FG reading and Fermentation

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dmcman73

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I am brewing a Hefeweizen that has a SG of 1.050. So far it had fermented for a week in my primary and a week in my secondary. I just took a reading tonight to see where I was at because I am not seeing any more bubbles in the air lock (or they are very infrequent now) and it is at 1.015. The FG for this brew should be between 1.010 - 1.012. If I take a reading three days in a row and it does not change and stays at 1.015, is this bad? If so, anything I can do to try and jump start the fermentation again to get it a bit lower? I tasted it and aside from being a little flat and warm, it was really good.
 
No that ain't bad your close, it could be your off with your reading a bit, temp correction or its just done.

I'd give it another week in the secondary, check again just to see what its at and bottle
 
Is this an extract kit? If so, it is probably finished at 1.015. Extract brews often finish higher. 1.020 is a number often mentioned. You do not need to take 3 measurements. Take one, wait 2 days and take another. I never worry if a beer is fairly close to predicted - up to .005 higher or lower.
 
Your fermentation is probably done since your beer is no longer on the yeast cake. Secondary fermentation is a misnomer. Fermentation is completed in the primary vessel. A secondary is sometimes used to allow beer to clear, long term bulk aging, but most often for additions of hops or other flavorings. Unfortunately kit instructions are sometimes rather general. Unless you also racked a lot of yeast the airlock activity you are seeing may just be from temperature or barometic pressure changes. Wait a few days to check SG to make sure.
 
I transferred to the secondary to clear it. When you say the yeast cake (still learning) what do you mean? On the sediment that was on the bottom in the primary? If so, the secondary has a thick sediment bed in it.
 
As I understand Wits, they don't clear and are not expected to. So why secondary? But as the others said it's probably done. Take one more reading to be sure and no need secondary in the future unless you are adding something like fruit.
 
C-Rider said:
As I understand Wits, they don't clear and are not expected to. So why secondary? But as the others said it's probably done. Take one more reading to be sure and no need secondary in the future unless you are adding something like fruit.

Even then, secondary is only a good thing if you plan on bulk aging...
 
Yeah my hefs are usually done fermenting in 3-5days. I usually don't wait for them to clear all that much as I prefer the taste if my hefs young. Once your gravity is the same a few days apart(providing drastically high FG readings) you should be fine to bottle/keg to your preference.
 
This was my very first brew, never brewed before. I know hefs don't clear up as much in appearance and are naturally cloudy, I was trying to minimize the amount of sediment that would be in the final product, that was when I was going to bottle but decided to keg it now.
 

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