True Brew Nut Brown Ale - Final Gravity Question, and maybe infection?

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jwetzler

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hey all this is my first time to post on this site, and also my very first time to home brew.

I recently got the True Brew Nut Brown Ale kit (partial mash kit), and it has been fermenting for almost 2 weeks @ about 69F - 71F. I put it all in the fermentor and pitched my yeast on 1.5.2013 about 11:45pm cst.

My OG was 1.053. My FG is 1.017
According to the true brew instructions my final gravity should be between 1.012 - 1.014

I have checked the gravity 3 days in a row, and it's at a steady 1.017. Is it ok to go ahead and bottle, even though it's .003 higher than what the instructions call for? Will this small discrepancy keep my beer from carbonating after bottling?

Also, there are these brown bubble patches on the top of the beer, is this normal or possibly infected? They were big originally, but now they have shrank considerably.
 
A couple of days ago:
TBNutBrownAle1_zpsf8c5256b.jpg



Tonight:
TBNutBrownAle2_zps854efcff.jpg
 
This probably wont answer your question, but I made the same exact thing on 12/30 and my gravity is right around 1.015-1.016 as of an hour ago. In all likelihood i will bottle tomorrow night. Maybe that kit is just a little off on the final gravity?

As far as infection, have you tasted it? I didnt see those big bubbles you pictured with mine, but then again i never opened mine until tonight. Mine looks pretty similar to your last picture. Youre probably fine.
 
This probably wont answer your question, but I made the same exact thing on 12/30 and my gravity is right around 1.015-1.016 as of an hour ago. In all likelihood i will bottle tomorrow night. Maybe that kit is just a little off on the final gravity?

As far as infection, have you tasted it? I didnt see those big bubbles you pictured with mine, but then again i never opened mine until tonight. Mine looks pretty similar to your last picture. Youre probably fine.

Man I'm glad you said that yours was high too. I checked the gravity on mine last weekend, which is the picture with the large bubbles and it was around 1.019.

Then I measured Wednesday, and then Today, and the gravity was at a steady 1.017.

I did taste mine, it didn't have a bad flavor but just tasted flat of course since there was no carbonation. I did check a few of the pages on this forum as far as infections and they look nothing like my picture so I'm going to go ahead and bottle tomorrow.
 
also, instead of buying empty bottles I thought it would be more fun to just buy a bunch of Sam Adams and empty the bottles myself, so by tomorrow I'll either have 50 empty bottles or I'll have alcohol poisoning lol.

Did you have a lot of sediment in yours? I made the mistake of really squishing the grains when I was steeping...so I'm going to get a few of those nylon paint strainer bags tomorrow to filter out as much sediment as I can before I transfer the beer to the bottling bucket.
 
Did you taste the beer when you took your gravity sample?

The bubbles and their disappearing looks to me like the krausen is settling as it should.
 
Did you taste the beer when you took your gravity sample?

The bubbles and their disappearing looks to me like the krausen is settling as it should.
yeah I tasted it and it wasn't sour or anything. It just tasted flat but I figure that is because it's not carbonated yet.
 
I made my first batch ever on New Year's Day the same brew. I bottled it last Sunday. I never opened the top until last Sunday when I took my gravity reading. IT was 1.0017. I forgot to take the reading when I first made the batch. It tasted good when I bottled it. It looks just like the ones in your picture except there was very little floating on top. I was surprised that you can not see anything happening in the bottles. I will wait wait a few weeks before I try it again.
 
I'm glad you all are saying that it looks normal, that's re-assuring to hear!
 
I made my first batch ever on New Year's Day the same brew. I bottled it last Sunday. I never opened the top until last Sunday when I took my gravity reading. IT was 1.0017. I forgot to take the reading when I first made the batch. It tasted good when I bottled it. It looks just like the ones in your picture except there was very little floating on top. I was surprised that you can not see anything happening in the bottles. I will wait wait a few weeks before I try it again.
When I tasted mine it tasted good, just flat. I'm excited to see how it tastes once it's carbonated.

I just bottled Saturday night so I didn't expect to see any results...but I grabbed one of my bottles and flipped it upside down, and saw there was a descent amount of sludge at the bottom of the bottle. This was only visible when holding up to the light (I know you're not supposed to have them in the light but I just wanted to see what I could see).

How long have yours been in the bottles? And how far did you fill your bottles up? I filled mine up so that when I pulled the filler tube out, it was level with the base of the neck.

I filled mine to the arrow in this pic:
longneck_fill_zpsc353f997.png
 
When I filled my bottles I used a bottle filling wand and I filled them to the top. hen you take the wand out it leaves about a one inch head space. hat is what My book said is needed for good conditioning. Time will tell. I hope my bottles were clean enough and sanitized. I washed them all with oxy clean to remove the labels and then The day of bottling I soaked them all in the B Brite that came with the kit. No where in the instruction did it say they needed to be soaked but I saw it on a number oaf forums. Plus you need to rinse them out , not sure what that does to sanitizing the bottles. I will wait to try the beers in a couple weeks to see how it is before I buy more stuff.
 
When I tasted mine it tasted good, just flat. I'm excited to see how it tastes once it's carbonated.

I just bottled Saturday night so I didn't expect to see any results...but I grabbed one of my bottles and flipped it upside down, and saw there was a descent amount of sludge at the bottom of the bottle. This was only visible when holding up to the light (I know you're not supposed to have them in the light but I just wanted to see what I could see).

How long have yours been in the bottles? And how far did you fill your bottles up? I filled mine up so that when I pulled the filler tube out, it was level with the base of the neck.

It's funny, I'm going through all the same stuff. here's a couple pictures of one of mine where you can see the sludge:

2013-01-22_08-26-04_253.jpg


2013-01-22_08-25-39_207.jpg


Before anybody yells at me, this is the ONLY one in a clear bottle. I just wanted one in a clear bottle so i could see the true color and clarity of them as they aged. Also, this is one of the last ones I bottled. I have no idea if this amount of sludge is normal, just posting that I have the same thing.

As for how high i bottled, I filled pretty close to the very top, then took out the bottling wand which left about the right amount of space.
 
I brewed a True Brew Nut Brown Ale 11/11/2010. FG on bottling day 12/31/2010 was 1.016. Very good flavor. First 6 days at 62° to 63°. Let temperature rise to ambient room temperature of 70° till bottling day. I don't have any notes on how it looked in the carboy.
 
I brewed a True Brew Nut Brown Ale 11/11/2010. FG on bottling day 12/31/2010 was 1.016. Very good flavor. First 6 days at 62° to 63°. Let temperature rise to ambient room temperature of 70° till bottling day. I don't have any notes on how it looked in the carboy.

Did you have a comparable level of sludge to my picture?
 
Did you have a comparable level of sludge to my picture?

I don't recall the amount of sediment I had in each of the bottles. I use an auto syphon to rack from the carboy to the bottling bucket. For most of the racking time I have the bottom of the wand well above the trub layer. Near the end of the syphoning I lower the tube to pick up some of the yeast. I stay away from the trub. I do this just to make sure there is plenty of yeast in suspension for bottle conditioning. The day before bottling I tilt the carboy using a block of 2 x 4. This gets a nice layer of yeast to the side I will be syphoning from. The yeast will often compact in the bottom of the bottle. A smooth pour, with no glugs, the yeast remains at the bottom bottle.
 
It's funny, I'm going through all the same stuff. here's a couple pictures of one of mine where you can see the sludge:

2013-01-22_08-26-04_253.jpg


2013-01-22_08-25-39_207.jpg


Before anybody yells at me, this is the ONLY one in a clear bottle. I just wanted one in a clear bottle so i could see the true color and clarity of them as they aged. Also, this is one of the last ones I bottled. I have no idea if this amount of sludge is normal, just posting that I have the same thing.

As for how high i bottled, I filled pretty close to the very top, then took out the bottling wand which left about the right amount of space.
I checked my bottles today, and I have a comparable amount of sludge in mine as well. I didn't even think about designating 1 clear bottle in order to be able to check clarity. I used all brown bottles.

I think the only reason you're not supposed to use a clear bottle is b/c it lets light in. I keep mine in my closet with a small blanket covering the bottles to block out any light that might make it through the brown bottles.
 
Also worth mentioning, my buddy at work (he's a more experienced home brewer) said that sludge at the bottom of the glass is a good thing because it means that the yeast is consuming the priming sugar and multiplying. He also said that he can't really taste the yeast, but its supposed to have some vitamins and nutrients in it.

His preferred method is to pour the beer into the glass and leave the sludge in the bottom of the bottle.
 
I brewed a True Brew Nut Brown Ale 11/11/2010. FG on bottling day 12/31/2010 was 1.016. Very good flavor. First 6 days at 62° to 63°. Let temperature rise to ambient room temperature of 70° till bottling day. I don't have any notes on how it looked in the carboy.
How long did you wait until you cracked one open? Was there a certain amount of time that passed when it seemed like the flavor of the beer had reached its full potential?
 
Also worth mentioning, my buddy at work (he's a more experienced home brewer) said that sludge at the bottom of the glass is a good thing because it means that the yeast is consuming the priming sugar and multiplying. He also said that he can't really taste the yeast, but its supposed to have some vitamins and nutrients in it.

His preferred method is to pour the beer into the glass and leave the sludge in the bottom of the bottle.

Thanks, that's what i've seen suggested and is how I plan to proceed as well.
 
How long did you wait until you cracked one open? Was there a certain amount of time that passed when it seemed like the flavor of the beer had reached its full potential?

If the bulk of my beer volume will be in bottles larger than 12 ounces, I fill one 6 pack of 12 ounce bottles. I'll open one 12 ounce at the end of the first week of conditioning. Then another at the end of the second week and so on. I know bottle conditioning will not be complete in one week and most most likely not after two weeks. I just like to taste the progression of flavor development. Usually it is three to four weeks for a beer of less than 1.056 to develop full flavor and carbonation. I chill the beers in the refrigerator for at least two days before opening.
 
I brewed this same kit a couple of months ago, and my final s.g. was 1.016. I have a similar amount of sediment in my bottles. When I opened my bucket it had a ring around the top.

image-3962092600.jpg
 
I brewed this same kit a couple of months ago, and my final s.g. was 1.016. I have a similar amount of sediment in my bottles. When I opened my bucket it had a ring around the top.

Yep, mine had that same ring around the top. I'm guessing that at some point during the first part of fermentation it bubbled up pretty high and left a ring of sediment and stuff behind.

I'm on my second week of conditioning right now, Saturday will mark 2 full weeks exactly. Although I plan on cracking one open tonight to see how much the flavor has advanced.
 
Yep, mine had that same ring around the top. I'm guessing that at some point during the first part of fermentation it bubbled up pretty high and left a ring of sediment and stuff behind.

I'm on my second week of conditioning right now, Saturday will mark 2 full weeks exactly. Although I plan on cracking one open tonight to see how much the flavor has advanced.

I put one in the fridge last weekend and cracked it open on Tuesday night. Was pretty damn good. Had a nice flavor and was carbonated, but didn't have much head at all. Of course I poured very slowly (to avoid glugging and stirring up the sediment at the bottom) and my fridge is VERY cold.

I may put another one in the fridge this weekend to try early next week.

Here's a pic of the one from Tuesday:
2013-01-29_19-03-14_989.jpg
 
Yes, it's hard to do, but stop fretting over and messing with your beer. Leave it alone, in a box, in a dark place at 70*F for at least 4 weeks.

After the CO2 forms from the yeast eating the priming sugar, it has to be absorbed into solution. That takes a couple of weeks. Bottle conditioning takes another two weeks on top of that and continues to refine the taste for a long time after.
 

This is a picture of my first brew. It was brewed on 1-6-13, bottled on 1-13-13 and this is the first one we opened. It had a good taste but the head was a bit weak. I am hoping it gets better with a bit more conditioning.
 
cwk229 said:
This is a picture of my first brew. It was brewed on 1-6-13, bottled on 1-13-13 and this is the first one we opened. It had a good taste but the head was a bit weak. I am hoping it gets better with a bit more conditioning.

Mine has a nice head in a frosty mug. Fresh clean glass...not so much.
 
Mine has been bottled for 3 weeks now, and I have had mixed results. I put a few beers in the fridge for about 10 hours...the first one tasted great. The second & 3rd beer didn't taste that good, it had a beer flavor, as well as a nut flavor, but also had kind of an off, strong alcohol flavor which over powers the beer/nut flavor.

What would be the cause of that off flavor? Did I not cold crash my beer long enough before drinking it? Or do I just need to let it continue to condition for a few more weeks, before putting anymore in the fridge?
 
After letting it condition about a total of 6 weeks in the bottle, the sharp alcohol taste has started to mellow out, and has turned out to be pretty good tasting beer.
 
Yeah, i'm pretty happy with how mine turned out. I didn't have any sharp alcohol flavors, but i was disappointed in the carbonation levels early on. The last couple I tried were better...that and I was a little less careful about how i poured them. I'm careful not to include the sediment at the bottom, but pouring from a little higher above the glass creates a nice head.
 
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