New Brewer Here

Hello all,

I have my second batch in my secondary now, and after a successful first batch I figured it was time to actually join the forum that I had read, and gathered so much info from.

Onto my question,

My second brew (an Oktoberfest extract kit from true brew... thanks Santa!) is in secondary now. My OG when I pitched the yeast was 1.040. The wort was 68F when I pitched. The instructions directed me NOT to re-hydrate the dried yeast packet, and the dried yeast packet indicated I should re-hydrate. So I had a brew, did some reading, flipped a coin, and pitched the dried yeast into the wort.

I got a flurry of airlock action for about 24 hours, but little kraussen (sp?).
I know from my detailed amount of reading that airlock action is NOT the only sign of fermentation. So waited till I hit one week and all had seemed still for a bit and racked it to secondary. When I racked I was at 1.016. Three days later I was at the same gravity. Two days later... pin on same gravity.

The instructions said I was shooting for 1.020.

So my main questions are;

1) Did I screw up anywhere with my decision on the yeast?

2) Is the FG reading (that has been steady for a week + now) a safe indication that I can move forward with bottling?

3) What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?

Sorry couldn't help myself there...

Thank you all for such a great community. My brewing experience started just after thanksgiving, and I have had a very welcoming time so far.

So that just about wraps my first post here, thank you...

Steve

1) First impression is no, mostly because it got the gravity down to about where it should be. As long as the taste is fine, it will be fine. But unless you're brewing a really small volume of beer (1-gallon or less) I'd recommend you at least re-hydrate your yeast from now on, if not make a starter. It also depends on gravity, though. In this case a 1.040 beer is a good environment for yeast to be pitched into. The more you get comfortable with brewing and read about it, the better you'll understand how to treat your yeast.

2) It depends. What do your kit's instructions say? Do you have the ability to lager it at low temps for at least a month? If you can't keep it cold I'd go ahead and bottle it. If you've been keeping it around the 51F range during fermentation and can keep it below 41F for the next month, do that.

Kent88 said:

2) It depends. What do your kit's instructions say? Do you have the ability to lager it at low temps for at least a month? If you can't keep it cold I'd go ahead and bottle it. If you've been keeping it around the 51F range during fermentation and can keep it below 41F for the next month, do that.

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What? Why? No

Bottle it, gravity is stable and shouldn't get any lower especially being an extract. Usually tough to get below 1.020.

It does help to reference the kit instructions:
http://www.winemakersdepot.com/Oktoberfest-Beer-Kit-Instructions-True-Brew-W55.aspx

This kit comes with ale yeast, so don't follow traditional lagering fermentation temperature guidelines.

Your yeast decision was fine. Hydrating is best practice but it's not going to make or break things. The kit ignores that because it's designed to be easy and not trouble new brewers with too many steps.

Looks like you hit the OG on the money, but the FG is a bit high (1.010-12 is the target). That said, you're probably done with all the readings you've taken that haven't shown movement. I would bottle after a solid 2 weeks have passed, assuming you kept the beer at 68-70F temps all along. Don't make it cold til it's been fully carbonated in bottles for 2 weeks minimum, 3 weeks better.

Nope, you're good, sir. OG of 1.040 and FG of 1.016 gives you approximately 3.2% ABV. I'd honestly have expected that to be a bit higher, maybe say around 4.5%, but that's the kit haha.

I never re-hydrate my dry yeast. It's not a bad idea to do it or anything, but it's just easier to sprinkle on there. Sometimes I'll use two packs since dry yeast is so cheap, but anything up to an OG of 1.070 a single pack can handle.

Do you mean an African or European swallow?

McKnuckle said:

It does help to reference the kit instructions:
http://www.winemakersdepot.com/Oktoberfest-Beer-Kit-Instructions-True-Brew-W55.aspx

This kit comes with ale yeast, so don't follow traditional lagering fermentation temperature guidelines.

Your yeast decision was fine. Hydrating is best practice but it's not going to make or break things. The kit ignores that because it's designed to be easy and not trouble new brewers with too many steps.

Looks like you hit the OG on the money, but the FG is a bit high (1.010-12 is the target). That said, you're probably done with all the readings you've taken that haven't shown movement. I would bottle after a solid 2 weeks have passed, assuming you kept the beer at 68-70F temps all along. Don't make it cold til it's been fully carbonated in bottles for 2 weeks minimum, 3 weeks better.

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The beer has been between 66-70 throughout the fermentation. I Did recognize that it was an ale yeast in a lager. My 2 weeks will be this Saturday and I intend on bottling it then. Thanks for the input.

Awesome! Let us know how it turns out. I have seen people recommend pulling your beer out of your fermentation spot, and placing where ever you intend to bottle it from (my kitchen counter for me) the day before you intend to bottle, so that any sediment that gets stirred up in the move has the chance to settle back out. Seemed like a good idea to me.

To answer you last question:

change in velocity = final velocity - initial velocity

change in velocity (change in velocity = Vf - Vi)
--------------------------- = meters / second ²
change in time

RopesByEDK said:

My second brew (an Oktoberfest extract kit from true brew... thanks Santa!) is in secondary now.

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jjw5015 said:

What? Why? No

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McKnuckle said:

It does help to reference the kit instructions:
http://www.winemakersdepot.com/Oktoberfest-Beer-Kit-Instructions-True-Brew-W55.aspx

This kit comes with ale yeast, so don't follow traditional lagering fermentation temperature guidelines.

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@jjw5015 I hadn't looked at the instructions, saw it was an Oktoberfest, and figured there is a chance it is supposed to be lagered before bottling. Some people lager before bottling, some people carbonate and then lager.

Decimotox said:

Nope, you're good, sir. OG of 1.040 and FG of 1.016 gives you approximately 3.2% ABV. I'd honestly have expected that to be a bit higher, maybe say around 4.5%, but that's the kit haha.

I never re-hydrate my dry yeast. It's not a bad idea to do it or anything, but it's just easier to sprinkle on there. Sometimes I'll use two packs since dry yeast is so cheap, but anything up to an OG of 1.070 a single pack can handle.

Do you mean an African or European swallow?

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Does pitching additional yeast cause any harm at 1.040? I understand that up to 1.070 can be handled by one packet. Or I should rather ask, is it something I should ever worry about when doing a full boil extract kit @ 5 gallon batches?

To be a bit simplistic, you made beer!!!!! Bottle and enjoy the fruits of your labor. It's so easy to overthink and worry about the little things but in the end your beer fermented, you didn't burn the house down, and you didn't need Tim the Enchanter to help!!!!

Roland_deschain said:

To be a bit simplistic, you made beer!!!!! Bottle and enjoy the fruits of your labor. It's so easy to overthink and worry about the little things but in the end your beer fermented, you didn't burn the house down, and you didn't need Tim the Enchanter to help!!!!

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That is the truth, I'm excited for my upcoming brew day this weekend. Where I will actually be able to drink a home-brew, or two, of my own beer while making another batch.

RopesByEDK said:

Does pitching additional yeast cause any harm at 1.040? I understand that up to 1.070 can be handled by one packet. Or I should rather ask, is it something I should ever worry about when doing a full boil extract kit @ 5 gallon batches?

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At that low of an OG, I would not advise overpitching. Overpitching can lead to some off flavors. I just plan ahead based on the recipe I'm making and the expected OG. If the expected OG of a kit I'm doing is between 1.040-1.060, I don't bother buying a second pack of yeast. If it's over 1.060, I always buy a second pack just in case I miss the expected OG and go over (which I've done several times). It's nice to have an extra pack in that instance. But with 1.040, no need to pitch more than one pack.

If I don't need the additional pack I bought, I just toss it in the fridge and use it for another batch in the future.

looks fine, bit high fg, but nothing to worry about, just bottle and enjoy.

one question, why did you secondary? didn't see any instructions for it, and without fruit additions or possibly dryhopping, there really is no need to secondary.

Kharnynb said:

looks fine, bit high fg, but nothing to worry about, just bottle and enjoy.

one question, why did you secondary? didn't see any instructions for it, and without fruit additions or possibly dryhopping, there really is no need to secondary.

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Well I had been reading online about how long I can leave it in primary on the yeast cake. Some said it didn't matter, but I did read a few things that said it shouldn't be longer then 2 to 3 weeks. And since I had planned on leaving this along for longer I figured I would move it while I had some time pre-blizzard on Saturday.

My next batch is going to be an American pale ale and I was going to try to add some blueberries to that batch by racking it to a secondary on top of the blueberry puree.

that is very outdated information, based mostly on pro brewing with massively bigger amounts creating weight compression on the yeast cake, nothing we homebrewers have to worry about.

I've had beers on the cake for 4-6 months with no ill effect.

Kharnynb said:

that is very outdated information, based mostly on pro brewing with massively bigger amounts creating weight compression on the yeast cake, nothing we homebrewers have to worry about.

I've had beers on the cake for 4-6 months with no ill effect.

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I appreciate the info and it will be noted from now on! Thank you!