Am I on track? Gravity reading question

- Was your Original Gravity (pre-fermentation) reading 1.080?
- Are you sure your current reading isn't actually 1.020 (not 1.20, which it can't be)?
- Adding sugar to a struggling fermentation will not help the yeast to eat the more complex sugars they may struggling with.

 

A tad sweeter than what? What FG were you expecting, and why?

 

So you were expecting an OG of 1.075 and you had an OG of 1.080? That's pretty close.

And you're expecting a FG of 1.018 and you're at 1.020? That's really close.

Take another reading in 3 days, and if it's still at 1.020, then the beer is done, with an ABV of 7.9%. The difference in taste between a FG of 1.018 and 1.020 will be negligible.

PS: OG of 1.075 and FG of 1.018 would yield a 7.5% ABV beer, not 8.5.

 

A stir can also release trapped co2, which is why it'll bubble when you go to rack it as well. Any movement typically creates a bit of a ruckus! I would say that you quite effectively you hit your numbers, but a steady reading for several days is the best sign of active fermentation being complete, still doesn't hurt to keep it for a bit longer to condition and get out any off flavors. 12 days is a bit quick to bottle in my opinion. most of my beers are 3 weeks or MUCH longer

 

What temp did you set for your room? If your beer isn't done, then you don't the remaining fermentation to occur too warm.

Your beer is probably done so I'd go back to the original room temp, take a gravity reading and then another in a couple of days, and if these readings are the same, you're done. A few extra days of rest to allow the yeast to clean up after itself will be beneficial too. Then you can bottle.

 

Once you put the airlock in (or blowoff tube, if necessary), IGNORE that baby for at least two full weeks. Other than making sure you're not getting krausen in the airlock, there's nothing to do anyway, and whether it's bubbling or not really doesn't tell you anything*. There really aren't any beers that can't go two weeks in primary**, so leave it be and you'll be better off for it. Most of my beers go about 3+ weeks in primary, then straight to bottling.

*none of mine bubble, ever. One just never did seal quite tight enough to make the airlock bubble, but it makes fine beer. One won't fit in the freezer/controller unit with an airlock (too tall), so I use another method for an airlock (obviously this one doesn't bubble tho) and the third is a specially designed bucket for ten gallon batches (about 14 gallons total volume) which has a lid that allows gases to escape, but doesn't even have a hole for an airlock at all. So it's easy for me, but it will get easy for you as time goes by and you've no longer got noob impatience syndrome

**that I know of, or that a noob would likely be brewing