Friends,
I primed and bottled a super tasty Belgian Smoked Porter last night, and in my excitement I did not take a final gravity reading. So, I busted open one of the bottles and checked it: 1.026, ten points above my estimate. I was worried about exploding bottles, not sure if fermentation had stopped or not, so I dumped everything from the bottles back into the fermenter (cleaned and sanitized, of course). I also covered it in a thick cloud of CO2. I hope this does not jeopardize my brew (bill was more than 10% caramel, roasted grains, maybe that's why my high final gravity? My calculator estimated 1.017 or so. 1.082-1.026, with BE-256, a high attenuator, 13 days in primary).
So: I assume that if I check the gravity in three days, and it remains the same, I should bottle again, prime again, and wait patiently for that luscious, viscous liquid to condition. Is this correct?
But: if the gravity does drop, I assume I should hold out and check every few days until it remains static for three days. Correct?
Thanks, and cheers.
Christophe