I started a witbier 5 days ago today. It started bubbling the next morning an stopped about a day or so ago. The OG was 1.047 and i just moved it into the second fermentor and the SG is 1.020. Now i believe this to be kinda high. Does anyone think this will come down some more or is this beer not going to have that much of an ABV?
when should fermenting be done
- Thread starter martn55
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Couple of things, what yeast did you use? This is extremely important, yeast strain, pitching temperatures, how much yeast, wort temp both at time of pitching and during fermentation. Also, was this all-grain, or an extract kit?
Conan4480
Active Member
I have a Brewers Outpost aspen ale going right now. It has been fermenting for about a week and a half. OG was 1.055, I have not checked to see what the gravity is right now. I will probably let it sit until Saturday before bottling.
Wyrmwood
Well-Known Member
I'd have to agree. I don't know much, but my understanding is that Specific Gravity is an accurate use of the nomenclature, in any case really, that is, SG is OG at the beginning and FG at the end of fermentation, but in any case, when you take a reading, the result is the specific gravity.
Some confusion may come into play as a lot of recipes refer to Starting Gravity, which might also be termed SG. Anyways, if your kit was an extract kit, 1.02 is not an unreasonable FG.indigi
Well-Known Member
You might have stalled it by racking it too soon. You shouldn't rack to secondary until you're sure fermentation is finished. Just because it stopped bubbling doesn't mean fermentation is finished or that the yeast is done its work. I'd try to warm it up and give it some more time, but 1.020 might be your FG.
Kits usually come with instructions that are aimed at enhancing speed, not quality, and aren't always in line with sound homebrewing practices.
Kits usually come with instructions that are aimed at enhancing speed, not quality, and aren't always in line with sound homebrewing practices.
Shinglejohn
Well-Known Member
Do yourself a favor in the future, Forget about secondary!
It has its uses, but not in this case or in most brews for that matter.
It has its uses, but not in this case or in most brews for that matter.
anything i have read and talked to brew store owner says that the secondary is a key to clarity and better flavor in the long run. Ii will admit i may have racked a little early but if i followed the kit specs i should be bottling right now. Plus even the kit specs say that secondary is good practice. One thing that i think will help me out in this is that when i transferred over to the carboy i just run it off of the spigot on the bottom of the bucket. not using the racking cane. I checked it awhile ago and it has quite a bit of sediment at the bottom of the carboy so im thinking that i took some of the yeast with it. Im not saying that secondary is something that needs to be done but thats what info i keep taking away from places.
then why would they sell them that way. Wouldnt that defeat the purpose of the kit.
SIDE QUESTION
if beer is always changing when you leave it in this fementer longer if you leave it in the bottle longer if you just leave where ever longer then how do you really know how long , is long enough?
I'd have to agree. I don't know much, but my understanding is that Specific Gravity is an accurate use of the nomenclature, in any case really, that is, SG is OG at the beginning and FG at the end of fermentation, but in any case, when you take a reading, the result is the specific gravity.
so what do you call the gravity readings you take along the way to get it too the point you want it?
indigi
Well-Known Member
Because the faster you've made and consumed the beer the faster you'll be coming in for another kit. Even mediocre to slightly below-average homebrew is better than what most people are used to.
It's long enough when the bottle you just opened doesn't taste any better than the last.
Ok. i brew extract alot. as it goes, yeah hey as it goes your fine you may have moved fast or what ever due to temps. but your fine, go ahead and prime and bottle. It is beer man. and your looking at a decent beer too. i end up with high fg's due to high temp fermentations due to 3rd floor apt building. never gets below 72 here. But as it goes man when you brew, you let it set no less than 3 days in primary. My question, if you would be so kind as to answer, would be did you dry yeast pitch or use a smack pack. Because when i started with dry yeast 3 days later, it was done yo. 1 bubble through the vapor lock a min. with a high fg. i went with smack packs that changed. jumped to 5 days in primary, and and lowered my fg considerably, from 1.028 to 1.013 on the exact same recipe. and this came with repeatability. I have it and did it a few times . And as far as secondary goes, if you skip it you just have to decanter to your glass from bottle a lil better because boogers will come. Personally i find that if you hit secondary after a good primary, and watch it closely in your carboy (if you use a carboy for secondary) you will notice the fallout, once the fallout starts it will be drastic within 2 days then slow down in next 2, once that is finished your are good to rack, if you have to move your carboy, let it set an hour before racking
it is important to let the lil you stirred up to settle from moving, cuz if not you wasted time spent waiting, all together you wind up with a total of 7 days to 8 days of fermenting, and if you can find a spot to bottle at around 72 degrees i assure you 100% that your beer (supposing you prime the beer with dextrose sugar prior to bottling and not prime the bottles themselves{1/4 cup dextrose to 5 gallons}) in 5 days after bottling you can start drinking them, and a day or so after enjoying the mess outta them, and by the end of the 48-53 beers you received you will have tasted the very best of your batch. if you have patience wait 7 days after bottling, and keep em at around 68-74 degrees, i prefer over 70 because it expedites it. but my info is backed by own practices and research. i do not expect it to be backed by any other person or site. except of course the ones i got mine from. The fine people at Cellar's and a few odds and ends sites on the web. and of course my own readings and experiences, good luck
And as it goes feel free to ask me any questions about it, because my beers generally start around 1.068 to 1.12 yeah, i said 1.12 and they all end around 1.010-1.028 as far extracts go. so if ya wanna boost some stuff or get you a lil birthday brew or anything for special occasions going, i have a few special recipes ill share. and if those that do all grain are around i know one for 1.16 og, and 1.028 fg and takes about 2 weeks start to finish on fermenting but requires extra yeast and a lil lay down time as it is sweet if you drink it right off the bat, but after a few weeks it becomes a big time barley wine and makes most big beers seem weak just add wheat
. And as far as secondary goes, if you skip it you just have to decanter to your glass from bottle a lil better because boogers will come. Personally i find that if you hit secondary after a good primary, and watch it closely in your carboy (if you use a carboy for secondary) you will notice the fallout, once the fallout starts it will be drastic within 2 days then slow down in next 2, once that is finished your are good to rack, if you have to move your carboy, let it set an hour before rackingit is important to let the lil you stirred up to settle from moving, cuz if not you wasted time spent waiting, all together you wind up with a total of 7 days to 8 days of fermenting, and if you can find a spot to bottle at around 72 degrees i assure you 100% that your beer (supposing you prime the beer with dextrose sugar prior to bottling and not prime the bottles themselves{1/4 cup dextrose to 5 gallons}) in 5 days after bottling you can start drinking them, and a day or so after enjoying the mess outta them, and by the end of the 48-53 beers you received you will have tasted the very best of your batch. if you have patience wait 7 days after bottling, and keep em at around 68-74 degrees, i prefer over 70 because it expedites it. but my info is backed by own practices and research. i do not expect it to be backed by any other person or site. except of course the ones i got mine from. The fine people at Cellar's and a few odds and ends sites on the web. and of course my own readings and experiences, good luck
And as it goes feel free to ask me any questions about it, because my beers generally start around 1.068 to 1.12 yeah, i said 1.12 and they all end around 1.010-1.028 as far extracts go. so if ya wanna boost some stuff or get you a lil birthday brew or anything for special occasions going, i have a few special recipes ill share. and if those that do all grain are around i know one for 1.16 og, and 1.028 fg and takes about 2 weeks start to finish on fermenting but requires extra yeast and a lil lay down time as it is sweet if you drink it right off the bat, but after a few weeks it becomes a big time barley wine and makes most big beers seem weak
just add wheat 
so they can sell you more kits faster before you learn the proper methods to brewing good beer. if you can make an iffy batch in 2 weeks and think its inexperience, you'll try again. thus they sold you 2 kits in 2 weeks, or you could take 5 weeks to make an iffy batch with a kit and give up because who wants to wait 5 weeks for an iffy beer?
know what I am saying.
Wyrmwood
Well-Known Member
Racking is optional, for the reasons you stated (get it off the trub for taste and to aid in clearing.) As a general rule of thumb, 3 consecutive specific gravity readings that are the same indicate primary fermentation is finished. This can happen as early as 3 days in, or as late as 14 days in, but is usually between 5 and 10 days. Allowing your beer to sit for extended periods in the primary is unlikely to negatively affect it, however, racking it too early may stall fermentation. Depending on the original gravity, your final gravity will likely be between 1.01-1.02. You'll also get a bump of about 0.3% from priming sugar when you bottle, so this beer should end around 4% ABV, which should make a very drinkable beer.
Wyrmwood
Well-Known Member
at the time you take them, my understanding is they are specific gravity. For example, on brew day, the specific gravity is your original or starting gravity. If you take a reading 3 days in, that would be the specific gravity (at that time) and if you take a reading 4 days in, again that would be specific gravity for that day. If that reading was lower than day 3, then allow it to continue in the primary. If, after 3 consecutive readings, SG is the same, you have your FG and you can rack (optionally). If you don't mind the clarity, you can go straight to bottling - just be sure of those readings so you don't create bottle bombs
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravity_(alcoholic_beverage)
so i took a gravity today which is 3 days after the change into the secondary fermentor and it has dropped 4 points. So i would say that i didnt stalll it all the way out and it should be almost done since it s now at 1016 and the instructions say the final abv should be at 4.5%
Forget the "instructions". If it dropped 4 points in 3 days it is far from done. Forget whatever the "instructions" say the FG should be. The yeast you have running the show will determine all the numbers. I'd figure at least another week, closer to 2 before I would dick with it.
And I'll get behind Shinglejohn as far as forgetting the secondary, totally unnecessary.
Just my opinion.
And I'll get behind Shinglejohn as far as forgetting the secondary, totally unnecessary.
Just my opinion.
don't bother to rack a wheat beer. they are cloudy by nature. ferment it for 2-3 weeks, then bottle/keg
"Racking" the beer means siphoning. Hopefully you used a long piece of tubing when you transferred from the spigot, but most brewers will "rack", or siphon, from above the yeast cake if they transfer. Transferring with the spigot moved the beer, but really didn't do anything since you transferred the beer along with most of the trub.
Moving the beer just for the sake of moving it will not result in clearer beer. The only reason to transfer the beer is to remove it from the trub after fermentation is finished. This is a bit debated but can be a valid reason to allow for some time for the beer to clear and condition. Gently siphoning it and stopping the siphon if and when any trub/sediment/etc starts would be the way to do that.
