Do not want to revive the whole to secondary or not secondary debate just have a quick question. I have a batch of light ale in primary for 9 days and is still bubbling nicely ( about every 10 seconds) and was wondering if most wait until bubbling stops to transfer. Have not taken a hydrometer reading yet.
secondary?
- Thread starter slatkin
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I would transfer.Im not an experienced secondarier,i go by looks with mine seeing the krausen drop.That is if you can see it.Since its a light ale its likely that it is just offgassing now anyways.Different yeast and temps depend though i guess. You may have heard this before but you dont have to transfer at all if you dont want to.
Before you do anything you need to take a gravity today and then in another day or two, if they are the same and you've reached the expected FG then you may transfer. You do not want to remove the beer from the yeast prior to reaching final gravity.
homebrewdad
Well-Known Member
This. I personally do secondary, but that's beside the point. Do not move the beer until your gravity is stable - bubbles or no bubbles.
jigidyjim
Well-Known Member
slatkin said:
1.006? Woah. That is a really dry beer. Was the recipe mostly sugar?
Do not remember the amount of sugar in the recipe. It was a Muntons american style light ale extract kit. I am at work right now but will look at my notes tonight and post the sugar amount. I want to come up with a mid alcohol light style beer that is quick,cheap and easy to make for a lawnmower beer and am trying different things, this is the latest I made a batch for a friend to try. He is a BMC drinker only and trying to turn him on to homebrew.
It is still possible to make a light flavored beer without using sugar. I made an all-grain light lager and even substituted out the rice that the recipe called for and used a very light barley instead. It is harder to do with extract but still possible. You need to find very light, fresh, extract, and go easy on the bittering hops, but not too easy. It also help to make it a lager as the lagering process and yeast will make the beer crisp rather than fruity, but you need to be able to control fermentation temps down in the 50s, and then hold temps in the 30s for a month.
Yeah, the temp control is the main problem right now. My beer fridge crapped out, looking for a cheap replacement though. Also thinking real hard about going to BIAB as the next progression to all grain. Just got the ingrediants for an extract and mini mash SS oatmeal stout clone and with the DME it was about 45 bucks. Wanna do it cheaper and better. (i am a tightwad.)
This beer is still in primary bucket, I just checked SG it is 1.001!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The recipe was-
3.5# muntons light american ale LME
2.5# CORN SUGAR
.5 oz Halletau 20 min
.5 oz Hallertau 5 min
SafeAle US05
That must be way to much sugar??????????
3.5# muntons light american ale LME
2.5# CORN SUGAR
.5 oz Halletau 20 min
.5 oz Hallertau 5 min
SafeAle US05
That must be way to much sugar??????????
jigidyjim
Well-Known Member
Usually you wanna keep sugar under 20% for a dry beer (and many styles don't use any)... looks like your recipe is 40% sugar...
Anyway, you can judge for yourself when you taste it
Anyway, you can judge for yourself when you taste it
Let it conditon man.If it sucks leave it and brew more or drink some good craft brews, even ****ty beers can turn ok depending on your definition of ****ty. Its a light beer so unless it has fowl taste,you win a session beer. Its summer- its perfect for tasteless beers.
harrymanback92
Well-Known Member
I've read dry hopping can help in creating the perception of mouthfeel that makes the beer feel fuller without raising the final gravity. For a beer that light, maybe throw in a .5oz of aroma hops to the fermenter?
I suspect you could also by a pound of extract, boil it in about .7 gallons until you reach .5 gallons and than add the fresh wort(after cooling) to the beer to boost the nonfermentables.
In my light beers(bitters, hefeweizen's. Don't have a way to lager yet) I prime my beers with extract in place of sugar. this is a couple bucks more expensive but in my opinion it makes a superior light beer for two reasons: 1. It adds unfermentables to the brew, increasing my final gravity and mouthfeel, as well as giving the beer a kick ass head. 2. I notice that the beers I use dme to prime with half very tight, small carbonation bubbles that are more like champagne than the typical homebrew bubbles. Again, this is my opinion, others disagree. I carb most my beers with corn sugar and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that, I just feel dme is superior to prime with when making light beers. But that's just opinion/experiences. But I also, at this point, exclusively make ales.
I suspect you could also by a pound of extract, boil it in about .7 gallons until you reach .5 gallons and than add the fresh wort(after cooling) to the beer to boost the nonfermentables.
In my light beers(bitters, hefeweizen's. Don't have a way to lager yet) I prime my beers with extract in place of sugar. this is a couple bucks more expensive but in my opinion it makes a superior light beer for two reasons: 1. It adds unfermentables to the brew, increasing my final gravity and mouthfeel, as well as giving the beer a kick ass head. 2. I notice that the beers I use dme to prime with half very tight, small carbonation bubbles that are more like champagne than the typical homebrew bubbles. Again, this is my opinion, others disagree. I carb most my beers with corn sugar and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that, I just feel dme is superior to prime with when making light beers. But that's just opinion/experiences. But I also, at this point, exclusively make ales.
Yeah I think I will give it another week in the primary then keg and stick in the closet till I get another fridge. Thanks for the Help all. I should shoot some co2 on top before long term storage in keg right?
homebrewdad
Well-Known Member
Dry hopping might help - but be aware that tasting uncarbed beer is often misleading, especially for newbies. Carbontion does wonders for mouthfeel and for the perception of flavor.
Very, very often, new brewers harm their beer trying to fix flaws that don't actually exist.
Very, very often, new brewers harm their beer trying to fix flaws that don't actually exist.
slatkin said:
I'd dry-hop, and also think about his suggestion of adding a bit of unfermentables in there- that sounds really dry...maybe DH first, give it up to a week, then sample and decide on the DME add.
The few batches I have done in the past I could tell they would be good when tasting the gravity readings. This one is not BAD just no character. I will let yall know how it turns out. Thanks for taking the time to help. It is greatly appreciated.
Hey just a quick update. I added a half pound of malto dextrin and primed with table sugar at bottling. Seemed to give the beer a little more body and not taste so thin. Thinking I shoulda used maybe the whole pound but at least think it will be o.k. now. Thanks for all your help. Will update in a few weeks upon tasting finished product.
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