1st batch ever:Specific gravity was around 1.3 before I added yeast- am I in trouble?

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Liquorbox

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Hi all. I finally bought a kit (off of Craigslist), and decided to take the plunge on the first attempt yesterday. The kit had a wheat ale in it, and I'm all for that... Simple kit with hops pellets, two bags of malt extract, etc... I went through the checklist, made sure I had everything, and went step by step. Here's my question:

I noticed when I poured my mix in to the bucket right before I added the yeast, I put the hydrometer (is that right?) to check the specific gravity. I still had some suds, so it was sticking up above the suds below 1.20, so I'm going to guess it was about 1.3'ish... Homebrew for Dummies, and the guide that came with the kit, all say it should have been about 1.48 or so... do I have issues? Or, am I just a newbie who is on his first batch and I shouldn't worry? Is there anything I can do, or need to do, to correct it as it's working, prior to putting it in the bottles?

just thought I'd ask. Thanks all.
 
Hi all. I finally bought a kit (off of Craigslist), and decided to take the plunge on the first attempt yesterday. The kit had a wheat ale in it, and I'm all for that... Simple kit with hops pellets, two bags of malt extract, etc... I went through the checklist, made sure I had everything, and went step by step. Here's my question:

I noticed when I poured my mix in to the bucket right before I added the yeast, I put the hydrometer (is that right?) to check the specific gravity. I still had some suds, so it was sticking up above the suds below 1.20, so I'm going to guess it was about 1.3'ish... Homebrew for Dummies, and the guide that came with the kit, all say it should have been about 1.48 or so... do I have issues? Or, am I just a newbie who is on his first batch and I shouldn't worry? Is there anything I can do, or need to do, to correct it as it's working, prior to putting it in the bottles?

just thought I'd ask. Thanks all.

There is no way your OG was 1.3. No way.

It could have possibly been 1.030, if you didn't stir the wort super well.

Losing a decimal point in reading the SG really is not a huge deal, except that it's hard to know for sure that you did until I saw that your think the OG should be 1.48. Of course, your hydrometer doesn't even go up to 1.48, so I knew there was an issue. If the OG was supposed to be 1.048, that's a pretty typical OG for many beers.

One of the reasons it might be off is because when you mix extract and water, the heavier extract sometimes doesn't mix as well as you'd like without vigorous stirring and mixing. It's common to have incorrect hydrometer readings as a result.

If you give us the ingredients you used (in pounds or kilos) and the exact amount of water you used, we can tell you your OG. The sugars are there, they don't go anywhere. But if you added too much water it could be lower than planned.
 
You are fine. This is a common problem for new brewers. Kits are super hard to mess up. Yooper has the right words( not that I read them) the they are right on.
 
Guys, THANKS! Yes, you're right- it must have been about 1.030, not 1.30... but it's not clear on the hydrometer that that is how you read it... IMHO, but that's neither here nor there. Lesson learned.

So, it is possible I added too much water, as I couldn't find the line on the bucket/fermenter, so I filled it to the bottom outside ring of the bucket- figured that was probably closest to 5 gallons. I probably wasn't as exact with the water as I should have been, perhaps. I"ll keep a closer eye on it next time. When I poured my wort in to the bucket/fermenter, I used a bag of ice in the bucket to cool everything down. That, and two gallons of cold water- brought the temperature down around 80 or so, right away. But, it sounds as thought I should have stirred it more once I poured. I thought pouring it may have aerated it enough, but that would make sense.

I still have the box from the kit, and can post that later (i'm at work now), but I'm sure you guys have better things to do! I appreciate the clarifications on this.

Either way, I suppose if nothing else, I've made beer, right? It doesn't have to be strong, high alcohol content to be beer... although it's always nice!

Oh, and I took my sg in the fermenter- I didn't sample off some into the container that my hydrometer came in- didn't realize I was supposed to- and at that point, it wasn't sterilized like everything else. (I did a quick dunk in bleach for the hydrometer, rinsed with super hot water, let it cool, and then used it. I'd like to think I'm safe on that one...) So, that IS how you're supposed to do it though, right- scoop some wort in to the hydrometer case, and then put the hydrometer into THAT???
 
Good luck on your beer. From my past experience I've screwed up probably 10 batches or so, and I can officially say they were related to sanitation issues, I.e not using some type of iodine solution. I may be wrong from others but using any type of Homebrew iodine no rinse solution is the easiest thing to do. Also I've learned to be crazy when it comes to sanitation and making sure you have all the tools you need sanitized before hand and have a spray bottle in hand, just in case. I've read that bleach is a huge pain in the a$$ so personally I've never used it.

-Rob-
 
A dollar store spray bottle filled with star san is the best way to sanitize. Bleach/Chlorine can cause off flavors (rubber/medicinal/chlorine), i only use it for sanitizing the dishes. I use diversol (chlorinated pink stuff) as a CIP cleanser but that is well rinsed and dried before being star san'd.

post your ingredients it will only take one of us 30 secs to stick it into Beer Smith and get your OG.
 
An easy way to take SG readings is to sanitize a new turkey baster, and use that to pull out your sample. You really don't want to use a cup or anything to scoop, as you want to avoid aeration and/or splashing once fermentation starts.
 
Can I just say, this is a great group? Seriously! So many groups out there (for all sorts of topics) just trash the newbies... this has been pretty cool.

I apologize- I still haven't posted the ingredients! But, I do have bubbling in my bubbler... not strong, but every few seconds, it rises, and falls, rises, and falls... So, it's not strong yet (only been 48 hrs or so when I checked yesterday), and it's cold in the basement right now. The Pac-NW is still pretty cold, especially in the evenings.

Should I bring it in the house instead?
 
Ok so this is the kit I have- with wheat ale malt extract. I can't recall the yeast I purchased (the kit was missing that; again, bought it from someone on Craigslist that didn't use the kit, but smashed a 1/2 rack of bottles... bottles are easy!)

Also, I used the cleaning solution (for all the components) that came with the kit- soaked everything for about 40 minutes, rinsed w/hot water for quite awhile... and went that route. I'll try the iodine, especially if it's no-rinse! That's just too easy...

And, the kit came with a carboy as well as the two fermenting buckets, two types of bubblers... so I figure, if I can get a batch right, I can actually try two batches simultaneously, but that is getting way ahead of myself! Right now, I need a completed brew...
 
It's important to know what type of yeast you bought from Craig's List. Normal ale fermenting temperatures range from 68 - 72 f. If it's colder than that outside, your fermentation may be slowed, but it will work . . . just a little slower. Normal lager fermentation temperatures range from 45 - 55 f. So, if you use a lager yeast, try to stay in that range.

Try not to pay too much attention to the airlock. While it is a sign that fermentation is occurring, it can be misleading. The only way to determine when fermentation is complete is by checking your hydrometer reading, which is why people keeping asking for your ingredient list.

After 7 - 10 days take hydrometer reading and write it down. 2 days later, take another. If it has changed (dropped), check in another 2 days. When you have a stable reading 2 days apart, fermentation is "complete". At that point, you can rack to a secondary, or let it go in the primary for another 10 - 14 days.
 
Try not to pay too much attention to the airlock. While it is a sign that fermentation is occurring, it can be misleading.

This. My Ordinary Bitter (only 1040 SG, so not a big beer) has virtually no airlock activity, but it's churning HARD inside. It's nuts. There was also a fourteen-hour period where tiny amounts of foam were floating on the top but otherwise it was totally still.

TL;DR: Airlock really is meaningless! It's counterintuitive, and I bet no one REALLY believes it until they see it, but it is totally fine.
 
It's important to know what type of yeast you bought from Craig's List. Normal ale fermenting temperatures range from 68 - 72 f. If it's colder than that outside, your fermentation may be slowed, but it will work . . . just a little slower. Normal lager fermentation temperatures range from 45 - 55 f. So, if you use a lager yeast, try to stay in that range.

Try not to pay too much attention to the airlock. While it is a sign that fermentation is occurring, it can be misleading. The only way to determine when fermentation is complete is by checking your hydrometer reading, which is why people keeping asking for your ingredient list.

After 7 - 10 days take hydrometer reading and write it down. 2 days later, take another. If it has changed (dropped), check in another 2 days. When you have a stable reading 2 days apart, fermentation is "complete". At that point, you can rack to a secondary, or let it go in the primary for another 10 - 14 days.

The kit I bought off CL, but I went to Home Brew Heaven and bought a yeast from them. It was Nottingham Ale Yeast http://store.homebrewheaven.com/nottingham-ale-yeast---11-gram-pack-p557.aspx

Since it's an ale, maybe I should bring it back in the house?
 
The kit I bought off CL, but I went to Home Brew Heaven and bought a yeast from them. It was Nottingham Ale Yeast http://store.homebrewheaven.com/nottingham-ale-yeast---11-gram-pack-p557.aspx

Since it's an ale, maybe I should bring it back in the house?

No, nottingham is great down to about 57 degrees and that's actually my preference for a very "clean" flavored beer. Once that strain gets to 70 or so, it gets weirdly fruity and almost foul once it gets to 72 degrees. So, if it's fermenting where it is, I'd leave it.

They have these temperature strips, called fermometers, that stick to the outside of the fermenter. You can see at a glance what the temperature is- remember, it's beer temperature, not ambient temperature that we care about. If you can't get one of those, an aquarium thermometer from Wal-Mart works too.

You want to keep most ales in the 60-70 degree range. Some yeast strains, like nottingham, are great at even lower temperatures. In general, staying at the lower end of the yeast strain's temperature range makes a better tasting beer.

I often use nottingham at 59 degrees to make a "clean" lager-like beer. It's better to err on being too cool instead of too warm, assuming the yeast isn't too cold to ferment.
 
Thanks Yooper...

I think I have a temperature strip I can put on the outside of the fermenter. It might be best to mock up a meat probe device (I have one that has a 4' cable, so you can read the temp without opening the oven, or whatever container), routed through a gasketed hole in the fermenter lid, maybe? Have you done that? Again, that gets the beer temp, not the outside air temp surrounding the fermenter... (I'm an engineer, man-if there's a way to trick this out, I'm going there!)
 
@Kerin, gotta ask: is that a movie quote, the part about the cheap pasta maker? Goodfellas, maybe?

As far as I know, it isn't! I saw the line in a thread on these forums about converting pasta rollers for grain purposes, and it made me laugh because it's true - I'm married and sure enough, I was given pasta machines! :p
 
I bottled my brew this weekend, because I'll be out of town most of next week, and I had the time. The SG didn't get as low as I thought it might- @ 1.018 -1.020 it looked like, which isn't that low considering I think I started around 1.030-1.035 (I did it IN the bucket, and there were bubbles... and the temperature was a bit low as well- fresh from the basement. I can say this- I'm relying on it being a kit that is nearly foolproof. I spent a ton of time cleaning and sanitizing, and worked up a hell of a sweat doing so... and in the end, it was tasty!!! It tasted good, had great color, smell, and now it's bottled, sitting at room temp... the wait begins.

P1000697.jpg
 
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