becsbrew
Member
Noob problems....my second batch ever (a partial mash Black Butte Porter clone) got off to a bit of a warm start (https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/warm-winter-new-england-ferment-temp-trouble-302264/)
Now it is going on week 3 in primary. OG was 1.051 (shy of the target 1.053), and FG target is 1.013.
After about a week in primary gravity stabilized at 1.016. I gave her a swirl and saw new airlock activity for several hours (but less than a day), and yet a week later, gravity is only down to 1.015.
Is 1.015 close enough to the target of 1.013, or should I mix things up again and hope to get it down a little lower?
I have an empty carboy...would racking to a secondary help be enough to wake up the bugs and get those last two points down?
It tastes pretty good at the moment, but I'm in no rush to bottle if more time would make it better....
Now it is going on week 3 in primary. OG was 1.051 (shy of the target 1.053), and FG target is 1.013.
After about a week in primary gravity stabilized at 1.016. I gave her a swirl and saw new airlock activity for several hours (but less than a day), and yet a week later, gravity is only down to 1.015.
Is 1.015 close enough to the target of 1.013, or should I mix things up again and hope to get it down a little lower?
I have an empty carboy...would racking to a secondary help be enough to wake up the bugs and get those last two points down?
It tastes pretty good at the moment, but I'm in no rush to bottle if more time would make it better....
it's a great practice. whenever i begin to sense worry (which happens a lot), i grab a beer before assessing the situation. in your case, it's the right thing to do, it sounds like your beer's progressing like it should. it's very seldom that you'll hit the FG on the nose unless you're repeating the same recipe and process and have an experienced idea of how that particular beer should finish up. next batch you may have an FG that's .004 lower than expected, so many factors come into play, so it's hard to pinpoint exact FG's. 
