First Brew Ever's First Hydrometer Reading!!! WITH PICTURES!!!

[Kzang]

Well, I am pretty damn excited. Unfortunately, I didn't take original gravity. As many of you many know, I bought an ingredient kit from my local store for a German Oktoberfest style ALE. The beginning gravity range is 1.052-1.055. It doesn't have a stated final gravity range. The reading shows 1.18? Or is it 1.018? It is at the notch in the 1.00, and 1 small notch above the 20 mark...so I am guessing it is 1.018? (Edit: Should be corrected to 1.019)

It has been fermenting since August 8th. The color is a lightish orangish-copperish color. The clarity seems pretty clear? The photo doesn't really seem as clear, and seems somewhat darker so I took a picture outside.

It tastes pretty great. It seems to have a bit of a fruity note to it? It may be the star san that I didn't let dry on the outside and inside of the top of my cylinder. It seems to have a refreshing, crisp quality to it. It tastes pretty damn good, in my opinion.

Thoughts and comments highly appreciated!!

Edit: What should I look for taste wise with an Oktoberfest style ALE?

Edit2: My hydrometer is calibrated at 60F. The liquid should be approximately 68F. So the corrected reading should be 1.019.

 

[freisste]

I'm sure you are at 1.018 and not 1.18.

Ale vs lager: likely you won't be as crisp as a lager would be and you will likely have some "extra" flavors as ale yeast is rarely as clean as lager yeast. How much extra flavor depends on yeast strain and fermentation conditions.

If you like it, that is all that matters. Congrats on making beer. I'm sure you'll be enjoying it in a few weeks when football season starts.

 

[Kzang]

The yeast used was Munton's Premium Gold ale yeast, if that helps! I definitely can't wait to try it. Also, the fruitish flavor is kinda like golden delicious apple pie flavor, or maybe apricot flavor.

I definitely wish it had more pronounce flavors. I'm not totally sure, yet. The problem is that I have moved to more "bold" and complex beer flavors.

I have tried quite a few beer lately...not a complete list....but

Piraat
Allagash Tripel
Allagash Saison
River Rat's Moncks Corner Abbey Ale (A local brewery that started two-ish years ago) Pretty damn delicious.
3 Monts Amber Ale
Kronenbourg 1664
Southern Tier Imperial Compass (Sparkling ale...kinda weird experience)

and a lot more I can't remember off the top of my head. I did get a random german doublebock and some others that are waiting to be consumed!

 

[flars]

Couldn't open the link to the photos. You can download photos from your PC to HBT Photos for a more direct link.

I often do not take an OG reading for kit beers. If all the ingredients were added and the volumes are correct, the OG will be as the recipe specifies.

1.018 seems like your beer is well on its way. Could drop a few more points in another week. Hopefully it has not stalled there, or the recipe contained a high percentage of unfermentable sugars for a sweet malty flavor.

You don't need to sanitize your sample tube since the beer will not be going back into the fermentor. It is for tasting. Returning the sample would be a contamination risk.

Congratulations on your first.

 

[Kzang]

Hopefully, this works.... The recipe included two 3.3 lbs of CBW golden light LME, bag of crushed grains, 1 oz of willamette hops, 1 oz of hallertau hops, and 1 pack of munton's gold premium yeast.

 

[flars]

Hopefully, this works.... The recipe included two 3.3 lbs of CBW golden light malt extract, bag of crushed grains, 1 oz of willamette hops, 1 oz of hallertau hops, and 1 pack of munton's gold premium yeast.

The bag of grains may have contained a high amount of crystal or similar grain containing sugars which will not ferment out without mashing with another grain.

A little more time will not be detrimental to your beer though. I suspect it will drop to about 1.014. Even if it doesn't the beer will clear very nicely for bottling.

 

[Kzang]

I think I may let the temperature of my house raise a bit to 70F or 72F to maybe help jump start more fermentation for the day?

The munton's yeast works like 65F to 77F or around that if I can recall correctly.

 

[GrogNerd]

2nd the advice that, with extract kits, if you used all the extract and hit your volumes, your OG should be exactly what the kit says it will be.

with mashing all-grain, you could leave some sugars behind with the grains, but with extract, you've got a set amount of sugar you're mixing in.

also with extracts, there's the dreaded 1.020 curse. one reason may be stale extract, but there may be other factors.

once you've bottled and left it at 70° for 3 weeks, you can lager in the bottle. stick it in the fridge for a couple weeks/months.

and, btw, that beer looks beautiful. congrats and good luck with all your future brews. welcome to the obsession.

 

[Kzang]

Thank you! It is actually a lot clearer than what the picture shows.

Edit: On the other thought from a prior post....I cleaned and star san'ed the flask because I wasn't sure if I could get the flask filled completely with 1 thief. I actually undershot the first filling of the thief, and I had to re-dip it once emptying it into the flask, so I am glad I did clean the cylinder.

 

[Kzang]

Ok so I checked the gravity on the 19th and it was 1.018 corrected to 1.019. I checked it again yesterday, August 22, and it seems to basically the same spot, Maybe a little lower. I can't really tell.

If it did go down it would of went to 1.017 (uncorrected) but I'm kinda sure it didn't.

I broke my cylinder to test and had to test it in my thief. I will have to go to my local store and buy another cylinder.

Should I just go ahead and bottle it on Tuesday and I should be fine?

 

[GrogNerd]

I would say take another reading on Tuesday, if it hasn't changed go ahead and bottle

 

[fatcop]

The high end of Oktoberfest is 1.016 so you are not too far off. When you prime your bottles you might drop those final points with a little more carbonation then expected, but nothing to worry about IMOFWIW.