1st Brew Update

[aaronard]

So I brewed my first batch (True Brew Brown Ale) 1 week ago today. It started fermenting within 6-8 hrs, kept bubbling away all week, and today I haven't seen any activity. So I went ahead and took a SG reading, and it's 1.020 (recipe calls for 1.010-1.012). My initial reading was 1.055 (supposed to be 1.045)... I initially figured I just measured wrong, but maybe it's just high? I didn't account for any water that might have boiled off when I boiled (boiled 2.5 gallon, added 2.5 gallon to carboy), could that throw things off?


Regardless, I'm going out of town next week for a show, so I'm going to let it sit another week (don't want to bottle a bunch of potential bombs and leave!). I did taste it (I was a little nervous)... I figure it tastes as good as flat, warm beer can! lol.

Aaron

 

[JefeTheVol]

Im a little confused. When did you take your gravity reading? At the end of the boil or when you topped off your water before fermentation? If your reading was 1.055 before you added your top of water your "real" OG will be less.

Slosh it around to stir up the yeast and check it in a day or so.

As a rule of thumb, its really hard not to hit your gravity expectation when brewing with extract. To measure off by that much is most likely operator error.
-Jefe-

 

[aaronard]

I took my initial reading when I topped off, before I added the yeast.

I boiled 2.5 gallons, (which I'm assuming I lost some due to the boiling process). I had 2.5 gallons of cool water in my carboy, so then poured the wort into carboy. At that point, I didn't really "top it off", I just assumed I had 5 gallons. I took my reading and kept going.

Aaron

 

[bullinachinashop]

Depending on your equipment and how vigorously you boiled, you have to account for your evaporation rate.

Next time you have a free carboy, Make graduated marks on the outside so you'll know where your at when topping off.

Bull

 

[DavidHawman]

I am really surprised buckets and carboys dont come with graduation marks on it.

Try giving the bucket/carboy a gentle shake to get the yeast back in suspension. Might convince the yeast to start working again.

Also, when I tested my beer that early I had lots of carbonation still in the beer. When I went to test there were so many bubbles clinging to the hydrometer it took me a good 10 minutes to dislodge them and get a good reading. Make sure you give your hydrometer a good spin to dislodge any bubbles.

 

[Homercidal]

I am really surprised buckets and carboys dont come with graduation marks on it.

Try giving the bucket/carboy a gentle shake to get the yeast back in suspension. Might convince the yeast to start working again.

Also, when I tested my beer that early I had lots of carbonation still in the beer. When I went to test there were so many bubbles clinging to the hydrometer it took me a good 10 minutes to dislodge them and get a good reading. Make sure you give your hydrometer a good spin to dislodge any bubbles.

Actually, the two brands of buckets that I have both have marks on them.

Also, I would not advise stirring up the beer until after he gets back. Give the beer time to drop completely. It just might need a few more days and the extra time will not hurt the beer, just give it a chance to clear more.

and +1 on the dissolved CO2 in the beer. I often have to let it sit a bit to work the bubbles out before taking a reading (until now that is, because my refractometer is on it's way!)

 

[jamesjensen1068]

I had the same problem with my first batch. Mine was the True Brew Brown Ale as well. Mine stalled at 1.020 as well. As I was eager to get my first batch brewed I went ahead and bottled it. Instead of adding the full 5oz of priming sugar I just used 3.5oz. It turned out very good with good head and flavor. Many kits stall at the dreaded 1.020 mark from what I've read on this forum.

For my second batch I did a Belgian Ale from True Brew. A few things I did different was to aerate the wort and did a yeast starter before I pitched the yeast. It fermented so aggressively that I had to use a blowoff. Needless to say...I made all the recommended gravities on my second batch.