HELP! This May Be My Stupidity.

[Bubblehead08]

I'm in the process of completing my first brew, a Beer Works Kentish Ale, which started off around the 1042ish mark two weeks ago. Aside from adding some hops on day 5, it has sat undisturbed until tonight and I have transfered it to my bottling bucket and batch primed it.

It should be at 1009 to bottle but when I just checked, it was about 1012 - however, I took this reading after batch priming.

Is this slightly high due to the sugar I've just added? Should I bottle now?

Cheers,

Nik

 

[dennisking]

Don't worry bottling at 1012 is fine.

 

[bobsbeer]

In short yes. Your hydrometer is measuring specific gravity. As you added sugar you have increased the gravity. By exactly how much will depend on how much you added. Whether you achieved exactly 1.009 is debatable, depending on other factors, but you are close enough not to worry.

 

[rpt]

The most important thing is to be sure fermentation has finished. The exact final gravity value doesn't matter as long as it has been constant for 3 days. This is to prevent bottle bombs.

 

[Bubblehead08]

Thanks for the replies. I took your advice and bottled it all last night.

This is my first attempt, so all very nerve wracking but the first lot is now bottled and I'm putting my next batch on later tonight - a stout which I'm going to try and store for Christmas.

Cheers