120 mile away IPA

Hey everybody,

So I brewed my first batch of beer on the 23rd of December. It's a LHBS Extract IPA.
Due to the fact my apartment was being repainted and recarpeted, I did this 120 miles away at my parents house.

My beer is coming up on the three week mark in the primary. I'm headed down to bottle this week. However, my apparent fg is not as low as one would hope. Here's the recipe:

Malt Extract: Alexanders Pale 9 lbs.
Grain Bill: Crystal 10L 8 oz
Crystal 60L 4 oz
Victory malt 4 oz
Hopping Schedule:
#1 Columbus (13.4%) 1.6 oz 60 min
#2 Cascade (7.4%) 1.0 oz 15 min
#3 Cascade 1.0 oz 0 min
Starting Gravity: 1.067
Fermentation Temp: 65-75 degrees F
Yeast: 1 Packet of Nottingham, 1 packet of US-05 (the actual recipe called for wyeast 001, but the LHBS worker suggested I used the Not and US-05 since I'm a noob).

I aerated the wort through pouring back and forth several times and
I pitched the two packets of rehydrated yeast at 67 degrees.
I didn't take an OG reading and from what I've seen on here, with extracts you are pretty much going to get close to the mark.
The primary (bucket) sat in a 64-67 degree room and had a pretty steady airlock bubble after 5 hours, and for another 60 after that.
I took a hydrometer reading when that had abated and got a reading of 1.030.
I've taken two more readings this week and it seems to have stabilized at 1.023.

My question is what now? Obviously I wish I had gotten down below 1.020. Am I stuck here?

It's very common for extract batches (especially with canned liquid malt extract) to finish at 1.020. So, it's probably just fine.

I've had more than a few batches that ended at 1.020 myself. It's been called the "1.020 curse"!

The beer will taste great, I promise.

With 9 pounds of LME, especially if added early in the boil, the wort will have lots of maillard reactions and just not be as fermentable as some other extracts or adding it at the end of the boil.

Thanks Yooper I've read so much of your advice to other brewers over the last few months I really appreciate it.

I actually did do a late-boil addition with 7 lbs of the extract 20 minutes prior to flame-out.

As for it tasting good I though it tasted nice during my first hydro reading the day after the krausen fell. Hops, malt and yeast, my three favorite flavors outside of bacon.

Thanks for the advice, looks like I'll be bottling for my birthday

Will you have time to dry hop? I like the nice aroma of the IPAs I've had.

RM-MN said:

Will you have time to dry hop? I like the nice aroma of the IPAs I've had.

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Agreed. If you have a few days left and some hops. Dry hop your ipa it adds a lot of flavor and aroma. About an ounce will be enough if you decide to

Didn't have time to dry-hop this time. Shucks, I'll have to start brewing another batch. I do have a follow up question. Now that I've bottled and the bottles are conditioning how long should I wait before I pack a few cases in the car and drive them from my brewing location back to my preferred drinking location?

you can transport them anytime you'd like, i would wait 3 weeks to start drinking though...

Cool I was just worried about agitating the works before they had carbed up enough.

I left my wallet in El Segundo....

The streets here are paved with wallets.

Finishinglast said:

Cool I was just worried about agitating the works before they had carbed up enough.

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After it's in bottles, feel free to shake the bejesus out of your beer. It can actually help it carb faster, and if you bottle properly there is no risk of oxidation. Just remember to allow a few days or a week at least in the fridge to let the yeast settle (after the beer is carbed)

If you are going to drink the beer in a short period of time the shake it trick is fine. However, I did a side by side with a 10% ipa that I did this with comparing it to bottles that I did not do it with, and the shook bottles exhibited strong sherry notes - oxidation.

Cool, I'll probably just bring a few lucky bottles back for immediate consumption, and then let the others mellow for a while.