FestaBrew Cervesa Hydrometre reading

[KirkDavidson]

Hi Guys
I was searching the forum to try and find some info on the FestaBrew kits (bought the Cervesa mix). I just started getting into the home brew hobby and am having fun so far. This is my first brew. I'm day four of fermenting. The instructions say 3-5 and most people on the forum are saying throw the instructions out.

I took a hydrometer reading today because my local brewing store told me to check that out before going to secondary. It's in a plastic bucket right now, and I wanted to know if it'd be the right time to move to the glass carboy.

The reading on the hydrometer was close to 1.020-1.030. This seems high to me. The OG reading was at 1.040. So it seems like I'm still in the middle of the fermentation process. But my air lock doesn't seem to be doing much lately. However, I read that the air lock doesn't necessarily have to be bubbling to be fermenting.

From what the instructions say (once it's fully done fermenting and ready to be transferred to bottles) it should be anywhere between 1.009-1.018 but that would be once it's been in the glass carboy for a few weeks right?

I've been trying to keep at a constant temperature. And for the most part, I've been around 19-21 degrees Celsius

I've got a picture for you to take a look at.

Thoughts and comments are greatly appreciated! Thanks guys

 

[SD-SLIM]

Hi Guys
I was searching the forum to try and find some info on the FestaBrew kits. I just started getting into the home brew hobby and am having fun so far. I'm day four of fermenting. The instructions say 3-5 and most people on the forum are saying throw the instructions out.

I took a hydrometer reading today because my local brewing store told me to check that out before going to secondary. It's in a plastic bucket right now, and I wanted to know if it'd be the right time to move to the glass carboy.

The reading on the hydrometer was close to 1.020-1.030. This seems high to me. The OG reading was at 1.040. So it seems like I'm still in the middle of the fermentation process. But my air lock doesn't seem to be doing much lately. However, I read that the air lock doesn't necessarily have to be bubbling to be fermenting.

From what the instructions say (once it's fully done fermenting and ready to be transferred to bottles) it should be anywhere between 1.009-1.018 but that would be once it's been in the glass carboy for a few weeks right?

I've got a picture for you to take a look at.

Thoughts and comments are greatly appreciated! Thanks guys

So this happens to all of us when we first start brewing... we are told to leave it for 2 weeks and then rack to a secondary...however after you brew for awhile you will learn that to leave your beer in your primary for 3 weeks and then bottle.
Fermentation process usually completes itself after 2 weeks, then after that the conditioning process starts and should be allowed to go for a week...the conditioning process is where the yeast stop working on the primary fermentation and start working on heavy sugars and byproducts that are caused by fermentation.

So after reading this (because I have been there) you will probably ignore what I say and follow the directions...and trust me that's ok, because it's a learning process!

Happy Brewing!

 

[KirkDavidson]

SD-SLIM, thanks for your input! I'm not going to follow the instructions from here on out, because you guys are the experts. Does the beer look good so far?

Should I avoid going to a secondary glass carboy and just leave it in the primary? It's probably a personal preference whether or not to transfer right?

 

[Yooper]

SD-SLIM, thanks for your input! I'm not going to follow the instructions from here on out, because you guys are the experts. Does the beer look good so far?

Should I avoid going to a secondary glass carboy and just leave it in the primary? It's probably a personal preference whether or not to transfer right?

It looks good! It IS a personal preference whether to transfer or not. BUT- if you do transfer, make sure the beer is finished first.

It's hard to read the hydrometer in the fermenter like that. A hydrometer should be read at eye level. If you have a test jar (or in a pinch, the plastic the hydrometer came in), you can sanitize a turkey baster and pull out a sample and then fill the test jar. Put it down on the counter, and bend over and read it at eye level. That's the easiest way. After you take the reading, remove the hydrometer and drink the sample. It should taste like good but flat warm beer.

 

[SD-SLIM]

SD-SLIM, thanks for your input! I'm not going to follow the instructions from here on out, because you guys are the experts. Does the beer look good so far?

Should I avoid going to a secondary glass carboy and just leave it in the primary? It's probably a personal preference whether or not to transfer right?

Beer looks good, but as a rule of thumb...dont put a hydrometer in your wort, this can infect your beer and that's why they recommend taking a small sample and placing it in a cylinder to drop your hydrometer in...but as a new guy a few ounces is gold!
As for the usage of a secondary, You will find several of us on this forum that refuse to use them...the only exception being fruit beers and beer's that require more than 3 weeks of aging.
I would recommend reading this free online book (keep in mind it was published in 1999): http://www.howtobrew.com/sitemap.html
In particular read fermentation and off flavors, most brewers will have these issues in the beginning.

 

[KirkDavidson]

Yooper: I do have the test tube that I bought from my brewing store, I decided not to take a test sample because it was in the bucket and easy to just drop the hydrometer in the brew. But when you say to look at eye level that makes a LOT more sense to try that! I will check it out tomorrow to see what my readings are.

So if I transfer to secondary, should my ideal gravity reading be between 1.009-.0018 like the kit is suggesting? I just don't want to transfer to early and ruin the batch if I go to the carboy

 

[Maxkling]

If you continue to drop the hydrometer in there remember how fragile it is. If it breaks in your bucket IMO you just ruined your batch.

 

[KirkDavidson]

I'll be using the test tube from now on because I don't really want to introduce an infection into my first batch (I know it probably won't turn out perfect anyway). Thanks for all the input so far.