BlackRock

Recipes 

I brewed up a third batch of my favorite IPA but this batch hasn't hit all it's marks leaving me with some questions and wondering if I should rack it today or wait longer.

My OG was a bit low at 1.065 instead of the 1.068+ I've hit previously. I did use a different LME which could have been the difference.

I also did a yeast starter for the first time which seemed good... It started bubbling in an hour and stopped bubbling almost entirely after only 3 maybe 4 days. So maybe the yeast starter went just perfectly, I'm not sure.

Today (14 days later) I check FG and I'm at 1.014 to 1.015. That is close to the FG I was expecting but the OG was low so ABV is only 6.7% and not the 7.1 and 7.3% I hit with previous batches.

I was going to keg it today, but with the slightly high FG and a bunch of Krausen still on the beer I'm wondering if I should wait longer? I expected the FG to be lower because of the yeast starter and the lower OG but maybe I'm not correct in my thinking.

So with a target of 7% ABV and actual results only yielding 6.7% it seems like a big difference, but maybe not? I haven't done enough batches to really have a feel for it.

Anyway, I'd love to keg it today, but I'm wondering if I leave it if the FG may still drop. It's been 14 days so I doubt it. It's also been a solid 10 days since it completely stopped bubbling. It tastes beautiful! So even if I didn't hit my ABV I finally got the taste dialed into where it was on the first batch, which was out of this world!

Thoughts, Ideas, Experience...

duboman

Recipes 

I would wait another 2 days, check gravity and if it hasn't changed, it's done and keg it.

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unionrdr

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BlackRock

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I planned to check the FG a week ago, but got busy. I could wait another day or two but after 14 days I'd doubt it's still doing anything. It is still pretty cloudy, maybe I need to rack it to the carboy and let it sit another week like the first batch which tasted the best.


How many days do you let yours clean and settle? It's been sitting for almost 10 days doing pretty much nothing. I was targeting 15 days from pitch to package, but from these last two posts I'm thinking I need to probably wait more and test it again.

I'm also thinking that not only should I wait and retest the FG, but after that I'll toss it in the fridge for a day and cold crash anything floating about before kegging this time. Last batch I dropped straight in the keg which could have been some of the slightly off taste. Then again, maybe it was because I didn't rack it to the secondary for conditioning...