Brewing my first IPA - Couple questions about fermentation

[Snoogles]

Hey guys, Just started home brewing and very excited. Looking forward to learning a lot and brewing alot I just brewed up my first batch and I altered the recipe a bit so I have some questions about fermentation times...

I started off with a Muntons Gold IPA extract kit and added
1 Lb of light malt extract
1 Lb of Honey
2 oz hops (forget the kind, they smelled like heaven though, let me tell you)

First of all, after cooling the wort down and dumping the water into my fermenter bucket everything was too hot so it had to sit for another hour or two before I put the yeast in...I didn't airate it any more (didn't really know that it needed to be airated before pitching the yeast) so hopefully that didn't cause any issues but I'm a noob and freaking out about everything hah.

So I checked the gravity and believe it said 1.054 (this means nothing to me) hopefully that's decent and hopefully i checked it right

ANYWAY main question is, since I added the extra sugar and malt how long should I ferment it? The instructions said something like 7 days but I'm sure it will need to be longer because I altered the recipe. What do I want my final gravity to be at? What are the benefits of giving it extra time to ferment? Also, should I follow the recommended bottling time or should that be changed because I altered the recipe as well? and my final question, will I need to alter the amount of priming sugar that the Muntons Gold recipe called for? Sorry for all the questions!

 

[remman4]

Let it ferment for three weeks then start taking gravity measurements when it is stable for three consecutive days it is done and you can bottle

Same amount of priming sugar

 

[jmprdood]

Relax bro, you're makin' beer! The hydrometer reading let's yo know how much sugar and other non-fermentables are in solution - 1.054 should give you about 6% ABV when it finishes fermenting.

Let it go for at least a couple of weeks as this will let the yeast do it's thing and it will clear up. You can bottle once you get steady readings on your hydrometer for 3 consecutive days, but 2-3 weeks in primary is recommended here.

~2/3 cup of priming sugar for 5G is pretty standard - tho' this may vary based on style of beer.

Welcome to the board and hobby!

Cheers!

 

[Snoogles]

Alright guys it's been 3 weeks and I've taken my first reading and maybe I'm doing something wrong (very possible) but it seems to be no where near where it should be.

If I'm reading this right I'm at 1.020 and SG was 1.054 so the gravity is currently around 4.5% Give or take. That's where it should be according to my instructions...if I didn't add over a pound of honey and a pound of light malt extract.


Is this a possible "stuck fermenting" scenario? Someone HALP I'm don't wanna explode bottles

 

[Snoogles]

I posted on here, not sure what happened, maybe it had to be approved because I posted a picture in it but I just need to know whether I should bottle today or not, I'm worried I have a stuck fermentation problem. It's been 3 weeks and when I checked the gravity it was 1.020 which if I did the math correct means that its 4.5% (started at 1.054) Given the extra pound of honey and pound of malt extract the final gravity should be much higher... Any idea what I should do? How do I know if I have stuck fermentation? Maybe my yeast wasn't good or fresh? Maybe its because I didn't aerate the beer enough before I pitched the yeast?

 

[Snoogles]

OH and here's the image (not sure if maybe I was reading it wrong) http://i.imgur.com/uyVcd.jpg

 

[Calder]

Looks a little cloudy to me. Might want to leave it another week. The clearer it is going into the bottle, the less sediment you will have in the bottle. Leaving it will not hurt it.

1.054 to 1.020; attenuation seems low at 63%, especially with a pound of honey in it (honey will help lower the FG). But if the yeast was Muntons regular, that might be it, since I think that is a low attenuating yeast.

I don't know what temperature you have it at, if around 60 F or lower, the yeast may have gone dormant and not finished. It might be worth getting the beer to a warmer location for a week to see if it goes any further.

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

extract brews will often stall around 1.02, especially those using liquid extract. so that may be your FG. i do agree with Calder that you want to wait until the beer is clear, or close to clear before packaging, but if your gravity is stable, you're good to bottle at any time.

 

[Snoogles]

Hmm, alright guys, thanks for the info!! I'll try to bring it to a warmer room and let it sit for a week. So extract brews sometimes stall at 1.02? Does that mean that most of that honey that I added didn't get converted to alcohol? Will the beer be super sweet now? If it "stalled out" will I have an issue with the priming sugar being activated?

Should I consider pitching more yeast? I noticed there was a bunch of stuff stuck to the side of the bucket, should I try and knock that back into the beer? Wow that was a lot of questions. Sorry

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

Hmm, alright guys, thanks for the info!! I'll try to bring it to a warmer room and let it sit for a week. So extract brews sometimes stall at 1.02? Does that mean that most of that honey that I added didn't get converted to alcohol? Will the beer be super sweet now? If it "stalled out" will I have an issue with the priming sugar being activated?

Should I consider pitching more yeast? I noticed there was a bunch of stuff stuck to the side of the bucket, should I try and knock that back into the beer? Wow that was a lot of questions. Sorry

no, the honey should ferment almost completely out. and the yeast aren't stalled, it's a fermentability thing with some extracts, the yeast will be fine at bottling.

 

[Snoogles]

Awesome So do you guys think I Should I consider pitching more yeast? And about the stuff stuck on the side of the bucket, should I try and knock that back into the beer? I wasn't sure if that had yeast in it and if it would help to be in the beer.

 

[Calder]

Don't mess with it. More yeast probably will not help. Boost the temp and see what happens.

 

[Snoogles]

Alright guys well...I boosted the temp as much as i could. I placed it in the warmest closet in my house which is 64 or so degrees...maybe slightly less at times and it's been 10 days. Just checked the gravity. 1.018 or so...So not much has happened, I tasted it and it's really sugary and malty. Do I have any other options or do I just have to bottle and use more yeast next time?

 

[Yooper]

Alright guys well...I boosted the temp as much as i could. I placed it in the warmest closet in my house which is 64 or so degrees...maybe slightly less at times and it's been 10 days. Just checked the gravity. 1.018 or so...So not much has happened, I tasted it and it's really sugary and malty. Do I have any other options or do I just have to bottle and use more yeast next time?

If it's the same, it's done.

I'd consider more yeast next time, but the cause of a too-sweet beer is usually it being underhopped.