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venquessa · 02-08-2012, 02:08 PM

Is an FG of 1.016 roughly right for an extract red ale?

I'd like to bottle it on Saturday or Sunday when it will be 2 weeks in... if the FG is still 1.016.

The krausen dropped on Monday night and the FG sample was last night (Tuesday).

What I want to ask is... now the 90% bulk of fermentation is complete, would placing it in a warmer location help the clean up/conditioning over the final days?

It's on the floor and reading 20C / 68F if I move it to the top of the beer fridge it will be gently heated (and occasionally gently massaged when the compressor is running (which is actually very quiet)

) and should get up to 24-26C / 76-79F

**JLem** · 02-08-2012, 02:23 PM

1.016 is an excellent FG, especially for an extract beer. You are right on target.

You don't really need to worry too much about increasing the temp with this one - it seems to have fermented fine at a good ale temp and you're giving it plenty of time.

Others will chime in for you to leave it another week, but I think 2 weeks is long enough if everything went well. I say go ahead and bottle if the gravity is stable this weekend. I wouldn't rush it more than this though.

TTB-J · 02-08-2012, 02:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JLem

1.016 is an excellent FG, especially for an extract beer. You are right on target.

You don't really need to worry too much about increasing the temp with this one - it seems to have fermented fine at a good ale temp and you're giving it plenty of time.

Others will chime in for you to leave it another week, but I think 2 weeks is long enough if everything went well. I say go ahead and bottle if the gravity is stable this weekend. I wouldn't rush it more than this though.

Agreed - check it again to make sure gravity has stabilized and then bottle that sucker.

Just-a-Guy · 02-08-2012, 02:36 PM

I just bottled an extract red ale last night. It was only my third batch (two IPA's were the first two), so I have limited experience. I didn't have a hydrometer when I started it (my daughter broke it while watching me brew, alas), so I don't know what the OG was. I had it in the primary (bucket) for two weeks, then racked it to a secondary (5 gal carboy). At racking to secondary, it was .018. Left it there for about 10 days. Last night, it was .016 when I racked it out to the bottling bucket. So that's just my experience to compare.

The bucket and carboy had been in my basement, where I keep my stuff, and the temps ranged from lows of around 64 to highs of maybe 67 for the entire time.

FWIW, I pulled the auto-siphon out at the end and poured myself a tall glass of the stuff, and dropped in a few ice cubes. It tasted pretty darn good.

venquessa · 02-08-2012, 03:21 PM

Yea, I'm quite excited about this one.

It's my..
* first attempt at an actual style
* first non-kit recipe

The previous 'experiment' consisting of Cooper's Draught + 500g Crystal + DME is slowly shifting from deep brown to deep red. The brown had me worried, but the red coming through as it clears is really encouraging.

Plus I have now got a stack of beer in stock (35 litres), so this red should get plenty of time to clear up.

I might make this my first bottlnig bucket bottling too... as my no.2 FV is empty it can be a bottling bucket. It will mean proper priming sugar levels

(Will have to check a calculator for it, but I think it's about 30g per gallon?)

**unionrdr** · 02-08-2012, 03:37 PM

Priming sugar calculators usually list amounts in ounces. Unless you have one over there that uses metric.

venquessa · 02-08-2012, 04:02 PM

1 oz = 28g, I believe. Never understood fluid ounces though

EDIT: Google
1 ounce = 28.3495231 grams

**unionrdr** · 02-08-2012, 04:06 PM

I do believe you're right about 1oz= 28g. 1C liquid = 8oz here,2C liquid = 1 pint (16oz).

venquessa · 02-08-2012, 04:35 PM

I found two calcs...

Based on:
* 23 litres beer
* Temp: 22C
* Target volumes CO2: 2.7

One gave me 174g the other 189g. Sounds fair enough to me. About 6 oz in old money.

**unionrdr** · 02-08-2012, 04:41 PM

By th calculators,you'd use a wee bit less dextrose (corn sugar) than you would sucrose (table sugar). They usually list those,& DME,etc as well by varying amounts to do the same co2 by volume.