LlewellynT Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 Hi all, I have an unreal ale og of 1044 & an fg of 1016, which seems to be steady now, giving an ABV of 3,62%. Seems a bit on the low side - any way to boost it? & do these hydrometers go bolshi after a while? [bandit][crying] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 sounds like its not done. What temperature have you been brewing at? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matty A Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 What sugars did you use for you unreal ale. If there is more maltodextrin in the brew it will produce a higher gravity reading. The only real way to boost it is to add some sugar to the brew but the only issue with that is it risks infection. If it's finished fermenting i would just bottle it as is and enjoy it when it's ready and if you want a stronger one, make a different brew. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregT5 Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 I bottled my Unreal Ale yesterday. I made it straight from the recipe: 1.7kg Real Ale 1kg BE1 500g Light Dry Malt OG 1044 FG 1016 the same as yours Llewellyn. Mine was brewed at 20-22 deg & in the FV for 13 days. The FG stayed at 1016 for 4 days so I considered it done. I suppose I will find out in about a month if its any good. Smelt & tasted good straight from the FV tho[cool] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matty A Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 I have found that BE1 brings a higher gravity reading then BE2 or Brewing Sugar. I think it must have more maltodextrin then the others which causes this because it is not fermentable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trusty1 Posted February 1, 2011 Share Posted February 1, 2011 Your OG's sound a bit low, but that could be due to a number of factors, including not having all the fermentables fully dissolved at time of sample. FG sounds close to the mark. The unreal Ale is, well, unreal. I find it to be a good early drinker which only gets better in the bottle. I'm sure you will enjoy them. I buy a 'dark brew booster' from my LHBS which consists of 600gms of both Dex and DARK dry malt and 200gms of maltodex. I added about 250gms of honey to my latest incarnation and the odd bottle I have 'sampled' is super after only 3 weeks in the bottle. Using a recultured yeast or a bought ale yeast, belgian for example, make it even better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PB2 Posted February 1, 2011 Share Posted February 1, 2011 Yes, 1044 is an expected OG for the Unreal Ale recipe. If finished at 1016 (it may drop another 2 points), assuming you are bottling and priming at the rate of 8g/l, the brew will come out at around 4.3%ABV. Don't bother with increasing the alcohol for this particular brew. Rather, bottle it, assess the conditioned beer and decide whether you would like to bump up the alcohol content for next time. You can do this by reducing the total volume or replace the 1kg of BE1 with 500g of Dextrose and bump the Light Dry Malt up to 1kg. To get an accurate hydro reading you may need to de-gas the sample first. Toss it back and forth between two cups about 20 times or so, let is settle then pour it into the sample tube. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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