My First Imperial Pale Ale Reading!

saintdog327 · 01-11-2012, 02:36 AM

Hello friends and family,

So about two weeks ago I put my Imperial Pale Ale to ferment. Because it was the first brew I've ever made, I decided to check out what was going on inside the white bucket. I understand that normal fermentation is approx. 3 weeks, but because I'm curious and wanted to taste it I popped it open. My original gravity was about 1.079, a touch watery for what the recipe recommended (1.082). After sanitizing everything and getting a reading of its current state, I'm at about 1.028 for my SG, also a little dense for what the recipe calls for in its FG (1.020).

After tasting the beer (which tasted fantastic!) it doesn't have enough alcohol IMHO. Correction, I took a bigger swig and it def. has enough alcohol lol... The recipe states it's supposed to be at about 7.5-8%. So using math as my guide, I calculated :

Equation: (all measurements were taken at approx. 60F)
6.7% Alcohol = ((1.05 x (1.079 – 1.028)) / 1.028) / 0.79

When pouring the beer from fermenter to test tube the head was also spot on. A nice frothy head with solid protein accumulation along the sides (i forget the technical term for that :P ) Obviously in the picture it doesn't show it as I had to move all the foam in order to get a good reading!

So now to some pictures of the process

Hope you enjoy!

Bookem15 · 01-11-2012, 03:49 AM

What was the recipe? This is one I want to try.

saintdog327 · 01-11-2012, 04:26 AM

You def. should! Honestly, I made a lot of mistakes like not aerating enough, no yeast re-hydration, etc. and it still tastes amazing!

Recipe Type: Extract
Yeast: SAFALE S-04 DRY ALE YEAST
Re-hydrate Yeast: Yes
Additional Yeast or Yeast Starter: If packet is 5g use two.
Batch Size (Gallons): 5
Original Gravity: 1.083
Final Gravity: 1.018
IBU: 65-69
Boiling Time (Minutes): 60mins
Color: Medium Amber
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 21days 64F
Additional Fermentation: 3 Weeks Bottle 70F , 3 Days Fridge 45F
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): No
Tasting Notes:

FERMENTABLES
6.6 lb. Light LME
3 lb. Golden DME

SPECIALTY GRAINS
1 lb. Caramel 80L
8 oz. Victory
4 oz. Carapils

HOPS
2 oz. Bittering - Columbus Bittering Hops - AA 13.9%
1 oz. Flavoring - Columbus Flavoring Hops - AA 13.9%
1 oz. Aroma - Columbus Aroma Hops - AA 13.9%

YEAST
1 Sachet 11g

BREW SCHEDULE
1. Add bittering hops : (time)
2. Boil 40 minutes
3. Add flavoring hops : (time)
4. Boil 15 minutes
5. Add aroma hops : (time)
6. Boil final 5 minutes
7. Terminate boil : (time)

That's about it! Happy Brewing!

**Burgs** · 01-11-2012, 12:23 PM

Looks beautiful! Maybe your first taste didn't seem like there was as much alcohol in it because of the high finishing gravity?

If you make this again, I'd suspect you could get a little bit more out of that yeast. I've personally only used S-04 once, but from what I've read about it, it likes to sediment out very quickly.

This is great for leaving you with a clear and bright beer, so long as it finishes the job before it falls to the bottom of your fermenter. I know on my beer, it helped to rouse the yeast a little bit and move my fermenter to a slightly warmer spot to get the last few gravity points I wanted.

I also applaud you for choosing to do an IPA for your first batch, haha.

Gritsak · 01-11-2012, 01:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by saintdog327

Equation: (all measurements were taken at approx. 60F)
6.7% Alcohol = ((1.05 x (1.079 – 1.028)) / 1.028) / 0.79

A much easier way to calculate alcohol:

(OG-SG)*131

saintdog327 · 01-11-2012, 02:30 PM

Burgs:
Thats a good point that you have made. I will shake the fermenter a bit so that i agitate the yeast for this final week, hopefully bringing my gravity down a few points. I will also put it somewhere
With a higher temp. Thank u for ur help burgs!

Gritsak:
hahaha that would have helped lmao. Thank u grits