Gravity reading of 1.002??

[craigcarmichael]

Hi,

I recently made an American Pale Ale and the gravity readings I have been taking over the past few days have left me a little concerned.

The SG was 1.046, which is exactly what BeerSmith said, however the gravity reading over the past 2 days has been at 1.003, and dropped to 1.002 today. There is still a thick Krausen on the top of the wort so im assuming fermentation is still occuring, so how low can it possibly go??

I heard on the Brewing Network that it is possible for the beer to completely ferment out if it has been infected with a wild yeast strain, so i am concerned that this has happened.

Is there anything I can do to stop the fermentation? I was thinking of taking it off the yeast cake by transferring to secondary, would this work or is it completely screwed?

Any help and advice would be appreciated.

 

[eammoncass]

hmmm by any chance are you using the coopers hydrometer?

 

[Bignige]

It's highly likely you have an infection of some sort, could be diastaticus (a voracious wild yeast) if no unpleasant smells evident from bacterial contamination. A 1046 OG wort mashed at 65-66C would give a standard sugar profile and with most yeasts an attenuation level of 75-76% meaning an FG of 1010-1011.5

 

[eammoncass]

i had a coopers hydrometer and it was giving me a reading that was 10 points lower than what it actually was. In water it was showing as 0.990. Id advise to check your hydrometer in water and see what its showing as, if its correct then yeah it could be an infection.

 

[Cal]

i had a coopers hydrometer and it was giving me a reading that was 10 points lower than what it actually was. In water it was showing as 0.990. Id advise to check your hydrometer in water and see what its showing as, if its correct then yeah it could be an infection.

I've been having trouble with my coopers hydrometer as well. It started out with reasonable readings, but it's now measuring so low that even with water it goes below the numbered scale. Is there a particular hydrometer that's recommended on here?

 

[eggman]

I've been having trouble with my coopers hydrometer as well. It started out with reasonable readings, but it's now measuring so low that even with water it goes below the numbered scale. Is there a particular hydrometer that's recommended on here?

I use this one, never had any problems with it :

 

[EskiBrew]

Agree with above - check you hydrometer before fearing the worst :thumb:
Let some tap water come up to room temp and drop it in that then report the reading