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Hey all, this is my first batch and I want to make sure I'm on the right track. I tried to do my homework before brewing, but I have read so many different articles that my brain is getting frazzled. This is what I've done, maybe some of the pro's on here can give it a quick review and tell me where to adjust.
It's a Boulevard Wheat clone from a local brew shop. It was brewed on 2-7-10 using the provided dry yeast packet. I made a counterflow wort chiller (which brought the temp to 58*F), and then oxygenated with an O2 tank and fine airstone for about 30 seconds. OG was 1048. Primary fermented at 62*F until 2-11, when the bubbles were less than one per minute (as some websites recommended), then transferred to the secondary fermenter. I saved the entire yeast cake in 32oz sanitized bottle (did not know about washing yet, just saved it because I read you could reuse it). Checked gravity today, 2-17, with a reading of 1018.
The plans are to keg it into a 5 gal sankey keg I have, and force carbonate. I had planned to keg it this weekend, but after some more reading on here, I am thinking that may be too soon.
I have some questions.
1) Is it too soon to keg it?
2) When pulling a sample today for gravity testing, it still has quite a few particles floating. Small, but noticable. Will this settle to the bottom with another 1-2 weeks time? I was considering filtering, but would rather not since the beer it is supposed to replicate is an unfiltered wheat.
3) Is the yeast cake I saved still usable? Can I still follow the washing instructions and use it?
4) There is another yeast cake (1/2" or so) on the bottom of the secondary fermenter. Should I use this instead of the first one?
5) Being a sankey keg, to force carbonate, do I simply hook it up normally and kick the pressure up to the recommended psi for 3-4 days, and rock the keg now and then?
Thanks in advance for any advice. I have tried to read as much as possible, but with so many different methods out there, I just wanted to get some real life advice.
It's a Boulevard Wheat clone from a local brew shop. It was brewed on 2-7-10 using the provided dry yeast packet. I made a counterflow wort chiller (which brought the temp to 58*F), and then oxygenated with an O2 tank and fine airstone for about 30 seconds. OG was 1048. Primary fermented at 62*F until 2-11, when the bubbles were less than one per minute (as some websites recommended), then transferred to the secondary fermenter. I saved the entire yeast cake in 32oz sanitized bottle (did not know about washing yet, just saved it because I read you could reuse it). Checked gravity today, 2-17, with a reading of 1018.
The plans are to keg it into a 5 gal sankey keg I have, and force carbonate. I had planned to keg it this weekend, but after some more reading on here, I am thinking that may be too soon.
I have some questions.
1) Is it too soon to keg it?
2) When pulling a sample today for gravity testing, it still has quite a few particles floating. Small, but noticable. Will this settle to the bottom with another 1-2 weeks time? I was considering filtering, but would rather not since the beer it is supposed to replicate is an unfiltered wheat.
3) Is the yeast cake I saved still usable? Can I still follow the washing instructions and use it?
4) There is another yeast cake (1/2" or so) on the bottom of the secondary fermenter. Should I use this instead of the first one?
5) Being a sankey keg, to force carbonate, do I simply hook it up normally and kick the pressure up to the recommended psi for 3-4 days, and rock the keg now and then?
Thanks in advance for any advice. I have tried to read as much as possible, but with so many different methods out there, I just wanted to get some real life advice.