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Old 08-08-2012, 11:28 PM   #1
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Default How soon is too soon?

Hey everyone. I M back in to brewing beer after almost 2 decades off. I have recently started a Vanilla Cream Ale batch using a recipe off the Coopers website. Called for one can of their Australian Pale Ale, LDM, Dextrose, maple syrup, and vanilla. I boiled up the LDM, syrup, vanilla and water, added it to the extract, cooled to 75 and pitched my yeast? Starting gravity 1.038. Gravity at racking 7 days later 1.003. It's fermented at 68 the whole time and my question is...gravity is stable, and the ale is already clearing and it's only been in the secondary 4 days. How soon is too soon to bottle???


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Old 08-08-2012, 11:33 PM   #2
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If the gravity has been at 1.003 (which seems low to me, btw) for 3 days, then fermentation is done. I think you can bottle any time now.


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Old 08-09-2012, 12:03 AM   #3
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Should I be worried about the low gravity? It started at 1.038 and should be around 4.68% ABV if my math is correct?
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Old 08-09-2012, 01:20 AM   #4
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.003 is kinda low but it could also be your hydrometer, have you calibrated it? Is It the same one from back in the day? It should read 1.000 at 60 in distilled water. Did you temperature correct your reading?

Anyway, if FG is stable over a few days and the beer is already clear then rock and roll and bottle 'em up!
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Old 08-09-2012, 01:36 AM   #5
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Negative on both counts. Haven't calibrated and it's brand new. I will have to do some reading and make sure that I have my numbers right.
Thanks for all the help.
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Old 08-09-2012, 01:53 AM   #6
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1.003 seems extremely low. How much of your fermentables are malt, and how much are just sugar?
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Old 08-09-2012, 02:01 AM   #7
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1.7kg of extract out of the can
500g of LDM
400g of dextrose
250ml of maple syrup
Teaspoon vanilla
Let me calibrate my hydrometer of correct for temp get back to everyone
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Old 08-09-2012, 02:05 AM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BenRuss View Post
1.7kg of extract out of the can
500g of LDM
400g of dextrose
250ml of maple syrup
Teaspoon vanilla
Let me calibrate my hydrometer of correct for temp get back to everyone
Sorry, what's LDM?
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Old 08-09-2012, 02:25 AM   #9
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Light dry malt
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Old 08-09-2012, 04:13 PM   #10
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Ok, so a calibration today shows my Hydrometer out by 2 points. .998 at 60f. Please see pictures and verify my findings.

So OG corrected for temperature and calibration would have been 1.045
EG corrected for temperature and calibration would have been 1.007

I don't want to keep drawing samples but I would think that the same I am going home to take now will match the 1.007. What does this mean for my beer? Again, non of this really matters a bunch, as I am sure it will taste good either way, my question was more the fact that it has only been 21/2 weeks since I brewed and it appears ready to bottle?


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