I just bottled my first brew and am pretty excited. There's just one thing im worried about. I tasted it from the cylinder after I took FG reading and it tastes very sweet. This was before I racked it into the bottling bucket with priming sugar. It's a pale ale from a kit. Is this normal? I figured with fermentation complete, the sugars would have been eaten and it would taste like beer at this point, just uncarbonated.
Bottled my first brew
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scoundrel
Well-Known Member
What was the reading?
Did you take an original gravity and final gravity reading? It's hard to tell what happened without that.
That being said, most beers have their fair share of left over sugar so you shouldn't have a problem.
As a general rule, your final gravity will be around 25% of your original gravity. This is your attenuation rate and is stated on the yeast packet. Let's say you've got an OG of 1.042 and it went down to a final gravity of 1.010 (10/42 = 23.8%). You would have a fully attenuated beer (attenuation would be (42-10)/42 or 76% in this case).
If however, you final gravity is still only 1.030. You may have a stuck fermentation.
That being said, most beers have their fair share of left over sugar so you shouldn't have a problem.
As a general rule, your final gravity will be around 25% of your original gravity. This is your attenuation rate and is stated on the yeast packet. Let's say you've got an OG of 1.042 and it went down to a final gravity of 1.010 (10/42 = 23.8%). You would have a fully attenuated beer (attenuation would be (42-10)/42 or 76% in this case).
If however, you final gravity is still only 1.030. You may have a stuck fermentation.
OG was 1.040 and FG was 1.015. There was a lot of activity in the airlock for about seven days. I then transferred to secondary and left it for another five days, took a reading(1.015), waited two days and took another reading(1.015), then bottled.
Very nice explanation!
I'm sure your beer is ok, once it's carbed and is left to bottle condition a bit longer, you will get the beer taste you're looking for.
Also, since it is your first brew, expect the unexpected. My first beer turned out NOTHING like I was expecting. When you crack open your first bottle, go in with an open mind! With experience in the hobby, you will find methods that work best for you and achieve the taste you're looking for. Enjoy!
Since you said it was still alittle sweet,& your OG/FG numbers like that,I'd say it wasn't quite finished yet. With an OG of 1.040,I'd think it should've gotten down to 1.008 or so. So be careful with the priming sugar. It could go boom,or make like vesuvious.
NorthRiverS
Well-Known Member
I would recommend checking the carbonation at 1 week and each week after that to see where carbonation is. When it's where you want, get it to the fridge.
NRS
NRS
+1 to NortherRiver and Union.
What was the temperature of the room you were fermenting in and the yeast type you used? My best guess is it was US-05 or some other equivalent.
If you're fermenting in the low 60's, you could try fermenting somewhere where the temperature is in the upper 60's. That may wake the yeast up a little.
What was the temperature of the room you were fermenting in and the yeast type you used? My best guess is it was US-05 or some other equivalent.
If you're fermenting in the low 60's, you could try fermenting somewhere where the temperature is in the upper 60's. That may wake the yeast up a little.
It was a Brewer's Best American Pale Ale kit. I don't remember what brand the LME was(maybe brewer's best?) Or what type of grains it came with.
The only things I did that differed from the instructions the kit came with was the temperature I steeped the grains at and how much water i added after the boil.I found it difficult to maintain a steady 150-160 degrees and I steeped them a little hot at around 170. The instructions said to add enough water to the boiled wort to make up 5 gallons still maintaining 1.050-1.055 OG, so I tested it at the 4.5 gallon mark and it was already down to 1.040. Its my understanding that adding water at this point will only lower the OG so I just kept it at 4.5 gallons. Could the temperature of the grains be the reason for my lower than normal original gravity reading?
The only things I did that differed from the instructions the kit came with was the temperature I steeped the grains at and how much water i added after the boil.I found it difficult to maintain a steady 150-160 degrees and I steeped them a little hot at around 170. The instructions said to add enough water to the boiled wort to make up 5 gallons still maintaining 1.050-1.055 OG, so I tested it at the 4.5 gallon mark and it was already down to 1.040. Its my understanding that adding water at this point will only lower the OG so I just kept it at 4.5 gallons. Could the temperature of the grains be the reason for my lower than normal original gravity reading?
It doesn't sound like it. Most of your sugars probably came from the extract which is mostly fermentable.
Did you chill your gravity reading to room temperature before you took your gravity reading? At 140 degrees, a 1.040 reading is corrected to 1.056 which would put a normal attenuation right around 1.015
Did you chill your gravity reading to room temperature before you took your gravity reading? At 140 degrees, a 1.040 reading is corrected to 1.056 which would put a normal attenuation right around 1.015
Well it sounds like an incomplete ferment, but it certainly could be something else I don't know about so maybe someone can jump in and be of a little more assistance but I can tell what I would do.
If im unsure about my fermentation, I'd first try repitching some known healthy yeast to try and restart fermentation.
If that doesn't work and I just want to go right to the bottle, ill do my regular bottling and put them in a trash bag to condition in case of gushers.
Then I will put about a cup of primed beer in a crushed soft plastic water bottle and put that outside of the garbage bag in plain site. As the beer conditions the water bottle will expand. Then when the crushed plastic bottle resembles a normal uncrushed plastic bottle, I know there's that much co2 in my bottles so I can safely put the beers in the fridge and stop the conditioning process.
A little backwoods measuring? Sure, but its worked for me in the past.
You can also search online for a homebrew carbonation calculator that will calculate the correct amount of priming sugar to add based on the gravity of the beer and the volume of beer you're bottling.
If you decide to just go ahead without repitching yeast, since you're not bottling a full five gallons and have the potential for existing fermentable sugar you'll want to add less priming sugar than you were given. The calculator will help you there.
Cheers!
If im unsure about my fermentation, I'd first try repitching some known healthy yeast to try and restart fermentation.
If that doesn't work and I just want to go right to the bottle, ill do my regular bottling and put them in a trash bag to condition in case of gushers.
Then I will put about a cup of primed beer in a crushed soft plastic water bottle and put that outside of the garbage bag in plain site. As the beer conditions the water bottle will expand. Then when the crushed plastic bottle resembles a normal uncrushed plastic bottle, I know there's that much co2 in my bottles so I can safely put the beers in the fridge and stop the conditioning process.
A little backwoods measuring? Sure, but its worked for me in the past.
You can also search online for a homebrew carbonation calculator that will calculate the correct amount of priming sugar to add based on the gravity of the beer and the volume of beer you're bottling.
If you decide to just go ahead without repitching yeast, since you're not bottling a full five gallons and have the potential for existing fermentable sugar you'll want to add less priming sugar than you were given. The calculator will help you there.
Cheers!
Well, since the beer is already bottled I guess i'll just have to wait it out and check the carbonation every week. Putting the cases in trashbags seems like a pretty good idea as well. I've got my fingers crossed.
After one week in bottles, I refrigerated a bottle for a few hours and cracked it open to see if they were over carbonated. There was just a slight hiss with barely any carbonation. It tastes much better also. Alot less sweet and alot more like beer. It tastes like a stale, flat Guinness. Hopefully that will change into something a little more hoppy, but I'd be happy with anything tasting like beer at this point. Hopefully I'll have some good carbonation going on in the next couple of weeks.
Here is another thought for you.
When adding in top up water to a partial boil it actually takes quite a lot (read vigorous shaking for a few minutes) of mixing to fully combine the two mixtures of very different density.
The other thought is that when doing extract (+/- specialty grains) you know, pretty much exactly, how much sugar you have.
My guess on what happened is that when taking your OG readings you had a wort that wasn't fully mixed. This meant that when taking your reading at 4.5G you were reading low on your gravity. Then by not topping off completely you ended up with a higher OG. Fermentation finished (no worry of bottle bombs) but finished high as there is more sugar is less water then the recipe was designed for.
Lastly it is not uncommon for extract brews to finish a little high.
When adding in top up water to a partial boil it actually takes quite a lot (read vigorous shaking for a few minutes) of mixing to fully combine the two mixtures of very different density.
The other thought is that when doing extract (+/- specialty grains) you know, pretty much exactly, how much sugar you have.
My guess on what happened is that when taking your OG readings you had a wort that wasn't fully mixed. This meant that when taking your reading at 4.5G you were reading low on your gravity. Then by not topping off completely you ended up with a higher OG. Fermentation finished (no worry of bottle bombs) but finished high as there is more sugar is less water then the recipe was designed for.
Lastly it is not uncommon for extract brews to finish a little high.
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