Bloc Party Amber Ale fg?

[sri16v]

Hi

I have had a batch of this fermenting away since last Saturday evening, first 2 days a lot of bubbling through the air lock and then nothing.

Well curiosity got the better of me and I decided to have a look, took the lid off, nice beery aroma, but no krausen so to speak of.

Took a sample and it seems to be coming out at 1.045 could be slightly lower , which is a little concerning! had a taste of it and tastes quite strong ( around a 5% to 6% in my beer tasting experience!)

I’m hoping my hydrometer is not reading correct, as I can’t imagine much more fermentation is going to take place over the next week.

Has anyone had any issues with making this before? everything was sanitised throughly prior to adding the yeast, and the temp on my bucket is hovering between 18 deg C to 20 deg C

[flars]

Something is definitely off. The original gravity is supposed to be 1.043. there was fermentation so the SG should be lower than the OG. This may seem like a dumb question but are you sure your hydrometer was floating freely in the sample tube?

Check your hydrometer in distilled water at 60°F. Sixty degrees is the calibration temperature for most hydrometers. The calibration temperature is printed on the card that is inside the hydrometer. The SG scale should read 1.000. Tap water will work also. With tap water the SG may show a little over 1.000.

How many gallons was in your fermentor? Did you top off to five gallons if this is the five gallon recipe?

[sri16v]

Hi, I made 5 gallons as per the recipe it came with so had to top up to 5 gallons with cold water before adding the chilled wort.

just tested the hydrometer in cold tap water and it’s pretty close to 1.000 hard to tell with the surface tension , would upload a pic if I knew how.

Forgot to add: yes it appeared to be floating freely in the test tube

[flars]

I’m befuddled. I’ll think for awhile. Maybe someone else has ideas.

Uploading pictures:
Save pic to your computer. (I resize pictures for smaller number of bytes to upload.)
Click upload button at the top of reply box.
Navigate to your filed picture. Select.
Wait until upload is complete before clicking reply button.

[sneezles61]

Sanitize your hydrometer, then carefully remove your lid just enough to put your hydrometer in the beer… do give it a spin… Check your reading… Sanitizing is the key, and cover it up quickly… If there was fermentation going on, you should have a good CO2 cap, and lower pH… Sneezles61

[sri16v]

definitely good co2 going on in there, if I push the lid I get a lot of bubbling from the air valve on the top, I will leave it until next week before disturbing it again.

I want to get all the kinks ironed out as I have just ordered ingredients for a Belgian wit via the all grain method for my next brew. Going to go with a yeast starter for that one.

will update thread with pics next week, where hopefully good news will be present!

Thanks for the replies

[sri16v]

couple of update pics, still seems to be next to no improvement , and also looks like mold in the fermenter?

due to come out this Saturday, but looks like it will be going down the drain rather than in a bottle! still not sure how it has gone wrong?

[uncdeo]

Not mold…just yeast rafts.

[voltron]

What hydrometer is that? Typically triple scales read 2 points per line, so going by that (and if the scale on the right side of your photo is SG), counting from the .990 down to the beer line appears to be about 1.013-1.014 SG.

[sri16v]

do you know what I think you’re right, looks like I have been reading the hydrometer wrong!

I have been reading the scale on the right (sg) and adding the graduations of the approximate sugar

Looks like it won’t be going down the drain after all! unless anyone else can confirm we are both reading it wrong!

[flars]

I agree with @voltron. I see the same SG number. You’re ready to bottle when you don’t see a lot of suspended yeast and sediment in the sample tube.

[voltron]

[sneezles61]

How did it taste? You forgot to tell us… After taking a reading… Down the gullet!!! Sneezles61

[sri16v]

tasted ok to be fair, nothing special, hard to judge without the carbonation , certainly not as strong as last week when I tasted it,

I will give it a couple more days then bottle it me thinks!