Low gravity after primary

[peoplesbrewing]

I just brewed an American Pale Ale from the Brewers Best extract kit. Followed all the directions, though I think I may have under pitched the yeast and possibly didn't aerate the wort well when starting primary. The recipe calls for 5-7 days primary. As a rookie mistake, I kept looking in to see if the foam had subsided so I could rack to secondary but thought the thin layer of foam still there was actually a lot more so i figured it wasn't done fermenting yet.

Anyway, I ended up checking the gravity 9 days into primary and it read very low at 1.008. I racked it into secondary and now I'm wondering if I should do anything to it during secondary to make up for the low gravity and ABV or should I just go straight to bottling? Also is it possible I just waited too long in primary?

 

[jdauria]

As a famous man once said, "relax, have a home brew!". You did fine, your beer is finished fermenting!

Most ales will be fully fermented in 3-7 days, especially those without a high starting gravity. Many brewers don't even bother with a secondary, but those that do, do it to help the beer clear even more by giving the beer time to let everything drop out; or they move to secondary because they are going to let it sit there for an extended time and the want to get it off the trub and yeast cake.

You can definitely bottle now as long as you make sure when you transfer to a bottling bucket you don't transfer the sediment in the bottom of your fermenter.

You don't necessarily have low ABV. Take you starting gravity minus ending and multiply by 131. For example, say OG was 1.040, then 1.040-1.008 = 0.032 x 131 = 4.19% ABV. Basically your ABV can only be so high way you are making lower starting gravity beer, unless you decide to kick it up by adding sugar to the fermenter.

 

[peoplesbrewing]

Ah, thank you for the peace of mind. I think I will keep it in secondary for a week or two to clear it up. It's currently a bit darker than I hoped. And unfortunately I forgot to take an OG reading (first time brewing, another rookie mistake!) but assuming it was at the average OG stated in the reciped (1.053 - 1.008 x 131) should get me a fairly good ABV at 5.9%. Forgot about the equation. It's amazing the amount of things you learn from the first brew! Can't wait for my second.

 

[jdauria]

Enjoy and welcome to brewing! Just another FYI, 5 gallons of beer in a bucket or carboy will look darker then it actually is because less light is passing through. If you were to take a sample out, you can judge the real color. If you have an extra fridge that you could fit the bucket or carboy into, you can also do a cold crash to clear the beer. Letting it sit for 2 days at fridge temps will drop everything out of suspension and give you a nice clear beer!

 

[haerbob3]

Sounds like it is done. The only reason I do a secondary is because I keg. Allowing the beer to fall clear keeps trub out of the pick-up tube