Really off OG and FG conundrum

[Irishguy42]

I have a conundrum for you guys.

So, I did my first brew day about a week and a half ago. I had bought a cream ale extract kit and the instructions said to do a partial boil. So I went through the process of making the wort and all that. Did the additions of fermentables/hops/etc all at the right times, cooled it in a water bath, etc.

I transferred it to my primary carboy through a strainer and then topped it off to 5 gallons. I did my OG reading with a hydrometer at that point. The kit said the expected OG was 1.051, and I got 1.033 (the hydrometer is calibrated, water reads 1.000).

I thought that was weird, but didn't think much of it at that point, but did record it. Went ahead and pitched my rehydrated US-05 and have had it in a relatively temp-controlled swamp cooler (64F-68F).

Now, over the course of the next week, I notice healthy looking krausen, furious activity and whatnot. All the normal signs of fermentation. So about a week after I pitched the yeast, things calmed down and the krausen receded and all that fun stuff. I take another gravity reading. The kit says the FG should be 1.012, but I end up reading 1.002, which I found reeeeeeeally weird. I don't see any signs of infection on the surface. I tasted the sample, and it tastes fine (though a bit watery, which I guess is to be expected for something only a week in primary). Two days later, I take another gravity reading and it's the same result, 1.002.

So, I gotta wonder...why am I getting such weird OG and FG readings? Is it possible that when I topped off the primary, I didn't mix the wort/new water enough? That would only account for the weird OG though, not he FG.

I expected, since it's a kit and not a recipe I created, that it would be idiot-proof on hitting the OG and FG, but I guess not...

This is the ingredient list, if you're curious.

The SRM is a tad darker than 5 (I'd say 6 or 7) and the ABV, going by my current OG and FG, would be 4.6%

Thoughts? What is my next move from here, if any? Do I just go ahead and move to bottling and then see what happens from there? Tips on how to avoid this again in my next brew?

Thanks!

 

[BrunDog]

Was your sample at the right temp when you measured it? Hydrometer are calibrated at certain temps, usually 60 degs F, and have a correction factor when off. Or maybe you added too much water?

Those ingredients should finish drier than 1.012. 1.002 is much more appropriate for a cream ale.

 

[RM-MN]

Your low OG is due to the topping off and the difficulty of getting the concentrated wort mixed with the much lighter water. It's normal for this reading to be off but with extract you are guaranteed to get the right OG because the malt extract has a known amount of sugars.

The low FG is not so normal but once you pitch the yeast, they determine the amount of attenuation and sometimes they go a little too far. If this is coupled with a bad reading it could easily show the FG of 1.002. Some yeasts are know to do this regularly. I have not seen it with US-05 yet.

 

[Irishguy42]

Was your sample at the right temp when you measured it? Hydrometer are calibrated at certain temps, usually 60 degs F, and have a correction factor when off. Or maybe you added too much water?

Those ingredients should finish drier than 1.012. 1.002 is much more appropriate for a cream ale.

I have done all my hydrometer readings at 60F.

Out of curiosity, I plugged these ingredients into Brewer's Friend and Beersmith, and they give me relatively the same OG/FG goals. But cream ales are supposed to finish around 1.002?

Your low OG is due to the topping off and the difficulty of getting the concentrated wort mixed with the much lighter water. It's normal for this reading to be off but with extract you are guaranteed to get the right OG because the malt extract has a known amount of sugars.

The low FG is not so normal but once you pitch the yeast, they determine the amount of attenuation and sometimes they go a little too far. If this is coupled with a bad reading it could easily show the FG of 1.002. Some yeasts are know to do this regularly. I have not seen it with US-05 yet.

I figured as much for the OG. I'll have to keep that in mind for next time I brew, and try to mix better in primary. Also, how

For my first brew, it's an interesting conundrum to be in, for sure... :/

The only explanation I could think of is that when I originally pitched the US-05, nothing was happening after close to 96 hours (same OG, no krausen, etc), so I ended up repitching a second packet. And then after ~10 hours (basically re-pitched, went to sleep for the night), active fermentation began.

Anything I can do for now, or should I just go ahead and bottle it as is once I'm sure fermentation is complete?

 

[flars]

The 1.002 FG is probably okay. With 1 pound of corn sugar in the recipe the beer should finish very dry. The pound of sugar is probably more than 20% of the fermentable sugars.

The recipe instructions were generic. Without the pound of sugar the FG would have been near 1.012.

 

[whovous]

Please do a hydrometer reading on tap water at 60F. If you get something other than 1.000, you may have another clue.

 

[CudaJoe]

I think I would have taken a gravity reading before diluting. The low ABV is due diluting with too much water to begin with. Following instructions is great and should theoretically work every time but sometimes you have to make some fine tuned adjustments.

If you had the pre-dilution gravity, you could calculate the amount of water to dilute with to hit 1.051 OG. The reason the FG is so low is also probably a result of over-diluting the recipe.

 

[kh54s10]

I think I would have taken a gravity reading before diluting. The low ABV is due diluting with too much water to begin with. Following instructions is great and should theoretically work every time but sometimes you have to make some fine tuned adjustments.

If you had the pre-dilution gravity, you could calculate the amount of water to dilute with to hit 1.051 OG. The reason the FG is so low is also probably a result of over-diluting the recipe.

Volume could be the culprit but there has been nothing mentioned about too much wort.

OP, did you end up with the volume indicated for the kit. If you ended up with 6 gallons when the kit was designed for 5, that would explain both readings.

If you had the right volume, the OG was probably off to a bad mix. The FG is most likely either a bad reading or faulty hydrometer calibration.

 

[madscientist451]

Anything I can do for now, or should I just go ahead and bottle it as is once I'm sure fermentation is complete?

How does it taste? Is it acceptable/drinkable? Does the lack of body bother you? Sometimes beers improve after bottling, but I'm somewhat skeptical about that happening with your kit beer.
But don't worry this is just your first beer, you have nowhere to go but up from here.
If it was my beer I'd use it as an experiment: Bottle half of it, and then make another 2 gallon batch that has lots of body in it and blend it with your current beer. You'll get some experience with different ingredients and blending.
I recently did an experimental all LME batch that came out with too much body and was too sweet for me, and I ended up blending it with another experimental beer that was somewhat flabby.
Suggested recipe for easy 2 gallon blending beer:
note: the links provided are for information only, I'm not advocating buying from any of these suppliers, if you have a local home brew shop, I'd go there first.
3 Lbs Dark DME
http://www.beveragefactory.com/homebrew/malts/BSG-3444A-Briess-Traditional-Dark-DME-1lb-Bag.html
.25 lbs maltodextrine
https://www.midwestsupplies.com/maltodextrine
1 oz hops: Brewers Gold, Fuggles, Willamette or something similar

You can get away with a 30 min boil, start with 2.5 gallons of water, add 1/2 of the extract and the hops, add the rest of the extract and maltodextrine with about 5 minutes left in the boil.
You can save the yeast cake from your first brew in a sanitized jar (in the refrigerator) and add about 1/3 of it to the wort when it cools. Let the chilled yeast slurry warm up before you toss it in. I've repitched dry yeasts before and they work fine, but I usually don't go beyond the third re-pitch. If you re-pitch you should see pretty good fermentation within 12 hours.
Let it finish and then do some blending trials with your first batch,
Then bottle the results.
I would suggest that going forward, you forget about using extract and kits, get a BIAB bag and do simple all grain brews.
This book is a great beginner's resource and the beers I've made from it come out pretty good:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0307889203/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
If you haven't read John Palmer's book "How to Brew" there's a free version on the internet or just order it from AMAZON.
Good Luck

 

[Irishguy42]

Please do a hydrometer reading on tap water at 60F. If you get something other than 1.000, you may have another clue.

Tap water reads 1.000. It was the first thing I did when I opened up the hydrometer after getting it.

Volume could be the culprit but there has been nothing mentioned about too much wort.

OP, did you end up with the volume indicated for the kit. If you ended up with 6 gallons when the kit was designed for 5, that would explain both readings.

If you had the right volume, the OG was probably off to a bad mix. The FG is most likely either a bad reading or faulty hydrometer calibration.

I had about 2.25-2.5 gallons of wort when it went into the fermenter, and I topped it off at 5 gallons with tap water.

How does it taste? Is it acceptable/drinkable? Does the lack of body bother you? Sometimes beers improve after bottling, but I'm somewhat skeptical about that happening with your kit beer.
But don't worry this is just your first beer, you have nowhere to go but up from here.
If it was my beer I'd use it as an experiment: Bottle half of it, and then make another 2 gallon batch that has lots of body in it and blend it with your current beer. You'll get some experience with different ingredients and blending.
I recently did an experimental all LME batch that came out with too much body and was too sweet for me, and I ended up blending it with another experimental beer that was somewhat flabby.
Suggested recipe for easy 2 gallon blending beer:
note: the links provided are for information only, I'm not advocating buying from any of these suppliers, if you have a local home brew shop, I'd go there first.
3 Lbs Dark DME
http://www.beveragefactory.com/homebrew/malts/BSG-3444A-Briess-Traditional-Dark-DME-1lb-Bag.html
.25 lbs maltodextrine
https://www.midwestsupplies.com/maltodextrine
1 oz hops: Brewers Gold, Fuggles, Willamette or something similar

You can get away with a 30 min boil, start with 2.5 gallons of water, add 1/2 of the extract and the hops, add the rest of the extract and maltodextrine with about 5 minutes left in the boil.
You can save the yeast cake from your first brew in a sanitized jar (in the refrigerator) and add about 1/3 of it to the wort when it cools. Let the chilled yeast slurry warm up before you toss it in. I've repitched dry yeasts before and they work fine, but I usually don't go beyond the third re-pitch. If you re-pitch you should see pretty good fermentation within 12 hours.
Let it finish and then do some blending trials with your first batch,
Then bottle the results.
I would suggest that going forward, you forget about using extract and kits, get a BIAB bag and do simple all grain brews.
This book is a great beginner's resource and the beers I've made from it come out pretty good:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0307889203/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
If you haven't read John Palmer's book "How to Brew" there's a free version on the internet or just order it from AMAZON.
Good Luck

It tastes like beer, albeit a bit watery. I don't actually recall if it tasted like cream ale, mostly because it's been a while since I've had one lol. But it didn't taste horrible or anything that caused me to react poorly to it once I drank the sample. It pretty much just tasted like uncarbonated beer.

I was reading How To Brew all leading up to the brew day, as I got the book a year ago when I first got interested in homebrewing.

So I guess I should just go ahead and bottle this...whatever I have...once I'm positive fermentation stops and then I'll crack one open in a few weeks and see what I have!

Science!

 

[Irishguy42]

Now the real question is: When is the best time to bottle this? When I had gotten the 1.002 gravity reading, it was from two different samples two days apart, and if I took a sample tomorrow and it's the same, then that would be basically 5 days, maybe a few more, of it being at 1.002, which I guess is the FG at this point.

Is it safe for me to bottle now? Say...if I checked the gravity one more time tomorrow and it's still 1.002, can I bottle tomorrow?

 

[BrunDog]

If it's 1.002 it's safe to bottle. Worse comes to worse, if it were to ferment to 1.000, you'd have a touch more carbonation!

 

[Irishguy42]

If it's 1.002 it's safe to bottle. Worse comes to worse, if it were to ferment to 1.000, you'd have a touch more carbonation!

Then it sounds like I get to use my day off from work wisely today