metanoia
Well-Known Member
Hello guys, I think I'm still pretty new around here so here's some background. I have my fourth batch in the fermenter right now (along with my fifth as well), and this is the first time I'm using a hydrometer, since the other three brews I did (about a year ago) were all extract and I was more interested in the final product than the science behind brewing back then. Well, this is more than likely my final extract batch, but I am working on transforming a pumpkin brown kit into a gingerbread brown, so I made some changes, including using 8oz of molasses at 60 minutes with half of my LME.
The OG was at 1.059, which was only a few points higher than the kit's OG. As of two days ago it fermented down to 1.009, and today it's at 1.007 (tastes a lot better than two days ago). I'm going to wait two more days before taking any action, but I plan on cold crashing in my garage for a few days, during which time the lows at night will be around 35-40, and the highs in the low 50s. The garage shouldn't change too much in temperature between night and day (I plan on putting a thermometer out there to check), so does that temperature range sound okay for cold crashing? This is the first time I'm planning on doing this, and will hopefully provide some clarity for what is a somewhat cloudy brew (despite boiling for 90 minutes).
I also just threw together a tincture to add at bottling, which includes half an once of fresh sliced ginger, one cinnamon stick, and one vanilla bean sliced lengthwise, all in 8 oz of 80 proof vodka. I plan on mixing different amounts of the tincture with the same amount of my beer when I take my next sample on Sunday, then scaling up to provide the same taste for the whole batch. This is mostly an experiment to further my creativity in making more specialty brews, but I'd love to know what the more advanced brewers out there have to say on the topic of cold crashing and using tinctures in such a manner. Thanks.
The OG was at 1.059, which was only a few points higher than the kit's OG. As of two days ago it fermented down to 1.009, and today it's at 1.007 (tastes a lot better than two days ago). I'm going to wait two more days before taking any action, but I plan on cold crashing in my garage for a few days, during which time the lows at night will be around 35-40, and the highs in the low 50s. The garage shouldn't change too much in temperature between night and day (I plan on putting a thermometer out there to check), so does that temperature range sound okay for cold crashing? This is the first time I'm planning on doing this, and will hopefully provide some clarity for what is a somewhat cloudy brew (despite boiling for 90 minutes).
I also just threw together a tincture to add at bottling, which includes half an once of fresh sliced ginger, one cinnamon stick, and one vanilla bean sliced lengthwise, all in 8 oz of 80 proof vodka. I plan on mixing different amounts of the tincture with the same amount of my beer when I take my next sample on Sunday, then scaling up to provide the same taste for the whole batch. This is mostly an experiment to further my creativity in making more specialty brews, but I'd love to know what the more advanced brewers out there have to say on the topic of cold crashing and using tinctures in such a manner. Thanks.
