Final Gravity A Little Off

Question

I am at day 12 of my first brew from a True Brew Belgian Ale. I checked the gravity at day 6 (the kit said I could be ready to bottle after 7 days even though everyone says let it go for a few weeks). The reading I got was 1.020. I let it go and checked it again (day 12) and got the same reading of 1.020. According to the kit, FG should be between 1.007 and 1.011. Is that 0.010 a big issue? It has been at the same gravity reading for 7 days days, what are the chances it will drop any more if I leave it in the primary?

Differences between Day 6 and Day 12 are: - The beer is clearer, not as foggy and looks a lot like other Belgian Ales I have had. - On Day 6, there was quite a bit of 'fizziness' when I tasted it. On Day 12, the 'fizziness' is much less but the bitterness is quite high (more so than the pale ale I am drinking right now)

Will the bitterness dissipate some if I leave it in the primary longer or during bottle conditioning?

Answer 1

That level of attenuation( (61-20)/61 = 0.67 ) is a bit low for a Belgian beer. You might be able to get it to finish off the last few points by raising the temperature to 70-72F for a few days and rousing the yeast a couple of times a day by rocking the fermentor to get it swirled up and back into suspension. That may or may not work, since the gravity has been steady for a week.

My concern with bottling now would be that the priming sugar will wake the yeast back up, and they might try and finish it on out and create bottle bombs. That may be overly paranoiac, though, and some others may have more experience on that front.

Bitterness will dissipate over time, but generally the scale for that is months, rather than days or weeks.