Gravity questions, also pic of first batch to secondary!

Let me start by saying thanks to the experienced forum members that help out new people like me. Much appreciated.

So after one week in primary fermentation I racked my first batch of beer ever, to secondary. I don't think I will use a secondary in the future, I think I will just do one.

Anyway my question is about the gravity. I messed up my original gravity reading, it was totally inaccurate. (1.8) So unfortunately I don't know what the OG was. Per the recipe I used it should have been around 1.042 ~ 1.046. Well I just made sure I got an accurate gravity reading, and after one week in primary it was 1.018. My final gravity per the recipe should be around 1.010 ~ 1.012.

So my question is, am I on target? I assume two the three weeks in secondary will see some changes in gravity?

I am still learning, reading Palmers book, and still trying to wrap my head around gravity.

OK enough of that, time for pics:

Forgot to put in the temp, 73 F.

Looks like to me you are right on target. If you had a org og target in the 1.042 to 1.046 range, and you were not to much higher than that when starting, then after one week you have acheived most of the fermentation. With the movement and racking of the beer into the secondary, I would be willing to bet that you will drop the final few gravity points over the next week, or two. I would check at the end of each of the next two weeks to see if you acheive the final gravity you are looking for. You will not see the activity you did in the fermentor at the begining, so it may appear that it is not working. Good luck on your new brew.

That does sound a bit on the high side, but not too far off. Here's some of the more likely reasons that I can think of:

1. You didn't pitch enough yeast. If you used liquid yeast, did you use a starter? How old was the yeast? If you used dry, how large was the packet (grams)? In the future, I would use the pitching rate calculator on mrmalty.com.

2. You didn't introduce enough oxygen into the wort prior to pitching your yeast. With your bucket, shaking it for a couple of minutes would have been pretty good and is about the lowest cost as far as equipment goes.

3. Your fermentation temperatures were not ideal. Usually for a healthy fermentation, you are supposed to pitch cool (65F or so for ales) and if anything, go up from there. If the yeast experience a drop in temperature, they sometimes flocculate out and stop fermenting.

4. You didn't ferment long enough. Looking at your 1st picture, it looks like you might have had a bit of activity going when you transferred to the carboy. When I do a secondary, I usually wait about 10 days to make sure the yeast ferments out completely and absorbs diacetyl.

Do any of these sound likely?

azallgrain said:

Looks like to me you are right on target. If you had a org og target in the 1.042 to 1.046 range, and you were not to much higher than that when starting, then after one week you have acheived most of the fermentation. With the movement and racking of the beer into the secondary, I would be willing to bet that you will drop the final few gravity points over the next week, or two. I would check at the end of each of the next two weeks to see if you acheive the final gravity you are looking for. You will not see the activity you did in the fermentor at the begining, so it may appear that it is not working. Good luck on your new brew.

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Thanks I appreciate the response, I hope this is the case.

jescholler said:

That does sound a bit on the high side, but not too far off. Here's some of the more likely reasons that I can think of:

1. You didn't pitch enough yeast. If you used liquid yeast, did you use a starter? How old was the yeast? If you used dry, how large was the packed (grams)? In the future, I would use the pitching rate calculator on mrmalty.com.

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I used liquid yeast, with a starter. Wyeast Propagator 1214 smack pack. Thanks for the link, I will check it out.

jescholler said:

2. You didn't introduce enough oxygen into the wort prior to pitching your yeast. With your bucket, shaking it for a couple of minutes would have been pretty good and is about the lowest cost as far as equipment goes.

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I did stir and shake.

jescholler said:

3. Your fermentation temperatures were not ideal. Usually for a healthy fermentation, you are supposed to pitch cool (65F or so for ales) and if anything, go up from there. If the yeast experience a drop in temperature, they sometimes flocculate out and stop fermenting.

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73 is the temp in my basement, so that is what it has been at. I could use the bath/ice method.

jescholler said:

4. You didn't ferment long enough. Looking at your 1st picture, it looks like you might have had a bit of activity going when you transferred to the carboy. When I do a secondary, I usually wait about 10 days to make sure the yeast ferments out completely and absorbs diacetyl.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice, I am thinking in the future to perhaps not use a secondary at all. lol

jescholler said:

Do any of these sound likely?

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To be frank I don't know. I am thinking perhaps it is OK and I am overreacting, or perhaps it is stuck and I don't know why. If it is stuck, I guess I can always try pitching to dry yeast to get it started again. :cross:

Trooper-Orange said:

I used liquid yeast, with a starter. Wyeast Propagator 1214 smack pack.

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Bingo! Unless you made a really big starter, you didn't pitch enough yeast. The propagator packs only have 25 billion cells. Most brewers use the Activator packs which have 100 billion cells. Even the Activator requires a starter for most 5 gallon batches, but the Propagator requires (I believe) a mulit-step starter to get the proper yeast count.

In the future, I would recommend the Activator packs.

jescholler said:

Bingo! Unless you made a really big starter, you didn't pitch enough yeast. The propagator packs only have 25 billion cells. Most brewers use the Activator packs which have 100 billion cells. Even the Activator requires a starter for most 5 gallon batches, but the Propagator requires (I believe) a mulit-step starter to get the proper yeast count.

In the future, I would recommend the Activator packs.

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hehe, thanks for the advice, in the future, I will use the activator.

My starter was around 1/2 a growler, so right about 1 liter, is that enough? Here is the pic:

Quick follow up, if in fact I didn't have enough yeast should I pitch some re-hydrated dry yeast to get it going again?

Trooper-Orange said:

Quick follow up, if in fact I didn't have enough yeast should I pitch some re-hydrated dry yeast to get it going again?

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Sorry, but I don't have too much experience in this area, so I can't answer that.

According to the calculator on Wyeast's website, your pitching rate (assuming the Propagator was 100% viable and you had 5.5 gallons at the begining) was 4.51 million cells/mL. Wyeast recommends 6 million cells/mL, so you were a little short. Here's the link to the calculator that I used:
Wyeast Laboratories : Home Enthusiasts : Brewers : Pitch Rate Calculator

I get slightly conflicting information on mrmalty.com. For a 5.5 gallon batch at 1.044 OG, it recommends 170 billion cells, which comes out to 8.17 million cells/mL. To sum it up, you could have used a bit more yeast, and that's probably the highest suspect for your low SG at the moment. It will probably drop 1-2 points in the secondary, so you'll be really close to the recipe's FG. I wouldn't worry about it. It'll still be a good beer.

What is the style by the way? For some styles with a low OG, you actually want a higher FG to keep it from being too thin and watery.

jescholler said:

Sorry, but I don't have too much experience in this area, so I can't answer that.

According to the calculator on Wyeast's website, your pitching rate (assuming the Propagator was 100% viable and you had 5.5 gallons at the begining) was 4.51 million cells/mL. Wyeast recommends 6 million cells/mL, so you were a little short. Here's the link to the calculator that I used:
Wyeast Laboratories : Home Enthusiasts : Brewers : Pitch Rate Calculator

I get slightly conflicting information on mrmalty.com. For a 5.5 gallon batch at 1.044 OG, it recommends 170 billion cells, which comes out to 8.17 million cells/mL. To sum it up, you could have used a bit more yeast, and that's probably the highest suspect for your low SG at the moment. It will probably drop 1-2 points in the secondary, so you'll be really close to the recipe's FG. I wouldn't worry about it. It'll still be a good beer.

What is the style by the way? For some styles with a low OG, you actually want a higher FG to keep it from being too thin and watery.

Click to expand...

Thanks jescholler, appreciate the advice.

I will wait a few weeks and see what happens! That calculator will be super handy in the future.

Can't wait to see how my first batch turns out!

Forgot to mention, it is a Fat Tire clone, this kit here: http://www.midwestsupplies.com/products/ProdByID.aspx?ProdID=3517

I've been reading thru this stuff trying to pick up tips and tricks... I was just wondering... what's the soapy looking foam in the top of your carboy in the 2nd and 3rd pics?

hoooosierdaddy said:

I've been reading thru this stuff trying to pick up tips and tricks... I was just wondering... what's the soapy looking foam in the top of your carboy in the 2nd and 3rd pics?

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Leftover foam from StarSan.

I had sanitized my carboy with StarSan, and dumped out the liquid, but the foam remained. From what I understand this is normal, the StarSan doesn't do any harm and is even edible. I figure it is better to just leave the foam than to rinse and risk contamination.

I don't rinse anything when I use StarSan.

Never used it... I might have to give it a try. Thanx.