High final gravity. What to do next?

[phattymatty]

Hi everyone

I brewed the California Common extract kit recipe from Northern Brewer. I followed the recipe as stated but made a yeast starter from the wyeast 2112 California lager I bought with the kit. My OG was 1.046 measured with my atc refractometer (calibrated with distiller water). I pitched at at 62 degrees and had active fermentation within 10 hours.

I racked to secondary after 12 days and gravity read 1.024. Its been in the secondary for 19 days at 72degrees. I just took a reading and I’m still at 1.024.

I’m planning on kegging, force carbonating and then using my beer gun to bottle.

Any suggestions on what I can do to get the gravity down closer to where it should be - say 1.014?

Many thanks
Matt

[nighthawk]

Is this reading with the refractometer? Refractometers do not give accurate readings with alcohol present. You can use a conversion factor, but that may not be totally accurate either.

http://www.brewheads.com/refract-currentgrav.php

Check it with a hydrometer for the best results.

[phattymatty]

Ah, okay…I didn’t even consider that. I think I was overly excited to use my new refractometer whenever possible. Sorry for the newb mistake. I’ll re-check with the hydrometer.

Based on the conversion calculator link you provided it shows a FG of 1.010. I got this by plugging in these numbers:

OG: 1.046 (measured by refractometer)
Current Gravity: 1.024 as measured by refractometer
Current Brix : 6.07 (converted from 1.024 above using this chart http://www.fermsoft.com/gravbrix.php)
Actual current gravity from calculator: 1.010

Does this look correct? The 1.010 makes me feel much better assuming I calculated everything correctly. I’ll check with the hydrometer to confirm.

Thanks again