AndrewD19 Posted May 11, 2011 Share Posted May 11, 2011 Hi all, first post on the forum so be gentle! A couple of my FG readings have been a bit on the high side despite all other signs of fermentation having stopped over several days and readings been stable for two / three days etc. I've had a look through some of the FAQs and other posts on the forum and as a result decided to test my hydrometer in water. The constant reading that I get for tap water (same as used in my brews) is 1.004. Now I do live in a notoriously hard water area so there's not going to be much getting around it unfortunately. Should I take the .004 off all my OG and FG readings or does it not work that way? For example I a have a sparkling on the go with the light malt extract , dextrose combination (as recommended) and my OG for that was 1.070. Now down to 1.020 after 8 days. Any help would be gratefully recieved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeonardC2 Posted May 11, 2011 Share Posted May 11, 2011 Did you do your hydrometer test at 16C (60F)? That's the stated temp for testing it in water. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matty A Posted May 12, 2011 Share Posted May 12, 2011 Leonard - I believe it may be 20C for the Coopers ones (Someone else might be able to confirm that but I read it somewhere) Andrew - Welcome to the forums, Being that it read at 1.004 in the water, if the water is roughly the same temperature as the brew then I would do as you said and minus 1.004 from the OG and FG. For that Sparkling Ale, it maybe ready although I can't remember where mine finished at. What temperatures is it brewing at as if it gets too cold it will stop brewing. I only ask about temperature because we recieved 2 inches of snow last night and my brew room was -2C when I got up this morning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matty A Posted May 12, 2011 Share Posted May 12, 2011 On a lighter note, my 1 year old daughter was quite happy when I moved 12 milkcrates of bottles to condition in her room as it is too cold in the shed for them. [lol] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 12, 2011 Share Posted May 12, 2011 Yeah it is ~20C temp for the water to test the Coopers Hydrometers. Was thinking that maybe "1.070" OG (or 1.066 with adjustment if out by .004) sounds a bit high for the amount of kit yeast you get with the can. Can you provide more details of the recipe you used. i.e. how much and types of sugars used, how much water and at what temps you fermented at? Are you going to bottle or keg it? (not that this matters but can deter how important it is to achieve FG) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matty A Posted May 12, 2011 Share Posted May 12, 2011 Assuming that the recommended recipe is the same as the one on the site (http://www.coopers.com.au/the-brewers-guild/how-to-brew/ale/coopers-sparkling-ale) then I think it is only just a tad high, which could just mean it wasn't mixed properly (not a problem as a couple days in the fermenter will mix it) and the FG that you have sounds pretty close to what I got (I have the feeling I got 1.015). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 12, 2011 Share Posted May 12, 2011 Assuming that the recommended recipe is the same as the one on the site (http://www.coopers.com.au/the-brewers-guild/how-to-brew/ale/coopers-sparkling-ale) then I think it is only just a tad high, which could just mean it wasn't mixed properly (not a problem as a couple days in the fermenter will mix it) and the FG that you have sounds pretty close to what I got (I have the feeling I got 1.015). Assuming this, then I don't see any problems and more than likely FG has been achieved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndrewD19 Posted May 13, 2011 Author Share Posted May 13, 2011 Thanks for all the replies. Making the adjustment on the hydrometer has started to make a bit more sense of the OG / FG readings that I've been obtaining. I've done a few more 'water' tests on it, including leaving it in the test jar over night to allow some temperature fluctuations and it's still reading a steady 1.004. I'll just take this into account in future. MattyA / BillK - yeah, the recipe is the sparkling ale one you highlighted and I think you may have hit the nail on the head about mixing as I made the schoolboy error of dumping in the LDM without mixing first and I ended up with a large snowball of LDM that took me an age to distribute properly !!! Well, you live and learn haha. Having tasted the sparkling whilst doing the FG test today it's already shaping up very nicely - great flavour and body. Waiting for it to mature in the bottle is going to be difficult with this one I think. My only observation is that it is still quite cloudy compared to some of the other brews that I've done but there again this is one of the first that I've done with all the extra goodies in it and probably the highest OG that I've done. With adjustments on my hydro I would say OG was 1.066 and FG is 1.016. Using the formula that puts the ABV at about 7.2% :) Once again, thanks for the replies - better get bottling - I've got a best extra stout to get on ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 13, 2011 Share Posted May 13, 2011 My only observation is that it is still quite cloudy compared to some of the other brews that I've done but there again this is one of the first that I've done with all the extra goodies in it and probably the highest OG that I've done. A Sparkling Ale should be cloudy. It is one of its characteristics [love] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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