Racked NB chocolate milk stout after a week...

jamiitreverb · Jan 1, 2011

I know it was super early to rack to secondary (had to make room for another brew session tomorrow) but I did anyway (SG was 1.025.) I was wondering, can I make up for lost time in primary by keeping it in secondary for a longer amount of time or are my efforts now in vain?

thanks

Nuggethead · Jan 1, 2011

All you can do is wait and see. After a week or so, take a gravity reading and see if it's still dropping. Stouts take longer to ferment out ( a month or more) so either get some additional fermenters or don't rush into the next batch. Also, if you know the O.G. of your stout, you can pallpark the F.G. and you will have an idea of where your at.

malkore · Jan 1, 2011

As you already said, rushing the beer was a mistake.

Definitely don't rush it in secondary. 1.025 sounds very premature. You could end up with a stalled or incomplete fermentation.

DO NOT BOTTLE until you hit the expected final gravity.

jamiitreverb · Jan 1, 2011

Unfortunately, I forgot to take my OG so I dont have a starting point to go off of. I tasted it before I racked it and its tasting like a stout, so we will see where Im at in a week.
SWMBO wants to brew a raspberry wheat tomorrow which is the only reason I racked it to make room today. This is my first homebrew attempt, so I hope its not botched.

aliciavr6 · Jan 1, 2011

Jamiit, feel free to refer to me as SwimBo IRL as well.

If gravity has not dropped at all in a week, can we add more yeast to finish the job? If so, would we add another whole packet (sf-04)?

Calder · Jan 1, 2011

You should be fine unless it was cold and stalled when you racked it.

If it was still actively fermenting, a lot of the yeast will have been in suspension and will be more than enough to finish the job.

If it had stalled due to being cold, the yeast would have dropped out of suspension and you will not have much in the secondary.

aliciavr6 · Jan 2, 2011

Calder, you were right, its still fermenting, a bubble every minute or so! Thanks!

VTBrewer · Jan 2, 2011

NB's chocolate milk stout is 1.051 OG. You'll want to get this down to the 1.013 range.

KowboyTrav · Jan 3, 2011

I just brewed this same kit, and my gravity only got down to about 1.025 within 3 or 4 days and that's where it stayed. I figured it was kinda high because of the lactose sugar.

jamiitreverb · Jan 3, 2011

The airlock on the secondary is still bubbling away at a rate of about once every minute. I think Ill take another gravity reading this weekend and see where Im at.

Smokeater233 · Jan 3, 2011

Wait, what was the purpose of racking to secondary? Why didn't you just use whatever you used as your secondary as the primary for the raspberry wheat?

flabyboy · Jan 3, 2011

just let it sit in that secondary for a month or 2 before you bottle. patience is really important in brewing. Unfortunately Stouts require even more of it than your lighter beers

jamiitreverb · Jan 4, 2011

Smokeater233 said:
Wait, what was the purpose of racking to secondary? Why didn't you just use whatever you used as your secondary as the primary for the raspberry wheat?

I used my carboy for the primary of the stout (its all I had.) I ran out and got a bucket that Im using for secondary right now. I wanted to use the carboy as my primary for the raspberry wheat cause its bigger than the bucket (in case of a blowout) and I also wanted to keep an eye on the beautiful process of fermentation since Im new to the art of brewing.

jamiitreverb · Jan 29, 2011

K5MOW · Jan 29, 2011

jamiitreverb said:

That looks good.

Roger

jourelemode · Feb 2, 2011

jamiitreverb said:

hows the sweetness on it??? find it to be too sweet or just right??

I'm going to brew a stout tomorrow morning and I was thinking about adding 1lb of lactose to my recipe. My grain bill is just slightly more than the NB's grain bill though. So im assuming it shouldn't get my chocolate stout too sweet if your's isn't too sweet.

HItransplant · Feb 2, 2011

what was your FG afterall?

jamiitreverb · Feb 2, 2011

jourelemode said:
hows the sweetness on it??? find it to be too sweet or just right??

It's not very sweet at all (Which I consider just the right amount for a stout.) The kit came with a pound of lactose which I used all of it. It turned out really good.

Hitransplant said:
what was your FG afterall?

The FG came out to 1.020 before I bottled.

jourelemode · Feb 2, 2011

alright thanks man...im at my last minute of my mash right now...gonna start the boil soon

jamiitreverb · Feb 2, 2011

No prob. Have fun.

Racked NB chocolate milk stout after a week...

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