Confused on when to bottle. My 1st batch

[CBUDGO]

Just what i was afraid of. No or very little alcohol content in my beer.

It's beautiful though. the bottle opens with a nice, kssh. Pours nice with a great head some lace on the glass when swirled. Smells great, good mouth feel and taste is relatively hoppy but not too heavy. Only problem? No hooch!!

I never got an OG because i poured my just cooled wort right into a glass fermentation vessel. I took 3 readings after the obvious fermenting action slowed down and the were all 1.018, i think. I'll take a read from a bottle tonight.

It may have been the yeast in the kit sucked.

I'll chuck it and try again in the Fall.

I'll be sticking with the store bought for a while.

 

[rifraf]

Extract brew? How much base malt/extract went in. If you are at 1.018 then there is alcohol in there.

 

[CBUDGO]

from my post #26

FG is 1.018 it's been in the fermenter for a month. it's been at 1.018 for 2 to 3 weeks.

the kit targets 1.012 to 1. 014 for FG.

 

[rifraf]

from my post #26

FG is 1.018 it's been in the fermenter for a month. it's been at 1.018 for 2 to 3 weeks.

the kit targets 1.012 to 1. 014 for FG.

Right but I doubt it was 1.018 when it first went into your fermentor. The fact that it carbonated shows you had viable yeast. If you know how much extract went in we can estimate OG

 

[CBUDGO]

It was an IPA kit with two cans of concentrate and one packet of dry yeast. Sorry i dont have the exact quantities it was a True Brew IPA kit. the Maestro series i believe

 

[rifraf]

It was an IPA kit with two cans of concentrate and one packet of dry yeast. Sorry i dont have the exact quantities it was a True Brew IPA kit. the Maestro series i believe

That's probably about 6.5 lbs of liquid malt, which is an og of about 1.048. Your beer is probably in the 4.5% range. Don't dump!

 

[CaptnCully]

CBUDGO;
Don't dump it man!! You've got something there that you have made with your own two hands! Like rifraf said you do have alcohol in your beer.. At the very lowest you prob started @ 1.035, I have not seen many kits lower than that.. But if you still insist on getting rid of it then send it to me for PROPER DISPOSAL

 

[willy_mugobeer]

Don't use your bottling bucket as a fermenter.

Curious as to why? (Other than pipeline management issues, i.e. you may want to bottle while you have another batch in primary fermentation.)

I have two buckets that both double as primary fermenters and bottling buckets...seems to work great for me, I'm running a batch through the cycle every week or two.

 

[CBUDGO]

OK OK, I'll toss back a few tonight and see if I can get a buzz going.

Thanks for the encouragement and input.

Cheers

 

[rifraf]

OK OK, I'll toss back a few tonight and see if I can get a buzz going.

Thanks for the encouragement and input.

Cheers

No problem! The nice thing about extract is that it's really easy to predict OG, because you're basically assured a certain amount of sugar. As long as you to off to the right amount you're pretty much golden. Keep brewing

 

[Hernando]

You would really ptich a beer because you can't detect the alcohol in it? I always found those beers to be the best ones because they sneak up on you. Think twice before you orphan a beer and if you need to I'll give your beer a foster home.

Hell I made a messed up patch that came out to 2.6%ABV and didn't toss it. Why? Because it still has flavor; more flavor than most macro brewed American light pilsners these days. I drink these "near beers" when I am on-call and need to keep my senses intact. Is it my favorite beer, Hell no. But, it is beer and beer I made nonetheless. With that being said, this is your beer and if you choose to dump it because it didn't meet your expectations, then that is your right. But keep in mind that we all make beers that dont come out as we expected. Some for the better some for worse but the majority still enjoy what we make and take pride in it and still enjoy a beer even if it faulters short of our expectations.

Cheers!

 

[Trokair]

Curious as to why? (Other than pipeline management issues, i.e. you may want to bottle while you have another batch in primary fermentation.)

I have two buckets that both double as primary fermenters and bottling buckets...seems to work great for me, I'm running a batch through the cycle every week or two.

The spigot on a bottling bucket is a very easy place to get air/infection from. Especially if you get a pressure buildup and the force moves the spigot.

Or so I've heard. Personally I'm in love with glass carboys. Using a plastic bucket would remove some of the awesome for me. Like to watch my beer work

 

[CBUDGO]

All is looking pretty good. I had a couple myself and I really like them. and I believe I can notice some alcohol also. A friend and a couple of family members have also given it thumbs up. I'll bring it to my two experts, one who's a very experienced home brewer and get their input this weekend.

That's the real test.

I was so expecting a first batch failure, I guess i was looking for trouble.

Cheers,

 

[FourCornersCorey]

It really all depends on how long you want it to ferment. It won't hurt to let it sit longer.