Nut Brown OG/ferm question

[santanman]

My 4th brew so I dont really know how to deal with issues...

This is a Nut Brown ale from Northern. 5 gal
I used California liquid yeast and made a starter. I have temp control and have so had good results in the past.

After shaking vial, lost a bit from vial blow out. Added starter any way last weekend.

Forgot to take OG. OG should be 1.04

8 days later the gravity is 1.011. no infection. not much/any bubbles from blowout tube the entire time. 6.5 gal carboy

Should I make/add another starter? Looks to me like no fermentation happened and I kinda just made my wort a week early. I will remeasure gravity but assuming the same after 3 days, try adding yeast?

 

[Padawan]

I just made this brew from the Columbus day sale at nb. mine fermented at 67 deg for 2 days and it was finished. my og was 1.039 the fg was 1.012.i let it sit for a total of 8 days , then i cold crashed and put it in a keg. if you are sitting at 1.011 the beer definitely fermented. most of my beers finish around 1.009-1.014

ps: you don't really need to make a starter for a low strength beer

 

[santanman]

Thanks for the reply. Is there a way for me to test for sure if it has turned into beer? vs still wort? Ive never brewed this, not sure what the taste should be

 

[MindenMan]

If you haven't read it somewhere, and if you think your fermentation is done, hydro it, wait three days and hydro it again. If the readings are the same, then fermentation is done. Please do not get in a hurry to bottle or secondary, you will be cheating yourself out of what could have been really, really good beer. When I was new to brewing, I thought,"Well, the instructions say this or that..." I know that even with fermentation being done, if the fermenter is swirled, and the airlock bubbles it might be gas bubbles trapped in the trub. So, I always wait until there are no bubbles at all, and then I wait at least another week before racking into my bottling bucket. This new method has prevented gushers and bottle bombs.

 

[santanman]

Ill just keep it in the glass primary for a few weeks and keg it I guess. We shall see.
So at only 1.01, does that mean there is basically no alcohol in it? just watered down beer>?

 

[TexanRudeboy]

Ill just keep it in the glass primary for a few weeks and keg it I guess. We shall see. So at only 1.01, does that mean there is basically no alcohol in it? just watered down beer>?

From 1.04 to 1.01 means you're at about 3.8% ABV

 

[MindenMan]

No, it's not watered down beer, it is what is referred to as a small beer, or a session beer. Low alcohol doesn't mean low flavor. I am getting ready to re brew another Mild, a lighter version of the American Brown. This beer has plenty of flavor: chocolate wheat, special roast, and brown malt as a backbone. The ABV will be less than 4%, and while making you want to drink another, and you can and not become majorly impaired.

 

[boydster]

Couple things need to be said.

First - If the gravity dropped, you had fermentation. That is the only way for the hydrometer to read lower.

Second - To read the ABV from the hydrometer, you can do one of 2 things: Look at the potential alcohol scale at the beginning and end, then subtract the final number from the first number (5% potential on first reading, 1% potential on final reading, result is 4% abv); or do this (Original Gravity - Final Gravity)x131 (example (1.050-1.010)x131 = .04 x 131 = 5.24% abv)

 

[NewWestBrewer]

You definitely have beer. IF your OG was supposed to be 1.04 this was always going to be a low alcohol (session) beer. Leave it another couple of weeks to let the yeast clean up everything and then keg away. It is not necessary to make a starter for a beer with that low OG so even though you lost a little bit you still most likely had plenty of yeast to do their thing.

 

[boydster]

I'm going to go outside of the pack here and say you did the right thing by making a starter. You should be pitching 150 billion cells for a 5 gallon batch of 1.040 beer, and a 1L starter gets you there. It's not a huge deal, but I think you made the right call, especially since you lost some when the vial blew out. Just my $.02 though.