So I have hopefully simple math question for people much smarter than I.
So i recently just bottled a huckleberry blonde ale.
here my numbers
• Estimated O.G.- 1.059 , Actual O.G- 14 brix or 1.057
• Estimated F.G.- 1.013, Actual F.G- 1.005 hydrometer, 5brix refractomter 1.006
My question is- would the the huckleberries really drop the FG 10pts (over 2wks)? I used a hydrometer for the 1.005 and refractometer for the brix reading adjusted using brewersfreind online calculator.
my estimated abv was 6.06 and with the hydrometer would be 6.8
What quantity of huckleberries did you use? The sugar in fruit is all fermentable so a large amount of fruit will lower the FG. I used to make fruit wines a lot and they would often finish under 1.000, i.e. lower than pure water. I reckon your sums are right but the predicted FG was out.
charles1968 is correct. Fruit sugars are nearly 100% fermentable. Ciders and wines usually finish fermenting below 1.000, down to about 0.992. You are experiencing some of that in your fruit beer where the fruit and the beer are sort of averaging out to the FG of 1.005. You do indeed have 6.8% ABV in your fruit beer. Next time you could mash hotter or use a lower attenuating yeast to compensate, or you could also add a pound of lactose or maltodextrin per 5 gallons to increase FG by about 9 points (those two sugars are not fermentable).
As they both stated…
I just did a 5.5g batch of an all mosaic IPA which I racked onto 3lbs of blueberries
I racked it with a final gravity of 1.012 and after 2 weeks it was an amazing fusia color and dropped to 1.008
Sweet thanks. I racked 5 gal onto 3.5lbs. Good to know in the future with fruit additions.
I’m your huckleberry…
What was the FG prior to adding the fruit?