Check my progress?

[stormywsmn]

I appologize if this is repetitive. I know the last thread had a similar question, but I didn't want to hijack that one with my other questions.

So here goes...

10 days ago we made our first homebrew - IPA (Yeah!!). We goofed a little in that we did not cool the wort before adding it to the hot water and I don't think we properly aerated it before adding the yeast. Our house is kind of cool and impossible to keep a stable temp so it has fluctuated between 50-65 degrees. It is in a 5 gallon carboy and it took about 3 days to see any real activity. The Kruesen got really thick and it looked like it was going to blow off but it never did. I attached a fermentation lock about 4 days ago. Since then I have seen almost no activity but the hydro reading has gone down to 1.020. The kreusen is still very thick. Today when I took the hydro reading I noticed a funny smell, kind of like eggs but I tasted the brew and its actually pretty good - no egg flavor anyway. I don't know if the smell was coming from the container, the brew or the kreusen.

So anyway, can anyone give me any pointers or show me where I've gone wrong so far? I wanted to transfer to a secondary, but I was waiting for the kreusen to go away. I've read it needs to be bottled or at least off of the yeast cake by two weeks. What if the kreusen is still there? What should the hydro read before bottling?

Thanks in advance. I'm so excited and just want it to come out perfect

 

[Orfy]

I've read it needs to be bottled or at least off of the yeast cake by two weeks.

That is VERY bad advice. Every brew and situation is different. You need to wait until the krausen has dropped and the fermentation is just about finished. The cooler the ferment ion the longer it should take. The recipe you followed should have a guidline to the final gravity. It depends on the OG, the ingredients used and the yeast amongst there things. But for a standard IPA a FG of around 1008 - 1012 is reasonable.

50c is really to low to expect most ale yeast to perform well. It is a good temp for an extended secondary but you are almost getting down to lagering temps.

Temp fluctuation is not ideal when fermenting.
65c is probably ideal for most Ale yeasts.

 

[bradsul]

To help mitigate temperature fluctuations, try putting your fermenter in a large tub of water. The water is slow to heat and cool through the course of the day so it helps to keep the temperature fairly stable. You would have to test it out to see where it would keep the temperature in your own home however.