About to bottle.

[DuffmanAK]

So as luck would have it I ended up being out of town from July 2nd til today. My pale ale was slated to be bottled on July 3rd. Currently it's still sitting in the primary and has been in there for 4 weeks and 4 days. I just got home today, took a SG reading, it was 1.018 or so. In my excitement (being my first brew) I didn't take an OG reading.. sigh.

So, my question is: would it be better now to bottle asap, or to wait another 2 days where I take more gravity readings to be sure fermentation is finished?

 

[Revvy]

What was the recipe?...maybe we can figure out a guestimated OG based on the ingredients....1.018 seems a wee bit high...but it's been over a month...so you may be ok...

 

[DuffmanAK]

Recipe was from John Palmer's online guide:

Recipe
Cincinnati Pale Ale
Ingredients for a 5 gallon batch

* 3-4 lb. Pale malt extract syrup, unhopped (Couldn't fing this, used light malt extract, figured was the same thing)
* 2 lb. Amber dry malt extract
* 12 AAU of bittering hops (any variety) For example, 1 oz. of 12% AA Nugget, or 1.5 oz. of 8% AA Perle
* 5 AAU of finishing hops (Cascade or other) For example, 1 oz. of 5% Cascade or 1.25 oz. of 4% Liberty
* 2 packets of dried ale yeast

Though I ended up with closer to 4 than 5 gallons (since being my first, etc, and I used a small brewpot).

 

[Revvy]

Recipe was from John Palmer's online guide:

Recipe
Cincinnati Pale Ale
Ingredients for a 5 gallon batch

* 3-4 lb. Pale malt extract syrup, unhopped (Couldn't fing this, used light malt extract, figured was the same thing)
* 2 lb. Amber dry malt extract
* 12 AAU of bittering hops (any variety) For example, 1 oz. of 12% AA Nugget, or 1.5 oz. of 8% AA Perle
* 5 AAU of finishing hops (Cascade or other) For example, 1 oz. of 5% Cascade or 1.25 oz. of 4% Liberty
* 2 packets of dried ale yeast

Though I ended up with closer to 4 than 5 gallons (since being my first, etc, and I used a small brewpot).

Are you sure it read 1.018? If so you have a couple points to go...you should finish at between 1.010 and 1.012.....

Give the carboy a swirl to re-rouse the yeast and check it in a couple of days....

 

[DuffmanAK]

Pretty sure it was around that.. I've also kept the carboy in a pretty cool water bath the whole time. I live in Alaska, so the air temp here never gets particuarly high, I think I'll drain the cooler and let it sit just in the closet for a few days.

The water temp has been ~70F (Editted from 60-65F).

 

[Revvy]

Pretty sure it was around that.. I've also kept the carboy in a pretty cool water bath the whole time. I live in Alaska, so the air temp here never gets particuarly high, I think I'll drain the cooler and let it sit just in the closet for a few days.

The water temp has been ~60-65F

Good idea....let it warm up a bit, and it may kick in a little more fermentation and give you a couple points...you'll also have the added benefit of doing a diacetyl rest....

 

[DuffmanAK]

Alrighty, just wanted to make totally sure more time wouldn't make me regret it later on. I just rememeber reading lots of people say that any more than 4 weeks in primary and it's bad mojo.

 

[Revvy]

Alrighty, just wanted to make totally sure more time wouldn't make me regret it later on. I just rememeber reading lots of people say that any more than 4 weeks in primary and it's bad mojo.

Nah....that's a misreading of palmer...if you're using healthy yeast you'll be fine. It's the "autolysis" bogeyman....Don't worry about it, I leave mine in for a month...My beers been vastly improved since I started doing that.

 

[DuffmanAK]

Update: Checked SG today, I may have mis-read it the other day. At first I saw a solid 1.018 again, let it sit another 15 seconds or so and then it shows about 1.014. I'll check tomorrow and see if it changes or not. If not then maybe one more day and into the bottle I'm thinking.

 

[TheFlatline]

Are you sure it read 1.018? If so you have a couple points to go...you should finish at between 1.010 and 1.012.....

Give the carboy a swirl to re-rouse the yeast and check it in a couple of days....

He said he brewed 4 gallons instead of 5.

I'd say that's probably right in there. If you had brewed 5 gallons I bet it'd be 1.010 on the nose. Next time top off to 5 gallons in the fermenter.

If you have a beer thief take a sample and taste it.

 

[DuffmanAK]

Well it definately smells like beer. I tasted some of what I'd pulled out to take my hydrometer readings, I only took little sips since I picked up a good bit of the yeast cake. I havea thief with a 1-way valve at the bottom, so it needs to be on the yeast cake to open.

Anywho, it didn't taste terrible, lil more hoppy than I wanted. Also I saw carbonation already present in the sample I had. Was kindda suprised. Does that mean I should add less DME than I'd planned?

 

[TheFlatline]

Well it definately smells like beer. I tasted some of what I'd pulled out to take my hydrometer readings, I only took little sips since I picked up a good bit of the yeast cake. I havea thief with a 1-way valve at the bottom, so it needs to be on the yeast cake to open.

Anywho, it didn't taste terrible, lil more hoppy than I wanted. Also I saw carbonation already present in the sample I had. Was kindda suprised. Does that mean I should add less DME than I'd planned?

I've noticed these issues come in waves sort of. I've seen this enough to answer honestly now, and I've even seen it once with my own brew.

The bubbles you're seeing aren't carbonation per se. It is still CO2 that is in suspension, and your agitation is bringing it out of the beer.

Go ahead and carb as normal. You're good.

 

[Roasty]

I havea thief with a 1-way valve at the bottom, so it needs to be on the yeast cake to open.

If your thief is like mine, the valve at the bottom isn't to let beer IN, it's to let beer OUT. The second the thief is submerged (before you hit the yeast cake), it should begin taking beer into the tube. The valve switch at the bottom is to let the beer drain out.

Try it out in a cup of water

 

[DuffmanAK]

Welp I bottled today, and I tasted it again. I've got a bit of a cold right now so taste is a lil wierd. It did almost taste "medicine-y" but that could be a side effect of my current condition. I bottled anyway and will hold judgement for July 31st (3 weeks from now).

Either way I've had a blast brewing it so even if it doesn't come out amazing, I plan to brew again.