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Cambriel

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Okay,

Today marks 21 days from my first batch of beer. After 7, I transferred it to a secondary, and its been sitting there ever since. OG should have been 1.048, I was at 1.050. Three weeks later, FG should be 1.012, but I'm sitting at 1.020. Problem is, I forgot to take a reading when I racked from primary to secondary, so I don't really know what's been happening over the two weeks. I'm a touch worried I racked over too fast.

I was hoping to keg this up tonight, but should I let it sit and see if it drops any over the weekend? Can I expect it to continue going down, or do I just go ahead and carbonate? I'm too new at this to know how "off" being .008 points is.

Thanks!

edit: Forgot to mention... The beer is quite clear. It's supposed to just be the standard american pale ale that came with the starter kit, so I'm not really sure what to be expecting. It tastes like flat beer, so I know I'm on the right track :p
 
I don't even take gravity readings, anymore. If it's clear, fermentation is done and it tastes like beer then it's ready to bottle.
 
Cambriel said:
Okay,

Today marks 21 days from my first batch of beer. After 7, I transferred it to a secondary, and its been sitting there ever since. OG should have been 1.048, I was at 1.050. Three weeks later, FG should be 1.012, but I'm sitting at 1.020. Problem is, I forgot to take a reading when I racked from primary to secondary, so I don't really know what's been happening over the two weeks. I'm a touch worried I racked over too fast.

I was hoping to keg this up tonight, but should I let it sit and see if it drops any over the weekend? Can I expect it to continue going down, or do I just go ahead and carbonate? I'm too new at this to know how "off" being .008 points is.

Thanks!

edit: Forgot to mention... The beer is quite clear. It's supposed to just be the standard american pale ale that came with the starter kit, so I'm not really sure what to be expecting. It tastes like flat beer, so I know I'm on the right track :p
Click to expand...

1.020 isn't the end of the world. You've got a 3.9% pale ale. There are things you could do to get the SG lower if you were really concerned about it.

If this was your 15th batch and the first 14 had gone okay, I wouldn't worry about it at all. But being that it's your first, it may be worthwhile to review your brewing procedures to ensure you didn't do something wrong.

Also providing more details will give us a better chance to help you. Like, was it AG, extract, kit? Yeast strain used? Fermentation temperature? Etc etc etc

One last thing...if you didn't take a reading when you racked it, how did you know it was time to rack? Let me guess...your airlock stopped bubbling? Most folks here would advise you to leave it in the primary until you are sure fermentation is complete...many don't use a secondary at all!

Good luck. Keg 'er up.
 
I read somewhere a rule of thumb that went 1 week in primary, 2 in secondary, 3 in bottle and followed it. Now I know better.

Luckily my second batch is sitting in primary right now, and I won't make the same mistake twice. Now, just to clarify... should fermentation more or less be done entirely in the primary? Secondary is just for clearing up?
 
Cambriel said:
I read somewhere a rule of thumb that went 1 week in primary, 2 in secondary, 3 in bottle and followed it. Now I know better.
Click to expand...

I started that way as well. Except it was more like 3-5 days in the primary, 2 weeks in secondary, 3 weeks in bottle! It's perfectly natural when you are getting started.

Cambriel said:
Luckily my second batch is sitting in primary right now, and I won't make the same mistake twice. Now, just to clarify... should fermentation more or less be done entirely in the primary? Secondary is just for clearing up?
Click to expand...

I've used a secondary for every batch to date; mostly because I lacked a primary with an airlock. I'm doing an Irish red ale now that I don't think I will secondary. I think you have the reasoning correct; many would argue beer won't get any more clear in the secondary than it would in the primary given the same period of time, and you do introduce a non-zero risk of infection with an extra racking.
 
Cambriel said:
I read somewhere a rule of thumb that went 1 week in primary, 2 in secondary, 3 in bottle and followed it. Now I know better.

Luckily my second batch is sitting in primary right now, and I won't make the same mistake twice. Now, just to clarify... should fermentation more or less be done entirely in the primary? Secondary is just for clearing up?
Click to expand...

Because of my work schedule, I use the 1,2,3 rule all the time. I still take gravity readings though as well to make sure the beer actually fermented down to pretty close to what it was supposed to be. Sounds like the stuff you have going will be fine. One of the things to keep an eye on is the temperature. If you ferment at a bad temperature, or at the edge of the temperature range for the yeast you used, it could have an effect on how active the yeast is/was. It will have an effect on flavor too, but that's a different thread.

As a rule of thumb, I am starting to use a secondary if I want extra clarity in the beer, and leaving it in the primary if I don't. For example, wheats stay in the primary, pale ales go to the secondary.....
 
Seems like a lot of folks let it go 3 weeks in the primary and don't bother with the secondary. I'm the impatient type....just kegged a stout after two weeks, but since the gravity was stuck at 1.013 and clarity is not a big issue in a stout, it's out. I think I'm gonna start letting mine go 3 weeks primary and 2 weeks "carb-and-forget".

As someone else said, 1.020 isn't the end of the world...take another reading in 2-3 days, and if the gravity is unchanged, just keg it--it will taste fine.
 
It will be fine. I only use a secondary for Kolsch.

.008 is not the end of the world. It will still taste great!! Enjoy
 
Welp, I went ahead and kegged my first batch last night. I force carbed it at 30 psi for about 15 minutes, then dropped it down to 12 before heading out for the night. Six hours later I came home and served it to some friends, and got a pretty positive reaction.

It's a hair on the bitter side, but I'm certain I know where that comes from. The primary had quite a bit of trub in the bottom of the fermenter before it got going. My next batch is a week into fermentation now and I was much more careful about controlling the whole process.

I can now officially say I've brewed beer! :D The double satisfaction of having it on draft is something I'm really excited about.
 

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