White Labs #001 - First brew!

[inkyHat]

Greetings, Inky here -

I am reaching what seems to be the slow end of fermentation on my first brew, at 11 days. I was wondering if I should move my carboy up into the warmer part of the house (74-75)? Was also wondering if I could get a ballpark estimate to bottling time?

http://imgur.com/HyaQxy3

Quick rundown:
2.5 Gallon Partial Mash American Amber Ale (hopefully Honey Brown-esque)

-8oz caramel malt
-3.3 lbs Amber LME
-1.4oz Cascade@60min
-0.6oz Cascade@1min
-0.20lbs Honey
-2Tbs Blackstrap Molasses
-White Labs #001 California Ale Yeast

Fermentation room is 65 degrees

Started fermentation 7/25/2014 12:30 AM - I pitched the whole vial (when I could've saved half) and within 24 hours I had huge krauesen that lasted many days.

 

[schokie]

That's a great yeast. I usually ferment it at 62-64 for my IPAs and it gives a nice, clean, neutral flavor that allows the hops and other ingredients to shine through. I think your temp should be fine, especially since it sounds like you got a decent krausen out of it. That means you must have been doing something right. Warming it up at this point won't hurt anything, but I wouldn't bother.

The party line for bottling is to wait until you've hit FG. You'll know that because two different hydrometer readings taken a couple days apart give the same value.

However, if you're like me and keep breaking your hydrometer(s), just wait until the krausen falls, give it another 4-7 days, and call it good. Certainly by the 3 week point you'll be fine.

I also find the pitch rate recommendations on the vial are slightly optimistic. So I think whole vial into 2.5 gal was just fine. You can check out the calculator at mrmalty.com to double check.

 

[inkyHat]

Awesome, thank you so much.

I think I will use your ballpark method for this one since I only have 2.5 gallons. From my picture would you say I can start counting down, or am I looking for less kraeusen still?

 

[schokie]

Let it keep going for a while. I've had some krausens that never fall, but after 3 weeks you're pretty safe regardless, considering your OG, yeast, and temps.