Add fruit before or after I come back

[TwistedGray]

Started fermentation on 03/03 (ambient temps around 60-65), and it is still slowly going along, and I am headed out of the country tomorrow morning. I will be back home next Thursday evening, and I expect fermentation to be more than complete.

My question is whether or not you think I should add my fruit now or when I come back?

I know adding the fruit will cause the fermentation to kick back up which is fine, but considering it is mostly complete I was hoping I might add now so that the fermentation is done when I get back next week.

Alternatively, I'll just wait until I am back, pitch the fruit and rack on to that and wait again. I was trying to save myself a week of waiting.

Also, I was thinking I want to add it before fermentation stops to avoid any additional o2 exposure. At least now it's still pumping out Co2.


Thoughts? Comments? Suggestions?

 

[Rob2010SS]

I think either way you'd be fine. Have you taken a gravity reading? It may be done already...

Honestly, it's been going for 13 days. I'd transfer now, before you go out of the country, and then that way you're further ahead of schedule when you come home.

 

[TwistedGray]

I think either way you'd be fine. Have you taken a gravity reading? It may be done already...

Honestly, it's been going for 13 days. I'd transfer now, before you go out of the country, and then that way you're further ahead of schedule when you come home.

It's definitely not done yet...you can still see some Co2 bubbles coming off the bottom which makes me not really want to transfer off now. I haven't taken a gravity reading yet, but I know by next Thursday it'll certainly be done.

 

[JDXX1971]

What's the rush?

 

[TwistedGray]

What's the rush?

As they say, there is no time like the present!

 

[JDXX1971]

But no present like time?

 

[RM-MN]

It's definitely not done yet...you can still see some Co2 bubbles coming off the bottom which makes me not really want to transfer off now. I haven't taken a gravity reading yet, but I know by next Thursday it'll certainly be done.

It's done, it's been done for a week or more, and the bubbles are just some of the excess dissolved CO2 coming out of solution and that will continue for weeks, getting slower all the time. Bubbles are not the way to tell if fermentation is done, a hydrometer reading is. Rack that beer onto the fruit now so it has more time to do the secondary fermentation and the yeast and trub to settle out again.

 

[TwistedGray]

Meh, too late now
Voy a Mexico ahora
Deal with it when I get back in a few days

 

[micraftbeer]

Like most everybody, I gauged the status of my fermentation by counting air bubbles in the air lock. But I recently got a Tilt bluetooth hydrometer and that really opened my eyes. It takes gravity readings every 15 minutes and posts to a data log you set up on the cloud. Seeing those readings over time, you can totally see when fermentation is slowing and it's a good time to bump up the temperature, and when things are done and there's no more fermentation point in letting it sit.

With that, I see my beers actually finish fermentation in about week, versus the ~2 weeks I'd be waiting counting bubbles.

 

[TwistedGray]

Like most everybody, I gauged the status of my fermentation by counting air bubbles in the air lock. But I recently got a Tilt bluetooth hydrometer and that really opened my eyes. It takes gravity readings every 15 minutes and posts to a data log you set up on the cloud. Seeing those readings over time, you can totally see when fermentation is slowing and it's a good time to bump up the temperature, and when things are done and there's no more fermentation point in letting it sit.

With that, I see my beers actually finish fermentation in about week, versus the ~2 weeks I'd be waiting counting bubbles.

Hmmmmmmm, sounds interesting

 

[Rob2010SS]

It's definitely not done yet...you can still see some Co2 bubbles coming off the bottom which makes me not really want to transfer off now. I haven't taken a gravity reading yet, but I know by next Thursday it'll certainly be done.

Previous posts are why i said its not done yet. Bubbles in the airlock mean nothing. Hydrometer reading is the only way to know it's done. Either way, waiting until you come back won't hurt it. Have a good trip

 

[TwistedGray]

Previous posts are why i said its not done yet. Bubbles in the airlock mean nothing. Hydrometer reading is the only way to know it's done. Either way, waiting until you come back won't hurt it. Have a good trip

Welp, they already cancelled the flight...stuck at LAX...the fun insues!