I'm still in the middle of my first batch and wondering about a few things. After going through the first part of the brew I'm sure I've made some mistakes, but I'm wondering a little about how bad those mistakes may or may not have been. It appears after reading a bit that any of those might be half my inexperience and half trusting the instructions on the kit!
So the details:
Kit: Barons Pale Ale
OG: 1.049
primary: plastic bucket with airlock
There were 4 days of vigorous fermentation (temp = 20.5C), which then died off and the temperature dropped a bit (17C). I brought the temperature of the room back up a bit after that to 20C but I see now that probably had nothing to do with anything.
On Day 5, I took a gravity reading and got 1.018. The kit said to transfer to secondary after it hit 1.020 but I left it one more day. Day 6 (last night), I took a reading and got 1.014 and decided to transfer.
Secondary: glass carboy
This is where my concerns about how well or poorly it's going to turn out come from.
I have an auto-siphon, but I definitely was not as careful about transferring it as I could have been, I now see. I did not have the beer transferring below the water line, although it wasn't dropping straight from the top of the carboy, maybe a couple of inches above the water line. How badly have I oxidized this batch?
As well, I ended up pulling an inch or two of sediment with the siphon (I know, I know. So what was the point of secondarying again?). Is it normal to pull some anyway? I also topped up to the neck with a couple litres of distilled water (per the kit instructions), which I immediately second-guessed. Should I be OK because I used distilled?
There still appears to be a slight amount of fermentation going on (A tiny bubble rising in the carboy every 20 seconds or so), but not so much that it's activating the airlock. I also have those pale "fish flake" like things at the top, which I'm led to understand are either yeast colonies or hop remnants. I'm reasonably confident in my sanitization techniques.
How long should I wait before priming and bottling? Two weeks from this point seems to be what I'm reading, but I'm just looking for a little clarification.
So the details:
Kit: Barons Pale Ale
OG: 1.049
primary: plastic bucket with airlock
There were 4 days of vigorous fermentation (temp = 20.5C), which then died off and the temperature dropped a bit (17C). I brought the temperature of the room back up a bit after that to 20C but I see now that probably had nothing to do with anything.
On Day 5, I took a gravity reading and got 1.018. The kit said to transfer to secondary after it hit 1.020 but I left it one more day. Day 6 (last night), I took a reading and got 1.014 and decided to transfer.
Secondary: glass carboy
This is where my concerns about how well or poorly it's going to turn out come from.
I have an auto-siphon, but I definitely was not as careful about transferring it as I could have been, I now see. I did not have the beer transferring below the water line, although it wasn't dropping straight from the top of the carboy, maybe a couple of inches above the water line. How badly have I oxidized this batch?
As well, I ended up pulling an inch or two of sediment with the siphon (I know, I know. So what was the point of secondarying again?). Is it normal to pull some anyway? I also topped up to the neck with a couple litres of distilled water (per the kit instructions), which I immediately second-guessed. Should I be OK because I used distilled?
There still appears to be a slight amount of fermentation going on (A tiny bubble rising in the carboy every 20 seconds or so), but not so much that it's activating the airlock. I also have those pale "fish flake" like things at the top, which I'm led to understand are either yeast colonies or hop remnants. I'm reasonably confident in my sanitization techniques.
How long should I wait before priming and bottling? Two weeks from this point seems to be what I'm reading, but I'm just looking for a little clarification.