Brand new brewer with questions

[BGJ223]

Hello folks. I have been browsing your forum for a little while, but this is my first post.

So lets get to the skinny of it. I brewed my first non-MrBeer batch on Sunday afternoon. I was shooting for an OG of 1.080 but ended up with an OG of 1.048, which is way off if you ask me. I Went ahead and put the wort in my fermenter and tossed in my 1/2 gallon starter. The airlock was bubbling within a few hours, and at a steady rate. Started to slow down on Monday, checked it again this afternoon and there was nothing happening in the airlock. So I took another gravity reading, and it was 1.020.
So the question is. What do I do now. Do I leave it in the fermenter for longer? Also I tasted the sample, and it was nice and hoppy. No real sweet taste to it at all.

Here is the recipe that I used.

6lbs Dark DME
3lbs Munich LME
10oz Roasted Barley
8oz Chocolate Malt
8oz Belgian Special B
8oz American Crystal 120
Hops
3oz Syrian Golding 60min
2oz cascade 30min
1oz Saaz 5min
Yeast: Wyeast American Ale 2 1272

steeped the grains loose in 1.5 gallons of 155 degree water for 45 minutes. Strained the grains out and rinsed them with 3 quarts of 170 degree water.
topped off the brew pot with about 1 gallon of water to bring it up to 3 gallons (approx).
Brought to a boil and added DME. Then LME. Then added hops at the scheduled times.
Cooled in ice bath (close to 20 minutes). Poured wort in to fermenter which had 1.75 gallons water in it. Total volume was just under 5gals at this point.
Stirred with whisk for a couple minutes to add oxygen. Then dumped in starter.
I made my starter about 24 hours prior to brewing.

Wort reading prior to putting in fermenter was 1.191. After adding the remaining water, it dropped down to 1.048

Any help you guys can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Josh

 

[Gregscsu]

Your OG reading was inaccurate due to stratification within the fermenter. Your wort and top off water were not completely mixed causing your low reading.
At this point you can just use the recipe gravity of 1.080. Since you are brewing with extract this will be really close.
You will also want to leave that beer in the primary fermenter for at least 7 more days to let fermentation to complete, and by productsa to be cleaned up.

 

[BGJ223]

Your OG reading was inaccurate due to stratification within the fermenter. Your wort and top off water were not completely mixed causing your low reading.
At this point you can just use the recipe gravity of 1.080. Since you are brewing with extract this will be really close.
You will also want to leave that beer in the primary fermenter for at least 7 more days to let fermentation to complete, and by productsa to be cleaned up.

Now that I think of it, I can't be certain that I took the measurement before or after mixing the wort and water in the fermenter.

So even though I have no activity in the airlock, stuff is still happening?

 

[Gregscsu]

Stuff is most definately still going on.

DO NOT RUSH IT.

Patience is key in home brewing.

 

[BGJ223]

I am ready to be patient. I will let it sit in there until hell freezes over if I have to. I just want to make sure that I am doing things at the right times.
So I should wait until next Tuesday to bottle? Or this weekend. or next weekend? What would be the best bet?

 

[carnevoodoo]

Wait until it is done. There should be no krausen left on top and your hydrometer readings should be consistent over a period of a couple of days. I almost guarantee if you leave it for at least 14 days, these things will be fact.

 

[BGJ223]

Sounds good. I will check it in a couple days and see where I am at. Thank you for the help

 

[carnevoodoo]

Yeah, if your temperatures are not controlled, it'll ferment out super fast.

 

[Justibone]

You started it on Sunday, today is Wednesday... I wouldn't bottle it, at the earliest, until two weeks from *next* Sunday. Big beers need more time. Give the beer time, you'll be glad you did.

 

[patrck17]

That is a big ole beer. I'd let it ride for about 14 days in the primary then bottle and give it another 3 weeks. In the meantime maybe another brew session is in order?

 

[BGJ223]

Thank you everyone for the advice. Gonna let this brew sit in the fermenter.

 

[BGJ223]

Alright just took another gravity reading, and this time it was 1.014. Tasted the sample again, and it tastes pretty good.
I am starting to think that my initial gravity reading was correct at 1.050. Not sure how that happened, but we shall see how it all turns out. Gonna check the gravity again in a couple days and see if it moves anymore.

 

[Justibone]

Sounds good.

 

[Marsdude]

It sounds like you did OK with that first brew. I hope it comes out real tasty.

If you don't mind a bit of advice from someone who is still fairly new at this:

Take notes! It really has helped me to understand what I need to do to continue to improve my beers.

 

[BGJ223]

It sounds like you did OK with that first brew. I hope it comes out real tasty.

If you don't mind a bit of advice from someone who is still fairly new at this:

Take notes! It really has helped me to understand what I need to do to continue to improve my beers.

I couldn't agree with you more. I have been taking great notes, I include all the information pertaining to how I brewed the batch. Dates, times. I include current/future risks along with potential solutions.

 

[BGJ223]

Bottled this on 8/22. Tried a bottle last night, and it was pretty darn good. Still young, Heavily carbed, other than that no real complaints. Very Hoppy, no residual sweetness, great smell.
I probably should have left it in the fermenter for another week or two, I will toss that into the lessons learned bucket.
Will try another bottle next week and see how things are coming along.

 

[Justibone]

Bottled this on 8/22. Tried a bottle last night, and it was pretty darn good. Still young, Heavily carbed, other than that no real complaints. Very Hoppy, no residual sweetness, great smell.
I probably should have left it in the fermenter for another week or two, I will toss that into the lessons learned bucket.
Will try another bottle next week and see how things are coming along.

During the bottling process the yeast are metabolizing, which can throw the final flavor off by quite a bit. I'd recommend you hold your judgment on the fermenter business until the beer is fully carbed.

My brown sugar stout tasted good out of the fermenter, crappy after 1 week in the bottles, and better than ever after 3 weeks in bottles. The carbonation process can really throw flavors off if it isn't complete.