Working with gravity...

[cyanide]

I've been reading up on things about gravity. I know what it is, how to measure it, what it does... etc..

However, I'm curious about controlling the amount of final gravity. Won't certain recipes call for a set final gravity?

Obviously, this would change the sweetness and dryness of a beer. So do people usually control it by bottling it as soon as it reaches the gravity? Or is that usually controlled by what's put in the recipe, so that it won't go past that gravity? It only tells you the gravity because that lets you know it's done.

I'm a bit confused here and I haven't seen anything to clear it up.

I am thinking of this in terms of coming up with your own recipes. If you wanted a little sweeter brew, might you just bottle it earlier? Or would that sugar be eaten up anyways in the bottle?
Or would one just substitute some lactose for sugar.

[Tweek]

You can control your starting gravity by the amount of sugars you put in. Your final gravity depends on the yeast strain you chose and how much of those sugars were fermentable. You dont want to bottle too much before the yeast is done fermenting due to the fact the the pressure could cause your bottles to explode.

If you want to make a bit sweeter of a brew you could raise the sugars and then pick a less alcohol tolerant yeast strain. Or add non fermentable sugars. For instance if you were making a chocolate stout, mexican chocolate is non fermentable. If you are doing all grain you can play with your mash temperature to get more non fermentables out of your mash.

If you want a dryer brew you can just pick up a more alcohol tolerant strain of yeast, and go easy on the unfermentables.

I dont know which yeast you use but both White labs and Wyeast discuss the diferent merits of their yeasts on their website.

hope that helped

[cyanide]

Yep, thanks!

[paul84043]

I have also heard that adding honey will give you a dry finish, plus there are different types that can give very subtle interesting flavor profiles.

As far as your F.G. goes, we're all pretty much at it's mercy...we can hope, plan, and think that we have some control, but in the end, it's done when it feels like it...

[YamahaXS]

O.G. and F.G. are not exact benchmarks. They are included b/c its nice to know, but you can't really make any decisions about the beer you brew based on the gravity readings that came with the recipe. There is a lot of noise in gravity readings and the relationship between OG and alcolohol content isn't perfect.

If you are brewing with extracts, your gravity is your gravity. Don't sweat it at all. You can add more extract/honey/corn sugar (gasp) if you want, but there is no real need. You can bottle AFTER you F.G reading stabilizes for a few days. I have learned, that I like beers that have OG between 1.050 and 1.060, so I shoot for recipes that post OGs in that range, OR I just plan on using between 6.5 and 8 pounds of DME.

In all grain brewing, I think they are more important b/c it give you a way of estimating the efficiency of your mash.

cheers and beers
Jeff