Can it really be ready after 8 days?

[AnthonyHopkins]

Hello!

I am brewing my third Youngs American IPA kit - and looking for some advice.

The first 2 i used tap water, and a healthy dose of blind ambition.

They were just about drinkable. This time ive gone for bottled water. i figure 90+% of this thing is water, so might as well use good water. (The tap water here is like drinking from a swimming pool)

When i brewed the first two, i struggled to keep consistent temperatures - as my house is quite cold. This time I placed the FV into a trug for the primary, filled it with water and added an aquarium heater. it was working perfectly at around 21c, until someone in my house decided it was cold enough to crank the heating on, which meant ive seen that the temps (of the trug of water) that the FV is in - reached around 24.5c - and possibly a little over 25 at times.

for a few days it bubbled furiously, like a witches cauldron.

8 days in (started 25.10.20) and the airlock is now not bubbling at all.

OG: 1.050

Current: 1.010

The guide says to dry hop at 1.010 or below - and shoot for a target SG of 1.00.

Ive checked the airlock seal it tight, and sat for over 10minutes staring at it, nothing happens.

so my question (finally, im asking it..) is - what to do?

Should i sit it out longer because 8 days is really short, or is it likely that having it at a higher temperature has just sped the whole thing up, and its time to dry hop early and have a potentially not great beer because ive over cooked it.

Im weary of dry hopping too soon, and losing the hop aroma because they end up floating like a turd for a week - but similarly, if the beer has done all its going to do for now and is entirely inactive, i don't think it helps for it to sit there, and stagnate in primary? instead i could hop it to high heaven, and prepare to move it to secondary.



Hopefully someone here has some ideas/experience with this situation!


Thanks.

 

[Jag75]

Hey Anthony welcome to HBT! .

Some will tell you bottle when its done some will tell you let it sit and clean up . I'm on the leave it sit side. My beers stay in the fv for 3 weeks . If you bottle it will help with limiting sediment in your bottles.

As for your fermenting temp try and stay within the yeasts recommendation. The first 3-5 days are important as its the bulk of fermentation. If temp rises a tad after that its fine. I let it come up to room temp at the tail end of fermentation for clean up .

Dry hop 3-5 days out from packaging. In my experience I've found the hop profile brighter / fresher this way. Sitting at 1.010 this sounds about done . If you check with a hydrometer 3 days apart and get the same reading its done. Just make sure its done before bottling.

Check out the forum because there's tons of great info. Find out what works for you.

Oh , I almost forgot ...stay away from doing secondaries

 

[Holden Caulfield]

At 1.050 OG ales can ferment out in just a few days depending on the yeast. After which the yeast will clean up some of their byproducts over the next several days to a week. As above, some leave it for a few weeks, others don't. I tend to package my ales after 2 weeks. Fermentation is usually complete in 5-7 days, and then I just let the beer sit for about another week to ensure everything is cleaned up. Lagers take significantly longer due to the low temperatures.

I am not an expert on dry hopping, but my thoughts are that you should be able to dry hop now without worry of losing aroma as there is no more CO2 being produced to scrub it out and you can package after your dry hop plan is completed.

 

[AnthonyHopkins]

Thanks Jag & Holden,

Everything i ever read on the forums errs on the side of caution and says "wait" I think in line with both of your advice - Its a good idea to let it sit for another 3 days, see if the SG has moved, and if not - dry hop for 3-5, and then secondary/bottle.

Oh , I almost forgot ...stay away from doing secondaries

The reason i was going to move to secondary is because its the only way ive ever done it, and syphoning to 30 odd bottles from my FV (glorified bucket with no tap) is a bit of a nightmare, - even with the autosyphon. (also part of the reason its been a year or two since i last did this. 2 weeks of waiting, for 45mins of spillages and fear of oxygenating it and making cardboard flavoured beer!)

The first time i used bottles (from the secondary no less, i feel you shaking your heads in despair..) I put them all in a dishwasher, and then let them all soak in a strong steriliser, and then rinsed everything as thoroughly as i could - but quite a few of the bottles obviously still had impurities in, and i ended up throwing away half the beers because i got paranoid i was going to poison people.

My options are either put it all into a pressure keg that I have and then drink from that as a secondary, OR try bottling again.

Would you recommend biting the bullet and binning the pressure keg and going straight to bottles? Ive never done that before.

 

[AnthonyHopkins]

Also thank you for the greeting and thanks for having me here! I've read loads intermittently over the years, but never had anything to contribute. My first brew attempt was in 2016.

We are just about to enter another lockdown in the UK, so as soon as this one is bottled, i think im going to try the next brew straight away. I need a hobby in lieu of a job!