Hi,
Sorry for the long message but multiple mistakes were made and I can only hope someone reads this and gives me some advice. Tried to make a Irish red ale from a kit and made some mistakes because I got too eager.
The kit was kinda old so yeast was taking relatively longer time than it was "supposed" to. Got a hydrometer from a friend that he hadn't used in like 10 years and I thought I would check the gravity even though I didn't have a OG. Beer kit says that it's ready when gravity is less than 1.013 and I measured 1.024. I got to my head that fermenting must be stalling because of the old yeast.
First I tried swirling the fermentation hoping that would make something happen... waited 1.5days and no reaction and then I bought a wine yeast and pitched it there and stirred it again. Noticed suspicious moldish looking spot on top of the beer but from what I googled it might not be mold especially because it happened after me stirring it.
Then after some testing with water and water+sugar mixtures... my hydrometer is probably showing .007 too much when measuring.
Now I'm thinking my brew might have been nearing the end at 1.017 gravity but I have stirred it 2 times within 48hours and actually even pitched wine yeast to it.
It probably needs time to clear because of the stirring but I'm worried if I leave it oxygenated it will just get worse because of possible bacteria etc.
Should I perhaps wait couple of days for it to clear a bit and then try to bottle it?
or any other good ideas how to handle it?
Sorry for the long message but multiple mistakes were made and I can only hope someone reads this and gives me some advice. Tried to make a Irish red ale from a kit and made some mistakes because I got too eager.
The kit was kinda old so yeast was taking relatively longer time than it was "supposed" to. Got a hydrometer from a friend that he hadn't used in like 10 years and I thought I would check the gravity even though I didn't have a OG. Beer kit says that it's ready when gravity is less than 1.013 and I measured 1.024. I got to my head that fermenting must be stalling because of the old yeast.
First I tried swirling the fermentation hoping that would make something happen... waited 1.5days and no reaction and then I bought a wine yeast and pitched it there and stirred it again. Noticed suspicious moldish looking spot on top of the beer but from what I googled it might not be mold especially because it happened after me stirring it.
Then after some testing with water and water+sugar mixtures... my hydrometer is probably showing .007 too much when measuring.
Now I'm thinking my brew might have been nearing the end at 1.017 gravity but I have stirred it 2 times within 48hours and actually even pitched wine yeast to it.
It probably needs time to clear because of the stirring but I'm worried if I leave it oxygenated it will just get worse because of possible bacteria etc.
Should I perhaps wait couple of days for it to clear a bit and then try to bottle it?
or any other good ideas how to handle it?