KansasCyclist
Member
First off I just want to thank everyone in this forum, I've been lurking here for about a month and I can't believe the amount of useful information I've gleaned. Made my first two brewing days go relatively smoothly and hopefully I'll end up with some very good beer. Which leads me to my questions:
I brewed a Midwest Irish Red Ale on 1/8 and a Midwest Amarillo Pale Ale on 1/17. Since I'm getting close to that 3 week mark for the Irish Red I decided to pop both lids off and take gravity readings and a taste tonight. The Red started at 1.045 and is now at 1.011, perfect. The Pale Ale started around 1.052 ish and is now at 1.016-8 ish, recipe says it should end between 1.012-1.014.
When I tasted them tonight the red had a good body but smelled and tasted of apples, which from what I've read means it's young beer that just needs to mature. The Pale Ale tasted GREAT, good hoppy start, smooth body, great citrusy smell and taste, once it's carbonated it'll be excellent.
I had planned on bottling the Red on Saturday (3 weeks in primary) and the Pale Ale the following weekend but now I'm thinking about doing exactly the opposite. What I'm wondering is if I'm better off letting the Red age in the primary longer to mellow out or if putting it in bottles for 3 weeks will serve the same purpose. My other thought is to just leave both in until next weekend and bottle both (4 weeks in primary for the Red, 3 weeks in primary for the Pale Ale). If I do go ahead and bottle the Pale Ale this weekend am I going to run the risk of bottle bombs since I'm still a little high on my FG? It tasted so good now I'm looking forward to drinking it and don't want any of that hoppy bite to go away in the next few weeks so I thought maybe getting it in bottles right away would be the way to go.
Any advice would be appreciated as I'm brand new at this.
Thanks in advance, I appreciate your time.
I brewed a Midwest Irish Red Ale on 1/8 and a Midwest Amarillo Pale Ale on 1/17. Since I'm getting close to that 3 week mark for the Irish Red I decided to pop both lids off and take gravity readings and a taste tonight. The Red started at 1.045 and is now at 1.011, perfect. The Pale Ale started around 1.052 ish and is now at 1.016-8 ish, recipe says it should end between 1.012-1.014.
When I tasted them tonight the red had a good body but smelled and tasted of apples, which from what I've read means it's young beer that just needs to mature. The Pale Ale tasted GREAT, good hoppy start, smooth body, great citrusy smell and taste, once it's carbonated it'll be excellent.
I had planned on bottling the Red on Saturday (3 weeks in primary) and the Pale Ale the following weekend but now I'm thinking about doing exactly the opposite. What I'm wondering is if I'm better off letting the Red age in the primary longer to mellow out or if putting it in bottles for 3 weeks will serve the same purpose. My other thought is to just leave both in until next weekend and bottle both (4 weeks in primary for the Red, 3 weeks in primary for the Pale Ale). If I do go ahead and bottle the Pale Ale this weekend am I going to run the risk of bottle bombs since I'm still a little high on my FG? It tasted so good now I'm looking forward to drinking it and don't want any of that hoppy bite to go away in the next few weeks so I thought maybe getting it in bottles right away would be the way to go.
Any advice would be appreciated as I'm brand new at this.
Thanks in advance, I appreciate your time.
