Am I too High? or am I just tripping out man?

[spiderwrangler]

The most likely cause of "low gravity" in an extract batch is not stirring the extract in thoroughly. It stratifies and when you draw your hydrometer sample, you are grabbing the lightest wort off the top. Similarly, if you use a theif and draw from the bottom, you get all the heavy wort, so you end up with a "high gravity" sample.

Either way, the yeast action during fermentation will stir everything up and you will end up with a uniform beer of the proper gravity.

HTH-

Assuming of course that it is a partial boil extract batch...

[menace2sobriety]

Yep It was a partial boilbut I made sure to keep it stirred up real good

[menace2sobriety]

So since my original gravity was 17 points above what the recipe called for does that mean it should have a final gravity that is off by the same amount? It is still in the fermentor (for a total of 16 days now) and I plan on leaving it there untill it quits bubbling completely before checking gravity again. I was just wondering. Also, is it normal for this high of a gravity beer to take this long? I've read Palmers book (almost twice through now paying close attention to the extract section but I am having a hard time wrapping my head around things). I am just much better at learning from hands on and asking lots of questions. So if it seems like I am just looking for someone else to figure things out for me it is sadley not the case. I am however trying to difer to expertice to help further my base knowledge. I do really appreciate all the advice and would like to say thanks!

[spiderwrangler]

It will likely be somewhat higher in terms of FG, but not quite in the way you describe. Your recipe OG to FG was calling for a 71 point drop from a starting of 81 (just working with the last 2 digits). That would give you an 87.6% attenuation. Assuming your reading of 98 was accurate, an 87.6% attenuation rate (and it may not stay entirely the same) would give you a 86 point drop. This subtracted would give you 12, so your FG 'should' come out close to 1.012...

[menace2sobriety]

Ok thanks for the schooling on attenuation which led me to google it and find white labs website which helped me understand how you came up with the numbers. Thanks again man!!

[alan_marks]

It will likely be somewhat higher in terms of FG, but not quite in the way you describe. Your recipe OG to FG was calling for a 71 point drop from a starting of 81 (just working with the last 2 digits). That would give you an 87.6% attenuation. Assuming your reading of 98 was accurate, an 87.6% attenuation rate (and it may not stay entirely the same) would give you a 86 point drop. This subtracted would give you 12, so your FG 'should' come out close to 1.012...

Wouldn't you think an 87% attenuation rate a bit high for Cal Ale yeast? I would think somewhere along the lines of 75-80% for this batch. Given the high starting gravity and fermentation temps, the ABV of this brew might slow trying to reach a FG of 1.012. At 80%, a FG of 1.019 may be more realistic. Them yeaties are gonna be some tired lil buggers!

[spiderwrangler]

Yeah, I looked through the original post, but didn't see the strain (did this time, after you mentioned that he was using Cal), just figured he might be using some sort of Belgian with high atten %. Was trying to make the point of it being scaled differently, but didn't look enough to be able to comment on the underlying assumptions.... Not sure who made the recipe, but it may be a bit off...