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Hey All,

Whats the highest Final Gravity you guys have had.

Just finshed bottling a bock with a FG of 1050. I'm a bit wooried about bombs but I've tried shaking the fermenter and added another yeast.

It' been done 17 days. I pitched a second yeast at 7 days. Theres been no drop for 8 days straight.

At 1050 - It's going be a pretty thick drink

Cheers

What temperature, and what was your OG?

1050... I can have it for dinner.

far out, what was the SG

Maybe check again, if there is a lot of 'floaties' it affects the gravity reading. If its truly 1050 i would be betting on bottle bombs and spectacular ones at that

erik wrote:Hey All,

Whats the highest Final Gravity you guys have had.

Just finshed bottling a bock with a FG of 1050. I'm a bit wooried about bombs but I've tried shaking the fermenter and added another yeast.

It' been done 17 days. I pitched a second yeast at 7 days. Theres been no drop for 8 days straight.

At 1050 - It's going be a pretty thick drink

Cheers

Since no one`s thought to ask the very obvious question, I`ll ask- exactly what was the recipe? I could never see a beer finished at 1050. So what was in it, to what volume?

Kaboom.........

Mine start at 1050

Was it a syrup when you started?

ryan is on the money and others, recipe and SG please......in the mean time, put them in a cupboard in a cool area

I`m having my $2 on a false or mistaken hydro. reading.

Okay,
So I'm getting scared. As soon as I finish here I'll go move them from the sleep out & stick them under the house in covered crates.

The recipe for the Bock was
1 x 3kg can ESB Bock
1 x 1.7kg can Black Rock Bock (got it when I couldn't get ESB)
1.25 Dex
200g Dark Malt Steeped
Total Liquid 20L

Saflager pitched at 15c
heaps of airlock action for several days then nothing.
Gravity readings OG - 1092 - day 1
5 days later - 1080 - did the old shake shake
day 7 added 2nd Saflager

for the last 8 days 1050 - same temperature at reading.

Kept at 15c

My concern is when I put this into the Brewcraft Calc og was estimated at 1106 and fg was estimated at 1022.

so it looks like I'll put my helmet on - the other problem I have my Mega Stout started on 1152 and has stayed constant on 1070 for several days - again tried the old shake shake.

ps
no floaties.

I'm yet to have an explosion in the 6 months I've been brewing. I suppose I have lose my virginity sometime.

I was just thinking... and hoping...and checking my brew records.
i have had a brew finish at 1038 - they didn't explode within the time it took to drink, not long as it was a tasty drop...

maybe in a couple of days, open allow some co2 to escape and recap??? maybe I'm clutching at straws....

Racking may help.

Looks like you`ve been left on your own with this one, erik.
I don`t know why it decided to prop at 1050, you`ve got almost 6kg. fermentables there in 20l. You`d of been asking a lot from one sachet of yeast to do the job of coming down to 1025 or so, but like you say, you hit it with another after day 7.
A big 2l. plus starter might have seen you right, 1092 is BIG beer sg.
As for the stout that`s pulled up at 1070, well.......

Cheers All - I'll let you know how the Bock bombs go. As for the stout - I think I'll rack, well at least half - I only have a spare 30L fermenter ATM and add a starter.

erik wrote:Okay,
So I'm getting scared. As soon as I finish here I'll go move them from the sleep out & stick them under the house in covered crates.

The recipe for the Bock was
1 x 3kg can ESB Bock
1 x 1.7kg can Black Rock Bock (got it when I couldn't get ESB)
1.25 Dex
200g Dark Malt Steeped
Total Liquid 20L

Saflager pitched at 15c
heaps of airlock action for several days then nothing.
Gravity readings OG - 1092 - day 1
5 days later - 1080 - did the old shake shake
day 7 added 2nd Saflager

for the last 8 days 1050 - same temperature at reading.

Kept at 15c

My concern is when I put this into the Brewcraft Calc og was estimated at 1106 and fg was estimated at 1022.

so it looks like I'll put my helmet on - the other problem I have my Mega Stout started on 1152 and has stayed constant on 1070 for several days - again tried the old shake shake.

G'day Erik,
There's few things at play here....Firstly it's not just a matter of chucking together a $hitload of sugars in a fermenter and expect a yeast, especially a dry lager yeast, to hack through all those sugars and finish out at 1.022 from 1.106 - which is an implied attenuation of more than 79%...you won't get that because you used a lot of dextrose in the recipe and the lazy yeast will by nature consume the readily fermentable dextrose first, get used to that sugar chain, and largely overlook the rest of the maltose based sugars in the kits and steeped dark malt.
You could throw a kilo of saflager into the wort and it won't do much good since the brew is partially fermented and has generated alcohol which of course is a yeast killer - the ability of yeast strains to survive in alcohol laden worts is a significant factor in their attenuation ability.
Your options are pretty limited - if you bottle and leave at room temp, you risk encouraging the yeast to ferment further and create fusels and esters in a warmer environment, not to mention sure fire bottle bombs. You could rouse the beer - remove the lid and gently stir the yeast cake back into suspension with a sterile stirrer / mash paddle. You reduce the risk of infection since the alcohol already there is guarding against bacterial infection, but do it in a clean space - eg, keep the fruit bowl well away and don't do it out in the open on a windy day etc. Rousing (and raising the fermentation temp by no more than a couple of degrees) may drop the gravity some more, but there's no guarantee that the yeast is up to it.
Does a sample taste excessively sweet? If you want to get real keen, you could ask your HBS for some high alcohol tolerant yeast, such as Champagne yeast...but don't expect that strain of yeast to give you a malty rich lager!
To repeat - if you bottle, I'd keep the buggers cold!
Cheers,
TL

A very good explanation there, TL.
I was hoping someone would give a detailed answer to this and you have. Top marks there.

Cheers - I think I'm going to refrain from trying to make Big Idiot beers and stick to all malt no dex and make beer around the 6%.
Cheers again