First Batch Blues

It has been six days for stage one fermentation...so I have a couple of questions

I took a gravity reading 1.012 the starting gravity was 1.041 (this normal)

I posted about the lack of activity in my air lock, and from that I learned to be patient, but can you re-pitch and what harm if any would it cause

Sounds like its 90%+ finsihed
Houston you have Beer!
I would give it another few days and check the reading again, if its the same you can rack it to a secondary and let it sit 2 more weeks or or leave it in the primary for a couple more weeks and then bottle it.

it wouldn't surprise me if the OG was actually a little higher than 1.041, and that this is totally done fermenting.
I say this under the assumption that a partial boil was done, and then several gallons of top off water were added to bring it to 5 gallons.
if that's true, I bet the 5 gallons wasn't evenly mixed and the gravity reading was a little off.

was this a recipe kit? if so what did it say the starting gravity would be? possibly more like 1.046-1.050?

:rockin: I guess the old saying "You can't rush a good thing" holds true!

I think I will be looking into a glass carboy for initial fermentation, I would like to see what is going on, I currently have one for the 2nd stage.

malkore, you are on the money...this was a kit, Mid-West American Amber Ale, and I followed the instructions exactly. (?)

Anyone have any suggestions?

I am always looking for ways to refine my new found "Craft"

SuperiorBrew, love the Avatar. Did you design it? Where can I find more like this?

duker said:

:rockin: I guess the old saying "You can't rush a good thing" holds true!

I think I will be looking into a glass carboy for initial fermentation, I would like to see what is going on, I currently have one for the 2nd stage.

malkore, you are on the money...this was a kit, Mid-West American Amber Ale, and I followed the instructions exactly. (?)

Anyone have any suggestions?

I am always looking for ways to refine my new found "Craft"

Click to expand...

I don't have any more suggestions- those guys know what they're talking about. The only thing to do now is wait. Start planning your next brew to keep your mind off of this one!

Sounds like you're using a bucket for primary and the lid wasn't tight or something, so you had a leak instead of getting CO2 through the airlock. No big deal, you're going to have good beer in a couple weeks anyway. But a glass primary is a very nice upgrade!

The simplest thing you can do to improve your beer is also the hardest - wait. Give it plenty of time in primary to finish - 2 weeks has been good for me - then give it another 2-4 weeks in secondary for conditioning. Once it's bottled and carbed, don't drink it all right away! Wait as long as you can, trying one every week or two. The difference a week can make is amazing.
One caveat is with IPAs or anything dry-hopped. That super yummy hop flavor drops off pretty quickly, I think they're best in the first few weeks. Can't hurt to keep a few around just to see how it changes though.

Beyond that your next big improvement will be moving to full boils. Start looking around for a good deal on a turkey fryer kit if you're ready to drop another $100-$150 on your setup. The immersion chiller and propane tank will be pretty expensive regardless of how cheap you can get the fryer.

Thanks for the info!

I already have a turkey fryer so I'm good to go there. Can I make an immersion chiller, looks like copper tubing and some hose. I'm all about the DIY thing.

Sure can. Check out the wiki. It's linked to at the top of the page. You can find all sorts of great info there.