I have a brewfractometer with atomatic temp control…I Dnt trust my figures…1st beer was at 1.047 and dropped to 1.020…what is content? 2nd is 1.043 and dropped to 1.018 what is content?
If you have a “refractometer” that was calibrated with distilled water and you had “brix” readings at the the beginning of the beer before fermentation further referred to as “OSG”/ Original specific gravity and a “brix” figure after fermentation further referred to as “FSG”/ Final specific gravity It is not exact because refractometers cannot accurately display the SG of finished beer due to the presence of alcohol. If you can provide the board with brix number found for OSG/FSG we can point you in the right direction.
If you are using a “hydrometer” this can accurately tell you the SG before and after with the type of readings you are reporting it seems as though you may be using a hydrometer as it reads in three scales typically Brix/ Plato/ SG. So lets assume your reads are accurate. A hydrometer must be checked for accuracy also with distilled water and should float to read 1.000
If accurate:
1.047-1.020=3.5%ABV
1.043-1.018=3.3%ABV
The FSG reading you are providing if accurate would indicate these beers are not finished fermenting or other where I caution against bottling yet and let remain in primary for another week or two.
[quote=“ITsPossible”]If you have a “refractometer” that was calibrated with distilled water and you had “brix” readings at the the beginning of the beer before fermentation further referred to as “OSG”/ Original specific gravity and a “brix” figure after fermentation further referred to as “FSG”/ Final specific gravity It is not exact because refractometers cannot accurately display the SG of finished beer due to the presence of alcohol. If you can provide the board with brix number found for OSG/FSG we can point you in the right direction.
If you are using a “hydrometer” this can accurately tell you the SG before and after with the type of readings you are reporting it seems as though you may be using a hydrometer as it reads in three scales typically Brix/ Plato/ SG. So lets assume your reads are accurate. A hydrometer must be checked for accuracy also with distilled water and should float to read 1.000
If accurate:
1.047-1.020=3.5%ABV
1.043-1.018=3.3%ABV
The FSG reading you are providing if accurate would indicate these beers are not finished fermenting or other where I caution against bottling yet and let remain in primary for another week or two.[/quote]
Great advice there. Especially the last part about another week or two in primary. I’ve not been brewing long but I totally can tell a difference between a ‘rushed beer’ that I’ve only given a week or two in primary and a beer that I’ve been lazy about or couldn’t get time to bottle and was left in the Primary for 3 to 4 weeks.
That being said, if you’re using extract, depending on what beer/recipe you’re making, you sometimes just can’t get any lower than 1.017 to 1.020.
[quote=“ReinDaddy”]1st beer was at 1.047 and dropped to 1.020…what is content? 2nd is 1.043 and dropped to 1.018 what is content?[/quote]Assuming that your OG is correct and your FG was converted straight off the refractometer reading (the first one was 5 and the second 4.5), then your corrected FGs would be 1.009 and 1.008 respectively after accounting for the alcohol in the beer. Which gives you 4.4% and 4.0% ABV.
