Day 7 of my first brew

[Salty-Dawg]

Ok guys,

Today is day 7 of my first brew. Coopers Canadian Blonde extract. I kept it simple, no additions. My air-lock is at one bubble every 6 seconds.

I don't want to mess with it too much. I have not done anything since putting it in the fermenter. My temp has stayed around 67-69F the whole time.

My question is.... Should I check the specific gravity yet or just let roll a while longer ?

 

[Baldy246]

I am a fairly new to brewing myself and will be curious to hear some of this feedback.
I think I have done 6 batches now and usually use s04 yeast. I have never had airlock activity last for a week. I can tell you I've taken gravity readings after a week and fermentation has been completed. I can also tell you the beers that I have left in the primary for 2-3 weeks have had better ending results as far as taste and quality.
My advice would be to let it alone.

Cheers!

 

[Calder]

Leave it alone for another week. Opening it up to take a gravity reading is just another opportunity for contamination.

You have lots of airlock activity, so you know it is working. Wait until obvious activity has stopped, and then some before taking a reading.

 

[Hello]

I agree, leave it be. Airlock activity won't always tell you when the beer is done. I give it 10 days until I take a sample unless the krausen hasn't dropped.

 

[Salty-Dawg]

I agree, leave it be. Airlock activity won't always tell you when the beer is done. I give it 10 days until I take a sample unless the krausen hasn't dropped.

The thing is that I am using a fermenting bucket so I cannot see what is going on in there. I understand that Airlock activity is not the tell all but it's all I have to go by until I do an SG reading. My thought is to leave it alone for maybe another week and then check SG a couple of days in a row and see if it is done.

At that point I think it may be a good idea to let it sit a while longer to settle out before bottling.

What are your thoughts on that ?

 

[Hello]

I would wait until day 10 and open it up. I think it'll be okay.

 

[oogaboogachiefwalkingdeer]

New here too. I have brewed two extracts and five all grains. I have been letting sit three weeks with no secondary. I figure every time you fool with it is a chance to ruin it.

 

[troy2000]

I am a fairly new to brewing myself and will be curious to hear some of this feedback.
I think I have done 6 batches now and usually use s04 yeast. I have never had airlock activity last for a week. I can tell you I've taken gravity readings after a week and fermentation has been completed. I can also tell you the beers that I have left in the primary for 2-3 weeks have had better ending results as far as taste and quality.
My advice would be to let it alone.

Cheers!

I've only been brewing for a little over a year. But the routine that works for me is to leave a batch in my carboy for a solid four weeks; bottle it; and brew another batch the next day.

In between, the closest I come to messing with the beer is to reach behind it in my mini-fridge fermenter, to deposit or pull out another batch of rice wine...

 

[phyllobeddo]

I like to leave all my ales in the primary for at least three weeks, sometimes four if I get busy. I don't bother with checking gravity until I'm about to keg the batch. The yeast cake is usually quite compact by then as well.

 

[day_trippr]

Time is the enemy of "aroma", followed shortly by "flavor". At least for the good aromas and flavors.

I'm often pouring beers a few days past four weeks. Depends on the style. I could even knock a week or more off that if I "burst-carbed", but I'm not a fan.

For a wheat beer, for instance, 10 days from pitching I'm dry hopping, four days later I'm cold-crashing, two or three days later I'm kegging, and then two weeks for carbonation. Same thing for SMaSHes or face-melting IPAs. And if I have to yank a partial keg to get something really boisterous on-line when it's at its peak, that'll happen.

Otoh, a snail could keep up with my stouts. Months before they hit a glass. But they don't depend on hop aroma to make their mark...

Cheers!

 

[Darwin18]

Leave it alone. I'd let it ferment for a total of two - three weeks before you think about bottling it. In the mean time, brew up another batch.

 

[m00ps]

I would wait until day 10 and open it up. I think it'll be okay.

Haha, thats the exact amount of time I usually wait before checking on it. But its all to do with my brewing schedule. I'll brew on Friday and Saturday and bottle/check gravities during the week

 

[Psylocide]

Just brewed the same thing on 11/28 (added a lot more DME/sugar and hop-bursted and dry hopped), but same-ish.

I used SA-04 and it was done within 9 days. Check it on day ten... then check it day 12 and 14 for stability.

I got antsy and took more readings than needed, next time I won't even open the air lock until 10 days in (I checked gravity at day 3, lol). I was in the classic noob hurry and bottled on day 15 after cold crashing for 3 days.

Tastes great. Now let's see if I can make it 2 weeks before popping the top on one.

 

[ronjonacron]

I usually leave em in the primary for a few weeks for multiple reasons. 1) I'm lazy/busy. 2) I cold crash, so after a couple weeks I put the carboy in the fridge for 2 or 3 days. Pull the carboy out to where I will keg/bottle it and try to have it done the next day or two after it settles back out from the move from fridge to bottling/kegging area. Which is actually my dining room table right now, swmbo loooooooves it when we have a couple carboys sitting in the dining room for more than a couple days, hahaha

 

[Salty-Dawg]

Leave it alone. I'd let it ferment for a total of two - three weeks before you think about bottling it. In the mean time, brew up another batch.

That is exactly what I did.

I brewed a Belgian Wheat Beer with Orange peel and coriander. put it in the fermenter at 9:00pm

Used Safbrew WB-06 Yeast

OG was 1.042

I had activity within an hour or so. Checked it this morning and the blowoff tube was bubbling away.:rockin:

 

[Psylocide]

That is exactly what I did.

I brewed a Belgian Wheat Beer with Orange peel and coriander. put it in the fermenter at 9:00pm

Used Safbrew WB-06 Yeast

OG was 1.042

I had activity within an hour or so. Checked it this morning and the blowoff tube was bubbling away.:rockin:

What's really funny is, now that my "APA" that originally started out as a Coopers Canadian Blonde is bottled and carbing up, I could really care less about the stout that's been in primary since 11/23. Haven't touched it since 12/3.

Really cracks me up, it's like, I just had to get that other one bottled as fast as possible for some reason. Then I found out that I floccin' hate bottling and that Irish stout can sit in the fermenter for another 3 weeks for all I care.

 

[ronjonacron]

Great reason to start kegging! Right now I have a 4 tap setup with a total of 6 kegs so I can have some ready to go when one kicks.

 

[Psylocide]

Great reason to start kegging! Right now I have a 4 tap setup with a total of 6 kegs so I can have some ready to go when one kicks.

Can't yet... SWMBO only lets me have my wallet twice a month, and even then, it's in a supervised setting.

 

[Sailingeric]

I have two fermentor buckets and I bottle and brew one weekend for bucket 1 and the next weekend I bottle and brew for bucket 2. It has keep a steady supply building up and will give each beer 2 weeks in the fermentor. I have been doing mostly 2.5 gallon batches with a couple 5 gallon ones thrown in there.

 

[ronjonacron]

Can't yet... SWMBO only lets me have my wallet twice a month, and even then, it's in a supervised setting.

If you use PayPal it comes straight out of your account and you only need username and password. Usually take a day or two to show on on the account too

With that said, I'm just now getting to the point where the wiggle room in our budget is a bit more tolerant of my impulse buys. The last year has been nice since swmbo started working.

Stick with bottling and keep her happy!! Mine would even help me bottle most of the time.

 

[jbb3]

I agree, leave it be. Airlock activity won't always tell you when the beer is done. I give it 10 days until I take a sample unless the krausen hasn't dropped.

+1... let it go 10 days then take a reading. 3 to 4 days layer, take another reading to confirm it's finished and plan your bottling.

Congrats on you're first brew!!

 

[Salty-Dawg]

Update on my first brew !

Airlock activity has come to a stop. FG = 1.006

Beer is somewhat clear and has a great taste !

ABV = 4.45%

Plan to transfer to bottling bucket tomorrow and bottling.

I plan to let it carbonate for two weeks then put it in the fridge.

Looking forward to giving it a try. :rockin:

Please feel free to give me your tights on the results based on the info here.