Where did I screw up?

So I bottled yesterday. Took my FG reading 1.010. My OG was 1.030 (in range).

How did I end up with a 2.5% alcohol percentage? Should be 5%

the recipe would help. can’t tell you much of anything with the info you posted.

There is no way you are getting a 5% alcohol with a 1.030 OG, which you state is in range.

So why are you expecting 5%? Your FG looks fine. If it is a NB extract kit and it stated a higher OG, then you may have not mixed it completely before taking the reading.

I’m just going by what the instructions told me, which I unfortunately do not have in front of me at the moment. Maybe the beer is just meant to be weak sauce.

I’ll get you guys more info this evening. Just thought maybe there was an obvious answer to what might have caused it.

I’ll assume that this is an extract brew with less than full boil. My guess is that you didn’t mix well when you added water after boil and your OG reading does not reflect reality, or you added too much water after boil and diluted it too much.

I just read 560sdl’s reply. So, I agree with him :slight_smile:

[quote=“fightdman”]I’ll assume that this is an extract brew with less than full boil. My guess is that you didn’t mix well when you added water after boil and your OG reading does not reflect reality, or you added too much water after boil and diluted it too much.

I just read 560sdl’s reply. So, I agree with him :slight_smile: [/quote]

Funny you mention this. I think I posted a question about adding too much water to get to 5 gallons after boil a few weeks back. I had to add 3.5 gallons to reach the 5 gallon mark.

I’m now worried that I just have a weak, watered down beer.

Any way to measure alcohol percentage after bottling?

Drink 5 of them. :smiley:

You can back out % alcohol with a combination of a refractometer and a hydrometer. Not really necessary though.

Tell us your recipe and the process you followed, and we’ll be able to tell you a close enough estimate of what your % alcohol is.

[quote=“UM2UVA”][quote=“fightdman”]I’ll assume that this is an extract brew with less than full boil. My guess is that you didn’t mix well when you added water after boil and your OG reading does not reflect reality, or you added too much water after boil and diluted it too much.

I just read 560sdl’s reply. So, I agree with him :slight_smile: [/quote]

Funny you mention this. I think I posted a question about adding too much water to get to 5 gallons after boil a few weeks back. I had to add 3.5 gallons to reach the 5 gallon mark.

I’m now worried that I just have a weak, watered down beer.

Any way to measure alcohol percentage after bottling?[/quote]

Hmmmm, UVA graduate? Maybe that explains it! :lol:

Cheers from a VT Hokie :cheers:

[quote=“UM2UVA”][quote=“fightdman”]I’ll assume that this is an extract brew with less than full boil. My guess is that you didn’t mix well when you added water after boil and your OG reading does not reflect reality, or you added too much water after boil and diluted it too much.

I just read 560sdl’s reply. So, I agree with him :slight_smile: [/quote]

Funny you mention this. I think I posted a question about adding too much water to get to 5 gallons after boil a few weeks back. I had to add 3.5 gallons to reach the 5 gallon mark.

I’m now worried that I just have a weak, watered down beer.

Any way to measure alcohol percentage after bottling?[/quote]
If you were doing an extract kit and most of it ended up in the fermenter and you added water to the 5 gal mark, then your OG is very close to what it is supposed to be.

Yes, it was an extract kit. Damn. I must have just picked a weak sauce brew. :evil:

Wits are usually not very strong. But your info still seems low, but I tried to quickly find info from the kit about what it should be and there is very little useful info out there.

No. You probably got a poor reading. If you don’t mix the wort and water thoroughly you will not get a correct og reading. If you used all the extract and you topped off to the five gallon mark then your og will be what the kit says. Doesn’t matter your boil off rate, as long as you ended up with five gallons.

Just post the recipe and we can confirm.

I can’t tell by the post which kit you made. Going on 560sdl’s comment on wits:

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/witb ... t-kit.html

Witbier OG 1.044

If we had the kit name we can look up the OG. Of course with the extra water we can only guess to the OG.

When you measured the original gravity, what was the temperature? You need to adjust a lot for temperature if the wort was still warm when you measured OG. Could be off by as much as 10-15 points from that alone. Always measure at 70 F or less for accuracy.

[quote=“Nighthawk”]I can’t tell by the post which kit you made. Going on 560sdl’s comment on wits:

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/witb ... t-kit.html

Witbier OG 1.044

If we had the kit name we can look up the OG. Of course with the extra water we can only guess to the OG.[/quote]

Based on his signature, he has a Brewcrafter Belgian Wit in primary, so I made an assumption.

[quote=“560sdl”][quote=“Nighthawk”]I can’t tell by the post which kit you made. Going on 560sdl’s comment on wits:

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/witb ... t-kit.html

Witbier OG 1.044

If we had the kit name we can look up the OG. Of course with the extra water we can only guess to the OG.[/quote]

Based on his signature, he has a Brewcrafter Belgian Wit in primary, so I made an assumption.[/quote]

What, you want me to read signature lines? :shock:

:cheers:

[quote=“Nighthawk”]

What, you want me to read signature lines? :shock:

:cheers: [/quote]

Well I never did till you kept telling people to read yours :mrgreen:

Yes, I’m thinking maybe the original reading was off, possibly if wort was topped with water but not mixed thoroughly. The beer is probably just fine.

That’s what I was trying to say. I re-read my last post and realized that I wasn’t clear on that point.