at brewing a lower strength beer and blending the two together. if you want to add water to it now, make sure it has been boiled then cooled to drive off any oxygen, and dont splash it round when you transfer it in.