Final Gravity Too High!

[JeyTea]

Hi all.

First time post. But have been lurking here on AHB for some time for info - this is a great place for that.

I'm still on K&K. But my woes come from the fact that I've more than often ended up with final gravity reading that falls between slightly high or way too high. I can tell from drinking them that ABV has always been low (don't get drunk).

My latest batch is a Boag's Premium Lager:
- Black Rock Lager kit
- Brewcraft #60 German Lager kit converter
- LDME 500g
- Saflager yeast
- Temp controlled env at 11 degrees C (fridge, heating pad, 2xFridgemate to control those two devices)

OG - 1.055
FG - 1.018 (current reading after 2weeks)
Yeast was pitched directly from the packet into the fermenter without rehydration.
Still bubbling from the airlock every 2minutes or so...

Is there anything I'm doing wrong??
Could the hydrometer reading be inaccurate? (taking samples from the bottom tap? heh, where else could the tap be?)

I'm thinking of leaving it for another week before bottling.

Any advice would be appreciated.


Cheers,
JT

 

[0M39A]

pitching 1 packet of saflager is underpitching quite a bit. if youre not making a starter, then you should pitch at least 2 packets.

you can give your beer a bit of a stir with a well sanitised spoon, and raise the temperature up a degree or two.

2 weeks fermenting for a lager is not unusual at all. give it plenty of time. lagers ferment nice and slow. your fg has a way to come yet.

also, you said you are thinking of bottling in a week?

youre doing a lager, so you should raise the temperature up to 18-20 or so for a diacetyl rest at the end of fermentation, then rack to another clean carboy and lager it as close to zero degrees as possible for as long as possible to let the yeast clean up after itself and get rid of the nasty sulphur.

 

[mika]

^^ What he said

 

[kook]

I'd personally skip the racking, but otherwise what omega said. I only rack if I'm adding something (i.e. dry hops, oak, fruit) or storing the beer for longer than a month.

 

[Hefty]

A few questions:
What's your total volume?
How big is the German lager kit converter (eg 500g or 1kg)?
Any idea of exactly what's in the kit converter?

I played around on the Brewcraft brew calculator linky to try to get something close to what you've got.
I assumed 23L, 1 kg for the kit converter and just as a rough guide I assumed it was 600g dex and 400 maltodex (I know it's probably not that) along with the 500 LDM.
it came up with:
OG - 1051
FG - 1016
ABV - 5.3%

If I had your ingredients right, your numbers are only a little bit out.

If it's still bubbling, let it go (of course, still only trust your hydrometer etc etc). If it's temp controlled, you should be able to leave a lager for at least another week.

Cheers!
Jono.

 

[brettprevans]

mate brewcraft converter kits are always higher than you'd expect. also yeah 1 pack of lager yeast is underdoing it a bit. let it go its still fermentin. my lagers get to ferment for 3-4 weeks. a little bit out wont make a lick of differance.

 

[JeyTea]

Thanks all, especially Omega.

Struth! I didn't realise that there was so much more to brewing lager.
(I just assumed 2 weeks fermentation, bottle it, then a month or two in a dark place.)

And I was clueless about not having enough yeast! (i.e. resolved by pitching two packets, or doing a starter).

A few questions:
What's your total volume?
How big is the German lager kit converter (eg 500g or 1kg)?
Any idea of exactly what's in the kit converter?

I played around on the Brewcraft brew calculator linky to try to get something close to what you've got.
I assumed 23L, 1 kg for the kit converter and just as a rough guide I assumed it was 600g dex and 400 maltodex (I know it's probably not that) along with the 500 LDM.
it came up with:
OG - 1051
FG - 1016
ABV - 5.3%

If I had your ingredients right, your numbers are only a little bit out.

If it's still bubbling, let it go (of course, still only trust your hydrometer etc etc). If it's temp controlled, you should be able to leave a lager for at least another week.

Cheers!
Jono.

Thanks Jono.
The batch is 22L.
The Converter Kit is 1Kg. It says it contains dextrose, malt, and hop but does not say how much of each.
I think you're right, my OG was 51. So, I have just a bit more to go to get to 16...

 

[0M39A]

no worries at all.

one thing with brewing is never assume things, particularly when it comes to bottling.

2 weeks is far to general a statement, never bottle until you are sure that your SG has stabilized and that the beer is finished.

btw, what saflager yeast did you use?

 

[MHB]

Fairly common question for newer brewers, the most common cause for unusually high OG is a process error.

You put all the heavy stuff (the kit, dextrose, malt extract or what ever) into the bottom of the fermenter.

You start filling the fementer with water the very heavy wort reaches the level of the tap and fills the tap body with heavy wort.

This applies particularly if you have a sediment reducer in the back of the tap; you fill the fementer with water and give it a stir. The wort is well mixed, but the Heavy Wort is trapped in the tap.

When you take your sample, you wash the heavy wort into the test jar, this distorts the results, giving a false high.

The quick fix is to empty the first sample then refill the sample tube, this will be a more accurate or representative sample.

Hope that helps
MHB

EDIT
Opps, its been a long week, I just read the question around the wrong way, sorry.
M

 

[Darren]

Jey Tea,

If you have bubbles in your hydrometer sample they will falsely raise your readings. Make sure your sample is "de-gassed" then read again.

cheers

Darren

 

[Online Brewing Supplies]

pitching 1 packet of saflager is underpitching quite a bit. if youre not making a starter, then you should pitch at least 2 packets.

you can give your beer a bit of a stir with a well sanitised spoon, and raise the temperature up a degree or two.

2 weeks fermenting for a lager is not unusual at all. give it plenty of time. lagers ferment nice and slow. your fg has a way to come yet.

also, you said you are thinking of bottling in a week?

youre doing a lager, so you should raise the temperature up to 18-20 or so for a diacetyl rest at the end of fermentation, then rack to another clean carboy and lager it as close to zero degrees as possible for as long as possible to let the yeast clean up after itself and get rid of the nasty sulphur.

2 weeks is normal and do a Diacetyl. I think those sulphur smells are indicative of a true lager smell unless they are poduced by a infection, in which case they will be over the top IE rotten eggs.Co2 purging will remove most volitiles from a well fermented beer.usually those aromas are in the primary ferment only.Keep an I on it and see how you go.POR's (products or fermentation) are normal if your process is right.
GB

 

[JeyTea]

The quick fix is to empty the first sample then refill the sample tube, this will be a more accurate or representative sample.
Hope that helps
MHB
EDIT
Opps, it's been a long week, I just read the question around the wrong way, sorry.
M

No no, MHB, don't be sorry! Thanks for the advice. I'll keep that info in my own Brewing Book.

Jey Tea,
If you have bubbles in your hydrometer sample they will falsely raise your readings. Make sure your sample is "de-gassed" then read again.
cheers
Darren

Thanks for that Darren, but... de-gassed?? Is that where you shake the reading sample and let all the bubbles out before taking a reading??

 

[Online Brewing Supplies]

No no, MHB, don't be sorry! Thanks for the advice. I'll keep that info in my own Brewing Book.



Thanks for that Darren, but... de-gassed?? Is that where you shake the reading sample and let all the bubbles out before taking a reading??

In a true technical sense OG should be done on a filtered wort sample, and as Darren said your FG should be done ungassed,But if your beer is still fermenting this hard to get correct FG.Degassing can be done by boiling/above 72c your sample then cooling to 20C then do a FG.In most cases I dont see this being practical for home brewers unless you are anal like me.Leave it open in your Hydro test tube for a few days away from infection and you will get a good indication.pH readings will also indicate end of fermentation.
GB

 

[Darren]

Jey Tea,

Leave the sample in the hydrometer tube for 15 or more minutes then swirl the hydrometer in the liquid. Let it sit for a few more minutes then do again. Wait another couple of minutes and read.

cheers

darren

 

[JeyTea]

btw, what saflager yeast did you use?

Sorry mate, I've forgotten the specifics of the yeast . It isn't the yeast that comes with the kit (I've been taught to stay way away from that stuff).
It's the Saflager (S-04?) that comes in a shiny light-blue packet.
I'm going to my LHB tomorrow, so I'll know better then.

Cheers,
JT

 

[JeyTea]

Leave the sample in the hydrometer tube for 15 or more minutes then swirl the hydrometer in the liquid. Let it sit for a few more minutes then do again. Wait another couple of minutes and read.

Darren! They didn't teach that in my brewing class! (solo class, everything has been solo thus far)
Cheers!

 

[JeyTea]

Degassing can be done by boiling/above 72c your sample then cooling to 20C then do a FG.
GB

I'll put that down in my book.
Cheers, GB.

 

[0M39A]

Sorry mate, I've forgotten the specifics of the yeast . It isn't the yeast that comes with the kit (I've been taught to stay way away from that stuff).
It's the Saflager (S-04?) that comes in a shiny light-blue packet.
I'm going to my LHB tomorrow, so I'll know better then.

Cheers,
JT

s-04 is an ale yeast, not a lager. if you had that at 11C it wouldnt be doing much of anything

s-23 perhaps?

S-189?

W-34/70?

Theyre the dried lager strains that are avaliable.

s-04 does come in a blue packet, but as i said before, i doubt that its what youre using.

 

[Weizguy]

Darren! They didn't teach that in my brewing class! (solo class, everything has been solo thus far)
Cheers!

There are people you can see in Canbeera, who cater to your peculiar condition.
See Dr K for more information, encouragement and introduction to fine ales and sundry beers.
Lez

 

[JeyTea]

Hi all.

I thought best to report back on my progress after following some valuable advices from fellow brewers (thanks all!).

So, it appears that I've resolved my high gravity reading using the following methods:
- leave it for another week (total of three weeks at 11C temp controlled environment)
- stir the content at 2 week mark (using a well sanitised spoon)
- correctly read the hydrometer (as per Darren's instruction. Next time, I might follow GB's instruction regarding warming it to 72C).

The degassing of the sample in the hyrometer reading knocked off about 3~4 (1.015 -> 1.012) of the measurement, which was an eye-opener!

Still not sure of the lager yeast I used. I actually confused the blue packet (that was an ale yeast) with a silver one (lager yeast), as I was doing two batches on the same day.

Next time, I'm going to be sure to do a starter.

Cheers,
JT