Trouble with hydrometer and dry hopping

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Funk

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Hi! First post so go easy on me, I've done a handful of kits and they've not turned out too badly given I knew nothing when I started.

I'm currently brewing a Young's American IPA kit. The kit states that dry hops should be added when the S.G. reaches 1.010 before adding dry hops.

All was going well, fermentation appeared to stop on the 7th/8th day so I gave it another 24 hours, still no airlock activity and I figured it wasn't temperature related given I have an thermostat in the bucket keeping it at 22c.

I Took an S.G. reading and it came out at 1.010, so I added the hops which the kit recommends doing at the end of fermentation or 2-3 days before bottling. I was hoping on bottling tonight given the hops were added two days ago but the thing is the brew appears way more active before adding the hops! Is this normal?

I've taken another S.G. it still appeared around the 1.010/1.009 range, the finished S.G. is stated to be below 1.007, so I take it I've messed up :-(

Question is do I leave it for another couple of days now and hope for the best, or should I bottle tomorrow if the S.G. Is still around 1.010/1.009? It's worth noting the start S.G. Was 1.112, both samples should have been at 23-24c when I took them which I know isn't ideal.

Have I messed it up, should I just wait unt the bubbling stops and take the hit on the hop flavours being lost?
 
I woudl wait a few days.. I tend to dry hop for 5 days anyway.. If it was me I woudl check it at Friday and if its still 1007 you could go ahead and bottle.. I wouldn;t have thought it would go lower than that though..

As a general rule I leave them for a couple of weeks or until fermentation is well and done before I dry hop.
 
Are you sure your OG was 1.112 as that gives your beer to be over 13% ABV :-o

Kit instructions are normally quite optimistic, the main thing is that it is stable over a few days, you know fermentation has finished then.

There is nothing wrong with leaving it a few more days, however be careful as dryhopping can create grassy flavours if these have been left in for too long, although some have dryhopped for over a week with no ill effects, I would not leave them in for longer than 5 days or so. You say they have been in for 2 days, you could potentially leave them in till Friday, you would just get more hop aroma.
 
I've taken another S.G. it still appeared around the 1.010/1.009 range, the finished S.G. is stated to be below 1.007, so I take it I've messed up :-(

Question is do I leave it for another couple of days now and hope for the best, or should I bottle tomorrow if the S.G. Is still around 1.010/1.009? It's worth noting the start S.G. Was 1.112, both samples should have been at 23-24c when I took them which I know isn't ideal.

Are you sure your starting Gravity was 1.112? That's a big ass beer :wink:
 
Are you sure your starting Gravity was 1.112? That's a big ass beer :wink:

I am going to suggest that 1.112 is not a useful number here, given that it is clearly not the original specific gravity of this kit.

More likely to be something like 1.052 or anything more or less the same.

Forget the day to day SG readings from the hydrometer, because there are just so many variables for a new brewer to get his / her head around. Your Hydrometer is basically telling you that the big fermentation phase is over.

That does not mean that the best plan is to progress at once. I agree with dry hopping for 5 days and then move on.

Hope this helps.
 
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