did I bottle too soon?

[TheCollector]

OG was 10.056 and before I bottled last night it showed an FG of 10.020. Does that sound about right? The beer had 1 week primary and 1 week secondary. Thanks guys

 

[Yooper]

It's not uncommon for some beers, especially extract batches, to finish at 1.020. If it stayed at 1.020 over the course of at least three days, there shouldn't be any reason to worry at all.

 

[ImNoExpert]

Depends on the beer, yeast, methods, etc.

Sounds too high to me but can't be sure without more info.

 

[BlackGoat]

First, you're adding an extra 0 to your gravity, it should be 1.0XX ...10 would be a gigantic pile of concentrated sugar. Second, there is no way for us to know whether that is a proper FG without a lot of other information, including what your recipe was and what yeast you used. More importantly, the only way to tell if it was ready to bottle would be to have done gravity checks a day or two apart when it was done to determine if the gravity was stable. The directions that come with kits tell you to do the one week primary, one week secondary but that isn't really great practice as you'll find mentioned lots of times in these forums. That said, if it was an extract batch (extract tends can often finish up a bit on the sweeter side) an FG of 1.020 for a batch that had an OG of 1.056 doesn't sound too far off so I'm guessing you'll be fine.

 

[BigFloyd]

The directions that come with kits tell you to do the one week primary, one week secondary but that isn't really great practice as you'll find mentioned lots of times in these forums.

I wish that I had a dollar for every time that I see someone post that they followed kit directions for 1 week primary and 1 or 2 weeks secondary. It's usually in connection with some sort of problem they've encountered.

Stupid kit directions.

 

[Calder]

I just don't buy the extract = 1.020 myth. Yes, it seems there have been a lot of extract beers that have ended up around 1.020, but I really believe there are explanations for every case, if we had enough information.

In this case, we have no information. Based on what little information we have I would say you should be worried about excess carbonation and possible bottle bombs. Monitor the bottles and if you start getting gushers when opening them, store the rest in a fridge to halt any further yeast action.

Now 1.020 is about 65% attenuation. Some yeasts will end there, and if you used one you are probably OK. Some of those yeasts are Windsor, and Coopers and Muntons basic yeasts.

 

[unionrdr]

I've never had Cooper's yeast do that on an average gravity beer like this one. I've rehydrated it & got 1.05X beers down to 1.010 regularly.
I think it's possible if the little 7g packet were pitched dry,certainly. Swirl up some yeast in the primary & warm it a couple degrees. In a about a day,it should start fermenting again. you def got some points to knock off.

 

[jonmohno]

Assuming your fermentaion temps were not too low and consistant readings indicate its not dropping then your good. Just make shure they dont start overcarbonting in the bottles after a few weeks and a few days in the fridge.
I think there are some certain malt extracts that have less fermentables maybe particularly the imported stuff. Ive used domestic malt extract that attenuates pretty good mostly. I dont however like making bigger beers with all or mostly malt extract in my experience thats where It got into the too sweet range for me.

The one-2 time I used coopers yeast it worked like a beast-use it because it had a higer temp range and it was 70in the summer in the basement-however I didnt think it made the beer taste much better than 05 or anyother neutral strain. That yeast fermented fast and hard and left a mess out of the blowoff jar. Its attenuation was slightly higher. I got an 1.086 gravity down to 1.016 with Coopers my other batch was 1.056 ending at 1.011. Slightly higher than normal and in the range I would have liked them to be also.

Ive also never had anything too much over 1.010 with Windsor yeast. It makes nice milds too. Havet had made anything over 1.05ish for using that yeast either,which then yes maybe I can see that yeast attenuating a little less in that case or other circumstances.

 

[unionrdr]

In a side by side experiment I did, the 7g Cooper's yeast rehydrated worked virtually the same as US-05 used dry. The only real difference is that the Cooper's ale yeast produces a non-descript fruity ester that the US-05 doesn't. I've also noticed that Midwest & NB both sell Cooper's ale yeast in the larger 15g packets that are a lot fresher than the ones in the can's false lids. The Cooper's yeast is also high flocculation,compared to medium/low for US-05.

 

[TheCollector]

Sorry guys its Austin homebrew supplies "budget pale ale" + the one percent abv boost. My first mini-mash batch. The website says OG. =1.056 F.G. = 1.013 Approximately 5.6%ABV Approximately 187 Cal / 12 oz Makes 5 US gallons

Fermentable Sugars: Mini-Mash - Liquid: 5lb Liquid Malt Extract, 3.5 lb Base Grains, 1 lb Specialty Grains

The yeast was mauribrew dry yeast

 

[Hello]

The only way to know if you bottled too soon is whether or not you can tell us if you had consistent hydro readings over a couple of days. Did you?

These kits that tell people to rack to secondary are lame. Even my first three kits didn't say that but had they, I wouldn't have. These forums taught me some important info right away and one thing was racking to secondary is pointless unless you're adding fruit. The beer may clear a bit more but the risk of oxidation and infection isn't worth it.

That said, although your FG wasn't right where it should have been, it is hard to tell if you bottled too soon. Know this, if the yeast is still working you will have bottle bombs. Please take caution and wrap the bottles up (put trash bags around the boxes) and keep them out of the way of any person, pets, or mother in laws. If the yeast was done then it was done and the consistent hydrometer readings will be the likely sign.

 

[TheCollector]

Well I only did 1 FG reading and I kinda had to bottle it that night (last Thursday night /friday morning) I had seen no airlock action in a day or 2....sigh....I know better than a 2 week fermentation anyway... Should have been more patient. What course of action do I take if its overcarbing? Put it in the fridge to cold crash the yeast?

 

[TheCollector]

It wasn't a Cooper kit though btw

 

[DrNecropolis]

I have the budget IPA mini mash with the 1% boost in my carboy right now..

Thursday was 2 weeks in primary and I plan on bottling it this coming up Friday..

It was 1.062 and should finish (according to directions) around 1.013.. so I figured I would give it plenty of time..

Hopefully we will both be OK.. seems to be better to wait and bottle instead of having to rush to bottle.

The extra time won't cause an issue, whereas shaving the time can cause an issue..

 

[TheCollector]

Thanks for your comments all! And hopefully it won't blow up! The budget IPA is next on my list to brew.... I knew better than to bottle this quick was just in a rush

 

[DrNecropolis]

As we say in the saltwater fish hobby

"Nothing good happens fast and nothing that happens fast is good"