2 First's: Need your Help!

[dustinp]

Just got done brewing a Happy Holiday brew from Mid.Sup. I had 2 firsts on this brew. This will be the first time I do a late extract addition. Also, It will be the first time using a brix rafractometer that has already been calibrated. The brew has 3.3# amber LME and 6# dark LME. It is a 5 gallon recipe that recommends the SG be between 1.062 and 1.066 and a FG between 1.012 and 1.018. It also recommends boiling all the LME for 60 minutes.
I steeped the grains for 30 minutes in 4 gallons of water, added about 1# of the amber LME and brought to a boil. Boiled the hops for an hour and added some spices and finishing hops towards the end. I then added the rest of the LME at flame-out and stirred in until dissolved. Then let it sit for about 5 min. before starting the wort chiller. Cooled down and added the remaining water, which was just over 1 gallon. The final amount of wort in the fermenter was about 5.25 gallons. I then aerated and took a refractometer reading before pitching the yeast. Pitched a yeast starter at 70 degrees and into the closet it went.
My SG ended up being 17 brix, which according to the MoreBeer spreadsheet comes out to be 1.070. Is this reading skewed high because of all the sugar I added at flame-out? What will this mean for my beer? I am planning on having this beer in a primary for about 4 weeks and then into a secondary for several months before bottling. Is there anything I can do do get to the FG? Any suggestions to add some dry yeast after racking into secondary? Thanks in advance for the help!

 

[Yooper]

You said that the refractometer is calibrated, which I take to mean that distilled water reads 0. But there is a "brix correction factor" which translates the brix reading into an OG reading. How you do that is to take a reading with your hydrometer, and a refractometer reading. The difference will be your "correction factor" and is different (but close) for everyone.

My Brix correction factor is 1.0344. Which means if I took a brix reading of 17, the correct equalized OG reading would be 1.068.

Does that morebeer spreadsheet have that feature? Most people have a correction factor of .99000ish to 1.0400ish, I believe.

That number won't change, so once you know your correction factor, a corresponding OG reading isn't necessary. But for the first few times, you'll want to check the OG reading, too.

for some more info, check out this thread: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f84/be...sers-whats-your-brix-correction-factor-87922/

 

[defenestrate]

the only thing that will get you to the FG is time... i wouldnt bother checking until 3 weeks. also, i doubt you will finish at 1012 with extract, especially with that high of a OG. i would imagine the high end of that range you have.

i've had a beer sit in the secondary for 6+ months and it carbed up fine w/o added yeast so i dont think you will have any problem there.

 

[dustinp]

You said that the refractometer is calibrated, which I take to mean that distilled water reads 0. But there is a "brix correction factor" which translates the brix reading into an OG reading. How you do that is to take a reading with your hydrometer, and a refractometer reading. The difference will be your "correction factor" and is different (but close) for everyone.

My Brix correction factor is 1.0344. Which means if I took a brix reading of 17, the correct equalized OG reading would be 1.068.

Does that morebeer spreadsheet have that feature? Most people have a correction factor of .99000ish to 1.0400ish, I believe.

That number won't change, so once you know your correction factor, a corresponding OG reading isn't necessary. But for the first few times, you'll want to check the OG reading, too.

for some more info, check out this thread: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f84/be...sers-whats-your-brix-correction-factor-87922/

Thanks Yooper. That gets me down a lot closer to the recommended SG. I just used the average 1.04. That gets me to a SG of 1.067. That is close enough for me!!
I'm surprised that I didn't find that post before since this website is my main reason for getting a refractometer! I thought I must have looked at all of the threads, but guess not! Thanks again!