Final Gravity

[citizensnips]

G'day all, brewed the ag bright ale recipe recently, Numbers were pretty much right, got an OG of 1.050 and after 10 days or so its 1.014. It stopped fermenting about 3-4 days ago so to make sure I jacked the stc up to 20 degrees and just gently swirled the fermenter to try and stir the yeasties back into production. Beersmith estimated a finish of 1.011 but that was with 1.049 OG so I figure 1.012 is where it probably should have been. What is everyone's knowledge on bottling at this point, haven't really had this issued too much before so don't really know what to do. I fermented at a constant 18 with us-05 as well. I figure it has to be finished as I have given it time, temperature and agitation. Do you guys recon bottle bombs or no dramas?
Thanks

 

[Liam_snorkel]

did you mash a little higher than usual?

 

[citizensnips]

definitely possible I mashed 1 or 2 degrees higher at times, as well as mashing out to 75 then taking it out

 

[carniebrew]

G'day all, brewed the ag bright ale recipe recently, Numbers were pretty much right, got an OG of 1.050 and after 10 days or so its 1.014. It stopped fermenting about 3-4 days ago so to make sure I jacked the stc up to 20 degrees and just gently swirled the fermenter to try and stir the yeasties back into production. Beersmith estimated a finish of 1.011 but that was with 1.049 OG so I figure 1.012 is where it probably should have been. What is everyone's knowledge on bottling at this point, haven't really had this issued too much before so don't really know what to do. I fermented at a constant 18 with us-05 as well. I figure it has to be finished as I have given it time, temperature and agitation. Do you guys recon bottle bombs or no dramas?
Thanks

Have you racked it to a secondary at all? If it's gonna get stirred up that'll help, and you can at least get it off the trub. My guess is it's finished though. If you're in a hurry maybe leave it 'til Sunday and if it's still 1014 bottle it. If you're not in a hurry put it in a secondary and leave it til Sunday week before bottling.

 

[citizensnips]

Interestingly enough just to see I put the hydrometer in plain water and it read about 1.005 so I was a little :blink: That hydrometer by the way was from brewcraft, where as my other hydrometer was half the priced purchased from Big W made by brigalow. So I tested the brigalow one as well and it read 1.000 in plain water so I assumed it was the smarter choice going with the one that seemed to be correctly calibrated. I then tested the brew and it was 1.010. Would this mean if my OG was 1.050 with the Brewcraft one, it meant my OG was really about 1.046 and my FG is obviously 1.010, sounding pretty spot on to me.............Shes been finished this whole time resting and ive been swirling her about :huh:
At least thats what I think.......someone for gods sake reinforce my opinon to make me feel better.

 

[tiprya]

Sounds right to me. Ready to bottle.

 

[nickh]

Interestingly enough just to see I put the hydrometer in plain water and it read about 1.005 so I was a little :blink: That hydrometer by the way was from brewcraft, where as my other hydrometer was half the priced purchased from Big W made by brigalow. So I tested the brigalow one as well and it read 1.000 in plain water so I assumed it was the smarter choice going with the one that seemed to be correctly calibrated. I then tested the brew and it was 1.010. Would this mean if my OG was 1.050 with the Brewcraft one, it meant my OG was really about 1.046 and my FG is obviously 1.010, sounding pretty spot on to me.............Shes been finished this whole time resting and ive been swirling her about :huh:
At least thats what I think.......someone for gods sake reinforce my opinon to make me feel better.

How did this turn out in the end? I have a similar problem with a Heff that I have just brewed from a Fresh Wort kit. I added 1.5kg of liquid malt (fist time I have used liquid rather than dried) and my OG was 1.053 and the FG has been sitting at approximately 1.011 for the past 4 days. Been fermenting at 18degrees and airlock was not bubbling and became level after just 7 days...

It 'feels' as though she is ready to crash chill before bottling but the FG is a lot higher than anything I have experienced before. I too would like someone to comfort me and tell me it is ok to proceed through to chill/botling!

Any advice appreciated but would love to hear back that your brew stayed in the bottle and didn't explode!!!

 

[carniebrew]

1011 is a very normal FG, very few of my brews finish below 1010, especially when using LME. I'd say you're ready to go. Question though...why crash chill a hefe? The style is meant to have yeast in suspension, and if you used a hefe yeast, like wb-06, it'll be more authentic without crash chilling.

EDIT: Also, you have a bit of a beast there, 1053/1011 will give you 6% after bottle priming. Do you want it that high? If not, you could boil like 1.5 litres of water with your priming sugar in it, chill it really quick to keep as much oxygen out as possible, then bulk prime with that solution, it'll back the abv off by half a percent or so.

 

[verysupple]

Yeah, carnie's right, I wouldn't crash chill a hefe. Some of mine tend to floc to the bottom of the bottle and if I forget to rouse it before pouring it tastes kinda bland.

On the 6% ABV thing I don't see a problem. If there's no hint of alcoholic hotness / harsh phenolics then the more alcohol the better :icon_cheers:

 

[nickh]

Cheers guys- I wasn't going to crash chll but my 'Beer Geek' adviser suggested it might have a bit too much action in it without the chill. I am glad you have stopped me as I felt it might take away from the authenticity/rawness of it all.

As for the alcohol content- assuming it tastes fine, I want it to be punchy. All these kits come out at 4% to 4.5%. Although the idea is to get good tasting beer, without the decent alcohol content, I don't get that "Aaahhhh" sensation when I just want one or two if it comes out too lightweight.

I had a fantastic Heff at 'The Scratch' last month which was 7.8%. I would be very proud to get to the point of emulating that beauty one day.

 

[carniebrew]

Cheers guys- I wasn't going to crash chll but my 'Beer Geek' adviser suggested it might have a bit too much action in it without the chill. I am glad you have stopped me as I felt it might take away from the authenticity/rawness of it all.

As for the alcohol content- assuming it tastes fine, I want it to be punchy. All these kits come out at 4% to 4.5%. Although the idea is to get good tasting beer, without the decent alcohol content, I don't get that "Aaahhhh" sensation when I just want one or two if it comes out too lightweight.

I had a fantastic Heff at 'The Scratch' last month which was 7.8%. I would be very proud to get to the point of emulating that beauty one day.

We have mercilessly hijacked this thread, but one last one...all my hefe's/dunkels have been fermented inside of 7 days, I never secondary them, just straight into bottles and drinking within a week. I think they get marginally better after a month, maybe...