1st brew TrueBrew Amber Ale

[Jdubbs23]

Hi all,

New to the site but love all the helpful information I've found here already. I'm 8 days into fermentation on my first brew, and I was going to wait till next weekend before checking it, but I haven't had airlock activity since day 2 so I decided to take a hydrometer reading today.

My reading came out as 1.020 possibly 1.021 because my beer is about 65dF. My kit says this ale should have a FG of 1.010 - 1.012. Is this an indication that its not done fermenting? I'll take another reading tomorrow, and either way I'm going to wait to bottle till Saturday. I just want to get the experts opinion on how things are going. Below are some images I took. Thanks for the help!

 

[Warped04]

What was the OG and the yeast?

 

[Jdubbs23]

Unfortunately I never took an OG reading, but the kit pamphlet specifies the beginning gravity should be 1.042-1.044. I don't know the specific kind of yeast, I used the packet in the kit from TrueBrew that says on it 'Ale yeast.'

 

[Warped04]

Were you going to rack to secondary or go straight to bottles?

 

[Jdubbs23]

I was going to go right to the bottles on Saturday, which would be 2 weeks fermenting.

 

[Warped04]

You are only at like 52% Attenuation with those numbers, where they have it going to 72%. I don't think you are done fermenting.

 

[Jdubbs23]

OK thanks for the help. I think I'm just going to let it sit till Saturday, then do another hydrometer reading. I just checked my hydrometer in room temperature water (65dF) and it came out as 1.006. So it looks like I should subtract .006 from any readings I take.

 

[Jdubbs23]

Well I waited a few more days, now at 12.5 days of primary fermentation, took another hydrometer reading and it came in as just about 1.018. I'm pretty sure my hydrometer is off by about .004, so my adjusted reading comes in at 1.014. I'm going to move ahead to bottling in a little bit.

 

[Jdubbs23]

So I bottled by first batch of beer! Things went pretty smoothly, but I'm struggling with where to let my bottled beer sit and condition.

My closet in my room ranges from about 65dF to 75dF but is extremely dark. Whereas my living room only has 1 window (blinds are shut) and it stays cooler around 62dF to 70dF. It is definitely lighter in the living room, and I'm concerned this light might affect the beer.

If my closet gets up to 75dF is that going to be bad for conditioning? Also, while it probably won't fluctuate 10 degrees, is that type of temperature swing bad for the beer?

 

[Rick_R]

Keep them in the living room. If you bottled in brown bottles that will avoid any problems from light (though I wouldn't sit them in direct sunlight or something). Also I assume they would still be in the cardboard boxes the bottles came in, so that will help as well.

Rick