Is it me or my hydrometer.

[Mike_IOW]

Hello, I'm new to brewing beer.
I bought the "Alla" beer and wine hydrometer from Young's for my second batch of ginger beer.
After adding all ingredients into my brewing bucket, apart from the yeast, I took an initial SG reading.
The fact that this reading was 1.120 came as no surprise because at the time I didn't know any better. After looking at a few YouTube videos I see that it should have been in the range of about 1.040

I took the reading in the bucket rather than a test jar but even then, it shouldn't have been that far off the mark.
At the end of a week, fermentation has stopped and the SG reading is 1.01
I'm being told it should be around 1.008

Can anyone please tell me why the initial reading was 1.120 and what i should now do to achieve a final 1.008 reading?

Regards,

 

[CreweBrewer]

That's a nice 14.4% beer you have there, haha!!! I'm thinking you could have maybe made a mistake in reading the OG. I've done it myself.

Looking at my hyrometer, it looks like you may have read the 'sugar grams per litre' reading, which is around the 1.040 area on the readings.

I wouldn't worry about the final 2 points. There are lots of factors that affect the final gravity. I think you've done quite well there. Especially from a kit.

 

[ManseMasher]

What ingredients (and quantities) did you use?

 

[Mike_IOW]

That's a nice 14.4% beer you have there, haha!!! I'm thinking you could have maybe made a mistake in reading the OG. I've done it myself.

Looking at my hyrometer, it looks like you may have read the 'sugar grams per litre' reading, which is around the 1.040 area on the readings.

I wouldn't worry about the final 2 points. There are lots of factors that affect the final gravity. I think you've done quite well there. Especially from a kit.

I really appreciate that! So very reassuring. You've made my afternoon.
I still find the numbers quite confusing though.

 

[clibit]

And 1.010 is very close to 1.008. All sounds good.

 

[Mike_IOW]

What ingredients (and quantities) did you use?

Based on a very impressive YouTube video, though not quite adhering to the exact recipe:

2 handfuls of ginger root (chopped)
1 litre boiling water
300g honey
300g sugar
.5 kilos light spray malt
All simmered for about 20 mins,
then added to the brew bucket.
making up the water level to 7 litres.
at 24 degrees C, added 2.5g of brewing yeast.
fermented for a week, so far.

Here's hoping,

 

[clibit]

"It's beer Jim, but not as we know it."

Hops?

 

[geetee]

If you beer is just 2 point high then you will probably not need much priming sugar when bottling. most micro's will try to stop 2 points high for this reason.
I have misread a hydrometer in the past and stopped my beer at 1015 when I thought it was 1010, as noted above probably read the wrong value because that's what I expected to see.
Now I always check by take the hydrometer out whilst holding my finger near the level so I can check it again and confirm.

 

[Mike_IOW]

And 1.010 is very close to 1.008. All sounds good.

Thanks, my confidence is growing by leaps and bounds.:)

 

[Mike_IOW]

If you beer is just 2 point high then you will probably not need much priming sugar when bottling. most micro's will try to stop 2 points high for this reason.
I have misread a hydrometer in the past and stopped my beer at 1015 when I thought it was 1010, as noted above probably read the wrong value because that's what I expected to see.
Now I always check by take the hydrometer out whilst holding my finger near the level so I can check it again and confirm.

Thanks, I'll take a lot more careful readings in future.

 

[Mike_IOW]

"It's beer Jim, but not as we know it."

Hops?

There are no hops in any of the alcoholic ginger beer recipes I've seen so far.
I'm starting with alcoholic ginger beer because it appeals more to my better half than most beer options. I quite like the spiciness of it too, though beer generally is OK by me.
Whichever brew it is, there's a lot of pleasure in getting it right, even though getting it right may not rely entirely on numbers. Getting it wrong is a disappointment I'm very keen on avoiding, as this is a family group effort and troop morale is a big item.

 

[clibit]

Sorry, missed the ginger!

Good luck.

 

[CreweBrewer]

Thanks, I'll take a lot more careful readings in future.

Taking a quick photo of the reading helps. Then you can post it up here if you're not sure.

 

[Mike_IOW]

Taking a quick photo of the reading helps. Then you can post it up here if you're not sure.

Thanks, next time I'll do that for sure.

 

[Mike_IOW]

My assistant intern of 39 years yesterday, just tested with the hydrometer, the sugar solution I was about to add to the batch to make it a little more alcoholic. we saw a reading in this very sugary water very close to our initial SG reading in the brew bucket.
This might indicate that our initial ingredients were extremely heavy in sugar. So adding more might not be the answer after all.

 

[Mike_IOW]

So if the initial SG reading really was 1.120 due to the high sugar content and the reading after a week of fermentation is 1.01
is this going to be a viable brew for bottling?
It tastes quite dry at the moment hardly any sweetness at all.

 

[rodabod]

You could add a small amount of sacharine to help sweetness. Also, you could choose something less fermentable than table sugar for your secondary (bottle) fermentation.

 

[rodabod]

A little lactose could help.

 

[Mike_IOW]

You could add a small amount of sacharine to help sweetness. Also, you could choose something less fermentable than table sugar for your secondary (bottle) fermentation.

Thanks, due to the YouTube video that inspired this attempt, I got a bag of Cooper's carbonation drops for the secondary fermentation. The initial fermentation was done with equal amounts of honey and table sugar. It's a fun learning process whatever happens. Our second bottling session went so much better than the first, so some progress is happening here.: