Fermentation reading

[Gareth Collier]

Have this 6% kit fermenting for 7 days now just wondering thi is the reading after 7 days does this wed longer as I have usually had this settle off in the yellow saying bottle been getting this reading now advice would be great as not sure what this means. Does it need longer

 

[davidabcd]

Sounds like you've made at least a few batches so I'd recommend that you ignore the colors and words from now on and go by what the reading on the hydrometer says. Looks like a final gravity of 1.016, if I'm not mistaken. I can't tell if that means your beer is done or not because some beers have a lower FG when done and some have a higher one. It depends on a few factors which we don't have to get into yet.

Most recipes that I've seen tell you what the OG and FG should be. That info is nice to have but not vital. If you take multiple gravity readings with a sanitized hydrometer over three days, for example, the beer is done fermenting if there is no change in the reading.

In the future, once you know that fermentation has begun, I would just leave the beer alone for two weeks, meaning don't take any readings. Then a couple or three to ensure your FG has been reached and then it's safe to bottle.

 

[RM-MN]

Some beer recipes and some choices of yeast will never ferment out to be in the yellow "time to bottle" because some extract/grains combination will leave you with unfermentable sugars and some varieties of yeast have naturally lower attenuation. One should always take more than one hydrometer reading over a couple of days to verify that the gravity of the beer is near the expected final gravity and no longer changing before bottling.

 

[Gareth Collier]

So would you recommend to check it tomorrow and day after if not moved will it be ok to keg thanks guys for you advice

 

[balrog]

I would recommend waiting another week and stop messing with it.

 

[RM-MN]

So would you recommend to check it tomorrow and day after if not moved will it be ok to keg thanks guys for you advice

Kegging gives you more leeway than bottling because if it continues to ferment in the keg you can release some of the excess pressure. Bottles can explode from the pressure if the beer continues to ferment and build pressure. It is still better to wait. With more time in the fermenter you let more of the yeast and other sediment settle out there instead of in the keg and the beer will begin to mature in the fermenter. With less sediment in the keg you will get clean pours sooner and better beer to drink with more maturity. I probably wouldn't check it again until day 10. If it matches today's reading exactly, go ahead and keg if you want. It won't hurt the beer to stay in the fermenter longer but waiting is hard.