First AG need yeast help

[brantley]

Hi all,

Just brewed my first AG batch on Friday (2 days ago). It was a Dry Irish Stout, and the OG was 1.039. My damn thermometer broke during the boil, so I had to rely on an old turkey meat thermometer to take the temperature of the cooled wort. It was <80F when I pitched the yeast (Safale-S-04, dry yeast). It's fermenting in my bathtub in a water bath with some ice bottles to keep it within temp range (64-75F), which it is. It began bubbling like crazy after about 10 hours, but I woke up this morning and it's going less and the film that was forming on the head is now gone. What should I do? Thanks for any help/suggestions

 

[ron,ar]

That sounds fairly normally, you know you didn;t kill your yeast by the fac that it started fermentation The OG sounds kinda low, did you have a target OG?

 

[Mikethepoolguy]

Whats the SG now? It's probably almost done. Fast, yeah, but not unheard of.

 

[SailorTodd]

I've had fermentations go that fast as well. Doesn't seem like anything is particularly wrong. Concur that you should take a gravity reading now and see where you stand.

Congrats on the first AG. Enjoy the results.

 

[brantley]

Thanks for the replies guys. Went to my LHBS to see if I needed to repitch, and he suggested I just wait another 7 days or so, see how it progresses, and take a gravity reading then. @ron, the target OG was 1.042, so I was just a little short with 1.039. Quick question that y'all might know the answer to. I only took a gravity reading of my wort pre-boil. I didn't take one after. Would the gravity reading differ between pre-boil and post-boil? And if so, how? Thanks again. This forum has been a life/beer saver!

 

[Mikethepoolguy]

Thanks for the replies guys. Went to my LHBS to see if I needed to repitch, and he suggested I just wait another 7 days or so, see how it progresses, and take a gravity reading then. @ron, the target OG was 1.042, so I was just a little short with 1.039. Quick question that y'all might know the answer to. I only took a gravity reading of my wort pre-boil. I didn't take one after. Would the gravity reading differ between pre-boil and post-boil? And if so, how? Thanks again. This forum has been a life/beer saver!

Of course it matters! You boiled off a certain amount of water, increasing the SG by concentrating the wort. The measurement after boiling is the OG. Confusing yes

 

[brantley]

Ah, okay, so my "OG" was probably higher than the 1.039 pre-boil. I guess that's good since the recipe was for 1.042. Thanks mikethepoolguy.