Hello everyone! I have a couple of questions about my first brew!
A couple of years ago I bought a Festival Belgian Dubbel kit (complete with plastic fermentation vessel, bottles, sanitizer, etc) and 2 weeks ago I started the primary fermentation. Now I`m looking for some suggestions before bottling. I carefully followed the instructions (especially regarding sanitization and temperature control) and here is my schedule, in brief:
Day 1: since the kit was 2 years old, I dissolved the sugars according to instructions and diluted the yeast in 100-200 ml of starting sugar broth at room temperature (in a sanitized bowl) for 1 hour or so. When the yeast started foaming and the temperature of the vessel reached around 24 degrees, I transferred it in the vessel (initial gravity: 1050, total volume was around 21-22 liters).
Day 6: added the hops and the gravity was around 1028-1030 (I sampled through the tap). So far the temperature has been around 18-20 degrees. I assume that the fermentation started a bit later because there was not much foam observed in the first 2-3 days. After adding the hops (from a sterile sachet), in the following days I could see more CO2 coming off the airlock. Maybe the lid was not properly sealed at the beginning.
Day 12: the gravity is around 1010-1008. Temperature stabilized at 22 degrees throughout the past week. Airlock still bubbling.
Day 16: the gravity has been stable every day at 1008. Airlock still bubbling, less frequently.
Day 17 (today): I was about to prepare the bottles, but I realized that the gravity is now around 1007 and the airlock still bubbles sometimes. It`s difficult to have a precise reading since it`s a manual hydrometer and the scale is 02.
My question is: should I wait for another couple of days until the gravity reaches 1006 (suggested final gravity for Belgian dubbel)? I tasted the sample and is definitely “hoppy” and very slightly “sour”, but smells definitely like beer, no bad smells. Is there a risk to ruin the batch if I keep it longer in the primary fermentation vessel until fermentation stops?
Thank you!
A couple of years ago I bought a Festival Belgian Dubbel kit (complete with plastic fermentation vessel, bottles, sanitizer, etc) and 2 weeks ago I started the primary fermentation. Now I`m looking for some suggestions before bottling. I carefully followed the instructions (especially regarding sanitization and temperature control) and here is my schedule, in brief:
Day 1: since the kit was 2 years old, I dissolved the sugars according to instructions and diluted the yeast in 100-200 ml of starting sugar broth at room temperature (in a sanitized bowl) for 1 hour or so. When the yeast started foaming and the temperature of the vessel reached around 24 degrees, I transferred it in the vessel (initial gravity: 1050, total volume was around 21-22 liters).
Day 6: added the hops and the gravity was around 1028-1030 (I sampled through the tap). So far the temperature has been around 18-20 degrees. I assume that the fermentation started a bit later because there was not much foam observed in the first 2-3 days. After adding the hops (from a sterile sachet), in the following days I could see more CO2 coming off the airlock. Maybe the lid was not properly sealed at the beginning.
Day 12: the gravity is around 1010-1008. Temperature stabilized at 22 degrees throughout the past week. Airlock still bubbling.
Day 16: the gravity has been stable every day at 1008. Airlock still bubbling, less frequently.
Day 17 (today): I was about to prepare the bottles, but I realized that the gravity is now around 1007 and the airlock still bubbles sometimes. It`s difficult to have a precise reading since it`s a manual hydrometer and the scale is 02.
My question is: should I wait for another couple of days until the gravity reaches 1006 (suggested final gravity for Belgian dubbel)? I tasted the sample and is definitely “hoppy” and very slightly “sour”, but smells definitely like beer, no bad smells. Is there a risk to ruin the batch if I keep it longer in the primary fermentation vessel until fermentation stops?
Thank you!
