mlutha
Member
I just bottled my first batch this weekend and my unbridled enthusiasm is now quite tempered after connecting some dots. I brewed a True Brew IPA recipe kit. It came with Muntons Ale Yeast (dry). All went well at first, I cooked it up and got it into my fermenter bucket, and brought it down to my basement and set it on the cold concrete floor (more on that later). Within 12 hours the bubbles were roiling out of the airlock. After about 36 hours, bubbling stopped, and didn't appear again for the next two weeks I kept it in the fermenter. When I pushed down on the cover of the fermenter bucket, it forced bubbles out of the airlock, so I figured all was fine.
So this weekend, after 2 weeks in the fermenter, I was ready for bottling. Opening the fermenter, there was about an inch and a half of kreusening gunk on top of the brew, which I took to be a good sign. But when I took a hydrometer reading, it was very high based on the range indicated on the recipe kit. It measured 1.020, instead of the 1.012 - 1.014 (without correcting for temperature. Not sure if it's relevant, but I didn't take an initial hydrometer reading - the recipe kit says the beginning SG is 1.050-1.052). This being my first batch, I said 'oh well', and bottled. I hadn't taken any hydrometer readings throughout the fermentation period, instead relying on the simplified instructions in the kit that it would be ready to bottle in 1 week. I figured I'd incorporate the hydrometer reading into my second batch. So, I sampled the hydrometer flask brew and it tasted flat, obviously, but quite malty/fruity/tea-ey (I don't have a descriptive palate yet). I figured it would continue maturing, bottled it up and started doing some more reading in the Papazian book.
There I read that ale yeast should ferment in the 60-70 degree range. That got me thinking, and I searched the beginner forum here on the topic, and found many posts indicating that 59 degrees was the lowest acceptable value for ale yeast. Remembering back for the past two weeks, I'm pretty certain that the average temperature shown the stick-on thermometer on the side of the fermenter bucket was 58 degrees. Also, I just went down and took the temp of my basement floor and it's 58 degrees.
My newbie deducting is that the initial temp in the fermenter was adequate for the yeast to start digesting, but as the liquid cooled below 60 degrees, within 36 hours or so, the yeast were knocked out of acceptable temp range, stopped digesting, and thus my malty brew with the high SG reading.
In hindsight, I'm guessing that there likely was some fermenting occurring within the two weeks by some hearty yeasties, albeit very slowly. If I would've left it fermenting and continued taking hydrometer readings, I'm guessing it would've kept slowly lowering nearer the target values, yes?
So, I guess I'm looking for some criticism on my deductive reasoning here, and what I should expect with the batch results. I'm guessing it'll be a low alcohol syrupy beer, yes? Hopefully I'm overstating the syrupy part. I've seen enough warnings here to never give up on a non-spoiled batch, and am certainly not planning to - although I may not talk it up as much to friends/family if I'm in for a dud. Appreciate any wisdom you have to impart - I'll be back on the horse this weekend for my second batch!
So this weekend, after 2 weeks in the fermenter, I was ready for bottling. Opening the fermenter, there was about an inch and a half of kreusening gunk on top of the brew, which I took to be a good sign. But when I took a hydrometer reading, it was very high based on the range indicated on the recipe kit. It measured 1.020, instead of the 1.012 - 1.014 (without correcting for temperature. Not sure if it's relevant, but I didn't take an initial hydrometer reading - the recipe kit says the beginning SG is 1.050-1.052). This being my first batch, I said 'oh well', and bottled. I hadn't taken any hydrometer readings throughout the fermentation period, instead relying on the simplified instructions in the kit that it would be ready to bottle in 1 week. I figured I'd incorporate the hydrometer reading into my second batch. So, I sampled the hydrometer flask brew and it tasted flat, obviously, but quite malty/fruity/tea-ey (I don't have a descriptive palate yet). I figured it would continue maturing, bottled it up and started doing some more reading in the Papazian book.
There I read that ale yeast should ferment in the 60-70 degree range. That got me thinking, and I searched the beginner forum here on the topic, and found many posts indicating that 59 degrees was the lowest acceptable value for ale yeast. Remembering back for the past two weeks, I'm pretty certain that the average temperature shown the stick-on thermometer on the side of the fermenter bucket was 58 degrees. Also, I just went down and took the temp of my basement floor and it's 58 degrees.
My newbie deducting is that the initial temp in the fermenter was adequate for the yeast to start digesting, but as the liquid cooled below 60 degrees, within 36 hours or so, the yeast were knocked out of acceptable temp range, stopped digesting, and thus my malty brew with the high SG reading.
In hindsight, I'm guessing that there likely was some fermenting occurring within the two weeks by some hearty yeasties, albeit very slowly. If I would've left it fermenting and continued taking hydrometer readings, I'm guessing it would've kept slowly lowering nearer the target values, yes?
So, I guess I'm looking for some criticism on my deductive reasoning here, and what I should expect with the batch results. I'm guessing it'll be a low alcohol syrupy beer, yes? Hopefully I'm overstating the syrupy part. I've seen enough warnings here to never give up on a non-spoiled batch, and am certainly not planning to - although I may not talk it up as much to friends/family if I'm in for a dud. Appreciate any wisdom you have to impart - I'll be back on the horse this weekend for my second batch!