BenC24 Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 I have just completed my first brew and have bottled my Lager, but after following the recipe and temps exactly I will only have a calculated alcohol content of around 3.5% OG 1.035 FG 1.012 I then made a English Bitter straight up with extra ingredients (1kg of light dry malt and 500g of brewing sugar) expecting the OG to be a lot higher because of the amount of solids I have put in but I have only got 1.042 OG. Is there a problem with my hydrometer? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdamH1525226084 Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 Hi Ben. As I've been saying on this post, the magic spreadsheet is a great way to estimate what the OG and FG will be. For example, the spreadsheet indicates a OG of 1.044 for the English bitter - fairly close to 1.042 when there can be slight differences from temperature, water type, the hydrometer reading etc. If you're worried about the hydro, test it in plain ole water. Should be about 1.000, again depending on the temp. Mine that I got in January was spot on 1.000 in my water, not sure what the temp was though. The Lager from the kit sounds about right. It's meant to be a mid-strength recipe, as it's made to 25 L it spreads it out a bit. Approx. another 0.5% will alcomohol will be added with the secondary fermentation in the bottle too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JasonB18 Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 If you want a more accurate hydrometer reading , I use one from my salt water fish tanks ( sterilized and cleaned ). These give a temp reading also. This way you can cool your brew sample down to a set temp. say 40f(4.4c) Then take your gravity reading. If you do this to every sample reading you take, you will get a more accurate alcohol content estimate. The temp. makes a big difference to your gravity readings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smithy Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 It's probably more down to consistent temps rather than accuracy of the hydro. The reason for this is that if your temps are consistent, then the ABV will display the same as if the hydro was accurate. That being said, if you're chasing a specific OG (or FG), then that's when you need it to be accurate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BenC24 Posted March 7, 2012 Author Share Posted March 7, 2012 That all makes sense to me, I reckon my temps are probably up a bit, its been around the 24c mark. I just thought that given the amount of malt and brewing sugar I have put in the density would be a bit higher plus I filled to about 22lts. I just wanted to make an English Bitter that came out at around 5.5% or 6% that I can let mature for a few months instead of a 4% mid strength. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 Those gravity readings sound about right to me and adjusting the reading for the difference in temps from 24C is buggar all. Not even worth worrying about imo. You may find that the Lager will get a bit lower than 1.012. It may even finish at around 1.008 which will give you about 4.1% ABV. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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