Expert: Alan Ward - 12/22/2006

Question

Okay let's see the beginning gravity was about .022 which is around what we are getting now.  The hydrometer is off, it is off by about two lines (would that be 4 one hundredths?).  So two days ago we pitched one more ounce of muntons yeast and added it to the fermenter. We never got an additional reaction.  It smells and looks great.  So today we bottled 12 bottles and we are trying the exact same recipe to see if we can figure what happened, or if the same thing occurs. We use a local brew shop, here in cambridge Ma.  Knock out as we understand is when you take the wort off the heat.  So we boil 3#'s of malt for 60 minutes and then after we boil the hops, just before we cool we add the last extract.
I suppose we will see what happens with this try. Thanks again.
Jaclyn

Answer
Alright so you had a .022 for a beginning. If you got it down to zero you would have a 2.75% beer.  Having said that I should tell you that most beers go down to .013.

Your hydrometer being off by 2 lines is okay especially if you are using tap water to measure with.  

I have never heard it called knock off but that is fine.  I am curious why you boil 3#s for 60 and then add the last of the extract.  The final addition of hops is fine.  I must admit that I do mostly all grain but in most recipes you would boil all the extract for the full time.  This allows a couple of things.

First it allows all the ingredients to boil at least 20 min to sterilize them and second it allows the ingredients to blend equally.  Hops can be added at different times depending on the use.

Have you asked your local brew shop.  They may be able to shed some light on the low gravity.  

I might suggest that you weigh your ingredients again when you get home to see if your geting the full amount.

Having said all that I wish you luck and appologize for not being able to really help you.  I you would not mind I would like to know what the batch taste like and what the original gravity on the new batch is.  

If I can be of help again please let me know.

Merry Christmas and happy brewing.

Alan