New brewer, more questions..

[bam]

I was just reading a post about temps after fermentation was finished and it sparked a question or two..first I wanted to see if someone could help let me know if my beer is finished fermenting.. I have had it in a closet for 9 days now and it keeps at around 63F. I took a hydro reading two days ago, it was 1.011, and then again last night it was 1.010..I was having a little trouble getting the hydro to float instead of leaning on the side of the test tube..counter was not very level.. So my question is, is that .001 drop in gravity a real drop or was I mis-reading the hydrometer?

Next question is.. if temp is only crucial for the first few days of fermenting, and I have kept mine at a mostly steady temp of 63F.. and I have read that cooler temps are better for aging and clearing anyway.. would it be safe/ok/good to move it to another room in my house where we have the vents closed off and the room usually stays a good 10-15 degrees colder?? or should I just keep letting my beer sit where it is and bite my nails waiting for bottling time and sampling time?

 

[msa8967]

I think a drop of 0.001 might not be enough to know if the beer is done fermenting or not. When I started brewing I found that I needed more practice reading hydrometers to see how consistent my reading actually were.

I will let most of my ales go for 3 weeks before checking the hydrometer. I think that 63 F is a good temperature to use and I would not go colder during this time if you made an ale. If it is a lager then you would need to have colder temps to start with.

Developing patience on waiting for things to be done is not easy when you start brewing. You might and to get a second brew bucket and airlock so that you can have 2 batches going and build up a pipeline of beer. My very first batch I let go for just 10 days before tasting and it had a yeasty aftertaste. I posted this to the forum and was instructed to let the beer go for 3-4 weeks in order to give the beer time to clean up after itself and no longer have the yeasty after taste. I have found this to be very sound advice.

What kind of beer did you make?

 

[msa8967]

There is a similar question in this link.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/once-fermentation-over-primary-does-temperature-matter-155430/

 

[bam]

Thanks msa! I made an amber ale. I got it in a kit from homebrewers outpost. Seems to me to be a pretty decent kit. I have notice that the advice from the folks here differ from the instructions. especially on the wait time to bottle. My kit said to wait 7-10 days then bottle. I am definitely gonna wait another 10 days or so before I bottle.

I definitely wanna get the pipeline going. I actually posted a question earlier about what all do I need to "upgrade/expand" for the pipeline. I'm not sure how to post a link to that thread for you or I would. I am also new to the discussion board lol.

 

[bam]

There is a similar question in this link.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/once-fermentation-over-primary-does-temperature-matter-155430/

that is actually the post that got me thinking about moving mine to a colder room. but if it doesn't really matter, then I'm not gonna risk sloshing the wort around just to move it.