Beer Forum

Hey guys, just got back into brewing after a 2 year break but I've been learning from the BN since the beginning! Just a podcast listener. Quick question though about Jamil's white ale and some specs:

I didn't do the rest at 122 degrees and only did an hour at 150.

OG was 1.050 spot on.

Fermented like crazy for almost 3 weeks at 72 deg and now its only lookin to be about 1.020.

It actually tastes pretty damn good though, not too sweet or anything.

Does the alcohol now effect the refract reading?

Was the mash schedule way off for the style? what do you think? Thanks!

Refractometers can't reliably be used for gravity readings on anything with alcohol in it. There's a chart somewhere that can supposedly convert your reading based off of the ABV. It is recommended, however, that you use a plain ol hydrometer to get your final gravity reading.

no kidding ok thanks a lot Hoozier.

has anyone been in this similar situation where it reads that high and is actually perfectly fine?

The conversion tool here should be able to help you see where the final gravity actually ended up:

http://www.onebeer.net/refractometer.shtml

MoreBeer! also also a downloadable MS EXCEL spreadsheet that works really well. Just make sure you get your OG in Brix before you pitch your yeast.