Specific Gravity Increasing?

TroutHunter1106

TroutHunter1106

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Hello all,

Pretty new to the platform and all grain brewing. I've searched here and elsewhere but am still not totally clear as to what is going on or why. I brewed a Pliny clone on the 13th of this month and had a preboil gravity of 1.072 and 1.060 in the fermentor. I pitched Wyeast 1056 and made a starter for it a couple days in advance and decanted before pitching. After 7 days I transferred everything to a secondary fermentor, and dry-hopped. Before adding the hops i had a SG of 1.006. I dry hopped a second time after another week and the SG was up to 1.026.

I've read varying things about how it could be the amount of dissolved CO2 but have seen folks saying that it's always more or always less so I'm not sure on that one. I've heard it could be because there is more sugar now, but I didn't add any. I'm using a refractometer that's calibrated with distilled water.

I'm going to ignore it and just wait another week or so before kegging and see what happens but I'm curious as to why this may be happening. Thanks in advance.
 
There's something wrong with your numbers. It's not possible to have lower gravity after you boil down wort. Unless you dilute after boil your pre-boil gravity will always be lower by virtue of the same sugars being held in larger volume of liquid. The 1.006 reading is quite low for the attenuation we expect from most ale yeasts, but it's not unheard of. The 1.026 isn't likely to be accurate.
Bottom line, refractometers aren't good for gravity readings of finished beer.You can work out the formula for converting the reading you get to a more accurate one but it's sort of a pain. Get a hydrometer. I use my refractometer during the mash to judge progress in mash conversion. After that I use a hydrometer for all readings.
 
J A said:
There's something wrong with your numbers. It's not possible to have lower gravity after you boil down wort. Unless you dilute after boil your pre-boil gravity will always be lower by virtue of the same sugars being held in larger volume of liquid. The 1.006 reading is quite low for the attenuation we expect from most ale yeasts, but it's not unheard of. The 1.026 isn't likely to be accurate.
Bottom line, refractometers aren't good for gravity readings of finished beer.You can work out the formula for converting the reading you get to a more accurate one but it's sort of a pain. Get a hydrometer. I use my refractometer during the mash to judge progress in mash conversion. After that I use a hydrometer for all readings.
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Thanks for the info! I have a feeling that I need to dig into exactly when I'm supposed to be taking the SG reading and exactly how to label them in BF. It's been a few weeks so my memory isn't as sharp, but my guess is that I'm doing something along the lines of using "pre-boil" instead of "mash complete" or something along those lines.
 
On brew day I too use a refractometer, and a hydrometer after that.
I would definitely recommend that you get a hydrometer, it is good to taste that QC sample when you do check for FG.
 
Craigerrr said:
On brew day I too use a refractometer, and a hydrometer after that.
I would definitely recommend that you get a hydrometer, it is good to taste that QC sample when you do check for FG.
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Thanks for the info. I have a hydrometer, I guess I just figured the two were interchangeable as they perform the same job but now know!

I always do a taste test and in general it always tastes like beer. Anything specific to be on the look out for when tasting?
 
Brewer #350828 said:
but my guess is that I'm doing something along the lines of using "pre-boil" instead of "mash complete" or something along those lines.
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Corrected refractometer readings can be pretty accurate but it takes a while to work out the exact correction factor. You definitely need a hydrometer. Be aware that temperature affects gravity reading with a hydrometer so you have to either get the sample to the correct temp or correct for the temperature and it's only really accurate within 20 or so degrees of the hydrometers "set" temperature.
Pre-boil gravity for some reason can be hard to nail down. I don't pay much attention to it and mostly just use a good, accurate reading post boil. Another thing that's important to understand is that all the calculations in the recipe builder depend on accurate measurement of volumes at particular stages as well as gravity. :)
 
I am pretty sure that you said that you are kegging, so there is no risk in kegging a point or two early. I have done that myself more than once.
 
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Different story if you are bottling
 
Yeah you somehow messed up your initial numbers but it's hardly the end of the world. Refractometers need correction cause alcohol changes how light moves, I use the refractometer during my boil and a hydrometer when I'm testing final samples.

I can't say they're evenly calibrated but I don't honestly care that much over .001 or .002 points.
 
Awesome! Thank you guys for the info. Still being fairly new (about 6 all grain batches under my belt) I'm still trying to determine which things to stress about and what stuff to let slide.
 
We are glad to help
 
Brewer #350828 said:
Awesome! Thank you guys for the info. Still being fairly new (about 6 all grain batches under my belt) I'm still trying to determine which things to stress about and what stuff to let slide.
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Keep in mind that the 14th century monks made beer without temperature or specific gravity measurements. One story is that they would stick their thumb in the mash to check temperature. But their beer still came okay and so will yours.
 
If you take a reading at all you're considerably more precise than any brewer on the planet up until fairly modern times.

So stress about cleanliness and let the rest ride in my opinion. As you get more practice you will stress less about that and can add another item to the stress list.
 
What do you mean Bubba? Me and Brewer 350828 go way back!
 
Back to 349296 at least...
 
Just be sure and make it clever, we like clever:D
 
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