Need some help

I brewed a nut brown ale on Sat. evening (5ish). My OG reading came out at 1.046. fermentation started sometime in the night because it was going pretty well when I checked it at 7 am. By suday evening it was going at 60 bpm and continued most of the day monday. Monday evening it slowed to about 30 bpm.

I just checked it about 1/2 hour ago and it was bubbling about 4 bpm, so I took a hydrometer reading. It came out at 1.016. which if my math is correct, works out to about 65% apparent attenuation. I used Wyeast #1028 London Ale Yeast which says a apparent attenuation of 73% to 77%. The krausen has dropped.

1. Does everything look ok?
2. Will it ferment anymore?
3. What do you guys think?

I have posted a few time to other people to do the 1-2-3 method. Which I should probley follow myself But I also don't want it to be sitting on the yeast cake to long.

Thanks

It'll probably drop a few more points over the next two days. My FG usually stabilizes when the bubbles are greater than a minute apart. Up to a month in the primary won't hurt anything, so don't rush things now. Give it until Saturday (or even the following Saturday), rack, and relax. Most of the alcohol and flavor by-products from yeast are produced within the first few days of fermentation, so it's not surprising that you're already at over 60% attenuation. Just be patient, your beer will thank you.

I know your right

and I thought I was doing good at being patient... then it just hit me... the worrying starts

Trust me, I know the feeling. I was drinking my first batch within 9 days of brewing. It actually wasn't bad! But it was way better 6 weeks later. I'm kinda bummed at the moment...I risk running out of homebrew before my next batch is ready!

your lucky... at least you get to drink your HB, Im still drinking microbrews, have close to 150 bottles saved up though

I have a worse problem than this. I used dry yeast and when it started it was extremely active for a couple of days and stopped completely. After a week I checked and it still had .01 to go. This has happened on two consecutive batches. Any clues as to what happened?

Major point: the yeast are still alive & working, there is NO danger of autolysis! Autolysis is something that takes months to develop.

Let the yeast finish.

But if there is sugar left to convert, why doesn't it convert it? The beer tastes way too sweet.

Walker, tell him that hyrdrometers will only make you worry!

Seriously, I wouldn't worry about .01, how do you know you're reading it correctly and adjusting for temperature? If it has stopped bubbling and it's been in the primary for a week, just rack it to the secondary. All you need to worry about now is sanitation.

I know hydrometers are sometimes hard to read with a little too much home brew but .01 is quite a bit. Even after adjusting for the tempereture, in a moving vehicle and with one eye closed I could get closer than that. So you think the yeast is still OK? Should I throw away my brand new Hydrometer?

I decided I am going to...

RDWHAMB

todd_k said:

Walker, tell him that hyrdrometers will only make you worry!

Seriously, I wouldn't worry about .01, how do you know you're reading it correctly and adjusting for temperature? If it has stopped bubbling and it's been in the primary for a week, just rack it to the secondary. All you need to worry about now is sanitation.

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He's off by 10 thousandths, not 1 thousandth. That's a good bit of sugar 1.3 % less ABV and 2.5% more sugar by weight is considerable, in my seriously unexperienced opinion.

I wouldn't worry until it's been in the primary for at least a week. I use the same yeast and trust me when I tell you, it's not done yet but it will get there. Now if you get to Sat. or Sun. and there hasn't been a change, then you can troubleshoot, but just because the bubbling tappered off and the krausen has fallen, that doesn't mean fermentation has stopped.

What I was saying was at this point, who cares what the reading says? It hasn't been in the primary a week yet. Stop worrying about it and give it enough time. You shouldn't be so concerned about a damn hydrometer reading that you end up letting some nasties in there from taking too many frickin' hyrdo readings. Don't get caught up in ABV, just worry about making a decent beer.

But it has been a week.

I tried the 1-2-3 method but it ended up going more like 4 days 1 week then another week -- now im at the "my beer tastes like crap, do i still have to wait" stage . Trying to be patient with your fist few batches is tough.

Best way to be patient?

Buy lots of commericial beers that you've wanted to try, to keep your palatte occupied.

Start planning your next batch, to keep your mind at work.

Cregar said:

I decided I am going to...

RDWHAMB

Click to expand...

relax dont worry have a meat beer

Chimone said:

relax dont worry have a meat beer

Click to expand...

It's been said before but....

mmmmmm..... meat beer.....

rohanski said:

I have a worse problem than this. I used dry yeast and when it started it was extremely active for a couple of days and stopped completely. After a week I checked and it still had .01 to go. This has happened on two consecutive batches. Any clues as to what happened?

Click to expand...

Rohanski,
Give us a little more info on your batch... recipe, OG, current SG, fermentation temperature, type of dry yeast used, fermentation vessel (glass, plastic, etc.), type of aeration used, and anything else you can think of (describe your process to us)... the more information you give, the more likely someone is to have an idea of what is going on with your beer

Cregar,
Just wait it out... you know that's all it needs

later,

mikey

Thanks everyone for all the awesome help you have giving me and all the newbies on the site.

cheers...