Hydro readings wrong?

[DustyRusty]

Hi

I'm an extract brewer. Have this in the fermenter right now:

23litres

2.00kg briess Pilsen DME
500g briess wheat DME
350g table sugar

40min 25g motueka
15min 20g motueka
0 mins (flame out) 20g motueka
Dry hop 4 days 25g motueka

Belle saison yeast

My OG was 1.055 but after 7 days it's down to 1.002! I know this yeast is a beast but that's impossible. I did a 17litre boil and dissolved all fermentables in the boil, chilled then added cold water to fermenter to top up to 23litres. This is not the first time I've had weird readings like this. Do I have a broken hydrometer? Am I failing to mix my wort or something? And could anyone guess as to what my attenuation and alcohol level will be?

Taste out of FV: very dry, bitter with a really delicious orangy tang from the hops.

 

[wereprawn]

Only done 2 Saisons myself. Both fermented out the same as yours. No need to stress mate, mine turned out fine.

Lots of good stuff and an alc calculator here http://www.brewersfriend.com/abv-calculator/

 

[DustyRusty]

Thanks. Problem is the attenuation is coming out at 96% on the calcs. Surely that's impossible isn't it?

 

[antiphile]

It may be possible. Remember the calculated reading is your "apparent attenuation" not the "true attenuation". However, having said that, and not knowing what type or condition of your hydrometer, it may be reading incorrectly. I assume it's reading 1.000 in water at 20 degrees C.

 

[wereprawn]

Both mine ended up at 1002. Heard of plenty of others with similar results. Very high attenuation seems to be the norm for Belle Saison.

 

[DustyRusty]

Thanks guys. I'll test the hydro. As you said in sure the beer is fine, just unexpected readings.

 

[MHB]

You simply don't have enough ingredients in there to get to 1.055, 1.049 if the DME contained zero moisture but I think your OG really was about 1.047-1.048.
If you are adding the diluting water to the fermenter it's odds on that there was a bit of the high gravity wort trapped in the tap, you washed that into your hydro jar and it is giving you a false high reading.
Other than that, yep saison can attenuate like a demon.
Mark

 

[wereprawn]

What temp was your wort sample? The farther from 20c your sample is, the more correction is needed for an accurate gravity reading. Again , there is a temp correction calculator in my previous link.

 

[stewy]

Thanks. Problem is the attenuation is coming out at 96% on the calcs. Surely that's impossible isn't it?

Normal for belle saison. Just bottled one Monday that finished at 1.000. Many others have reported in the .9's

 

[DustyRusty]

What temp was your wort sample? The farther from 20c your sample is, the more correction is needed for an accurate gravity reading. Again , there is a temp correction calculator in my previous link.

It was at 28C at both ends which corrects the readings to 1.057 and 1.004. Same attenuation though so same problem. I think MHBs explanation makes sense - unmixed wort stuck in tap. Next time I'll put a few litres of diluting water in first and stir a bit more and see if my readings are a bit more accurate. This also gives me some indication of the ABV too which helps. Thanks everyone!

 

[TimT]

I've had the occasional spot of hydrometer weirdness - doing a reading on two subsequent days and the second reading being slightly - or substantially - higher than on the previous day. But generally I find them to be pretty accurate (once I get past my incipient Old Man issues by finding the right way to squint at the hydro to make the readings make sense). So if it said the measurement was down to 1.002 my instinct would be to trust it. I've used Belle Saison before, it's a great attenuator and brings some lovely flavours. Enjoy your drink!

 

[MHB]

Its a common enough problem, just make sure that if you add water first you don't end up with the opposite problem, low gravity wort in the tap leading to a false low.
Best practice is to discard the first 50-100mL and take your reading on the next portion, that will all be the same as the contents of the fermenter (given you have stirred properly)
Tim
that one is mostly caused by bubbles forming on the hydrometer and lifting it up slightly, when you are taking samples of anything with dissolved gas (CO2 in this case) the more dissolved gas the bigger the effect, so it changes through the brew. You need to either de-gas the sample, or put the hydrometer in then wait 10-15 minutes until the temperature is all the same (sample, jar & hydrometer = Equilibrated),give the hydrometer sharp twist to detach any bubbles adhering to it - then take your reading.
Mark

 

[Rod]

Hi

I'm an extract brewer. Have this in the fermenter right now:

23litres

2.00kg briess Pilsen DME
500g briess wheat DME
350g table sugar

40min 25g motueka
15min 20g motueka
0 mins (flame out) 20g motueka
Dry hop 4 days 25g motueka

Belle saison yeast

My OG was 1.055 but after 7 days it's down to 1.002! I know this yeast is a beast but that's impossible. I did a 17litre boil and dissolved all fermentables in the boil, chilled then added cold water to fermenter to top up to 23litres. This is not the first time I've had weird readings like this. Do I have a broken hydrometer? Am I failing to mix my wort or something? And could anyone guess as to what my attenuation and alcohol level will be?

Taste out of FV: very dry, bitter with a really delicious orangy tang from the hops.

Not wanting to steal your post but


I am an extract brewer also the recipe looks interesting

Belle saison yeast is favourite yeast

use it with Saison

where did you get the briess pilsen DME

it is a mix of pilsen DME and carapil ( about 5% I think )

I suppose I could use light dry malt extract and carapils

the hops from Country Brewer would be the difference between your recipe and my Saison

 

[stewy]

I brew extract. I never take an OG reading. It's unnecessary with extract brewing, the software is very accurate in predicting what your OG is as there are no efficiency concerns to worry about like you have with mashing

 

[DustyRusty]

Not wanting to steal your post but


I am an extract brewer also the recipe looks interesting

Belle saison yeast is favourite yeast

use it with Saison

where did you get the briess pilsen DME

it is a mix of pilsen DME and carapil ( about 5% I think )

I suppose I could use light dry malt extract and carapils

the hops from Country Brewer would be the difference between your recipe and my Saison

Hi mate. I got all those supplies from Craftbrewer - posted to Sydney. Not sure the exact makeup of the briess Pilsen but your guess sounds plausible. First time I ordered from them and I found the hops very fresh. Huge aroma. Stank out my fridge. Maybe that's just motueka but I suspect it's also the packaging and sourcing of fresh stock by craftbrewer.

The beer is tasting good. I rarely want to keep drinking hydro samples but I felt like another glass after this one. Perhaps too dry. After some conditioning time I may consider reducing the sugar in the next batch but we'll see, it is a saison after all.

My last saison was an all wheat extract saison with Northern Brewer hops (no dry hop). This current one, even out of the fermenter is significantly better - the orangey hops really add a layer that wasn't there in my last one.

 

[DustyRusty]

Just cracked a bottle. Absolutely delicious. The motueka really adds a great flavour. I've only brewed under about 15 batches of beer but this is easily one of my best. And so simple!