Not sure what to do....

[BigJoeC]

I brewed a wheat extract beer from MidWest. I brewed three weeks ago. I also added 1.5oz of orange zest to the boil with the aroma hops for the last 2 minutes. I fermented for 2 weeks and racked into a glass secondary with another ounce of orange zest and 2 whole vanilla beans that I opened and chopped (both the zest and vanilla beans were soaked in a little vodka for about 2 days before going into secondary. I had it in secondary for about a week.

I want to bottle today. I tasted it first and couldn't tell what to make of it. I took from the very top with a baster but I don't know what the whole beer would taste like. It has a little bitter flavor but I do sense some vanilla and orange. I have a whole lot of setiment at the bottom that i didn't want to disturb but a little moved around. I then noticed the airlock moved a little and I had some CO2 bubbling a little.

Should I rouse the secondary and see what happens? Maybe bottle tomorrow or the following day instead? I have no clue.

 

[Yooper]

I brewed a wheat extract beer from MidWest. I brewed three weeks ago. I also added 1.5oz of orange zest to the boil with the aroma hops for the last 2 minutes. I fermented for 2 weeks and racked into a glass secondary with another ounce of orange zest and 2 whole vanilla beans that I opened and chopped (both the zest and vanilla beans were soaked in a little vodka for about 2 days before going into secondary. I had it in secondary for about a week.

I want to bottle today. I tasted it first and couldn't tell what to make of it. I took from the very top with a baster but I don't know what the whole beer would taste like. It has a little bitter flavor but I do sense some vanilla and orange. I have a whole lot of setiment at the bottom that i didn't want to disturb but a little moved around. I then noticed the airlock moved a little and I had some CO2 bubbling a little.

Should I rouse the secondary and see what happens? Maybe bottle tomorrow or the following day instead? I have no clue.

Why would rousing the secondary fix the bitterness? I'm not sure I understand the question, but if the beer has been at a stable SG for at least three days it's fine to bottle it.

 

[BigJoeC]

My appologies. I didn't mean for rousing to change bitterness. I was talking more for ensuring fermentation was complete. The airlock is deffinately still moving and bubbles are still forming. I haven't checked SG at all. I only have a hudrometer that I just put into the bucket. I don't have a tube for it I don't think.

 

[duboman]

My appologies. I didn't mean for rousing to change bitterness. I was talking more for ensuring fermentation was complete. The airlock is deffinately still moving and bubbles are still forming. I haven't checked SG at all. I only have a hudrometer that I just put into the bucket. I don't have a tube for it I don't think.

If the FG was stable you probably knocked some CO2 out of suspension and that caused the airlock activity. Assuming your FG still has not changed bottle it up

 

[BigJoeC]

I haven't checked FG. I have always just allowed it to ferment for 2 weeks then primary for a week and then just bottle. I don't really have a way to check FG without a tube. I always just dropped it in the bucket.

 

[duboman]

I haven't checked FG. I have always just allowed it to ferment for 2 weeks then primary for a week and then just bottle. I don't really have a way to check FG without a tube. I always just dropped it in the bucket.

You definitely should get a test jar but you can really use anything that's deep enough for the hydrometer, just be sure you sanitize and don't return the sample.

At 3 weeks I'll assume it's stable and stand by my CO2 assumption. If you don't have anything then open the bucket, sanitize the hydrometer and take a reading.