I brewed my first high gravity beer, an imperial stout about 10 days ago and I am a bit concerned about what has happened or what I may have done. I made a starter using white labs Irish ale yeast and it seemed to work just fine, fermentation began about 14 hours after I pitched it in the wort. It was aggresive and all seemed good. In fact it blew the cap off of my airlock. I let it go (with the cap replaced) for 8 days and checked the gravity. The O.G. was 1.075 and the gravity when I checked it was 1.042. This is still to high for this beer, but I racked it anyway (probably dumb on my part, but it was a mess and it didn't seem as if anything was going on). After I racked it it began to bubble again in the airlock and thought I was still safe. I have not rechecked the gravity since then. It has been in secondary for 3 days.
Have I ruined the chance to get the gravity much lower (down to about 1.018)? Or is there anything that can be done in situations like this? I'm still learning and think this is a good lesson for me.
well it's normal not to rack until active ferm. is over. I don't rack at all, personally. But I think you are fine. check the gravity in a week.
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"Beer, if drank with moderation, softens the temper, cheers the spirit, and promotes good health" -Thomas Jefferson
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Primary: gaping pipeline hole
Bottled, waiting: gaping pipeline hole
Ready to Drink: Mystery Beer (Mis-Mashed Belgian White)
Coming up: Something one of these days...
okay, so you're at ~11 days of fermentation? Right?
Be cool, and let it sit for another 10 days. Call me when your done. J/K. Let it sit for about 10 days and check he hydro reading. It was a big beer and when you racked you probably got enough yeasties to finish the job; except they would've finished faster if you left all of them in the primary.
You'll be fine. Just give it time - and by all means report back and let us know your success story!
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i did this on my second brew (a belgian dubbel) and it turned out fine. the remaining portion of the fermentation, however, did take longer than it would have if i had let it be.
i agree that you should leave it alone for awhile, although my experience says 20 days would be better than 10. mine cleared up after about three weeks and ended up awesome after about a month in th bottle.
High O.G., one week later still high gravity
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