First Brew. Gravity Issues
Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2007 12:52 pm
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I'm totally new at this. During the past year my girlfriend and I have talked about brewing our own beer. So naturally on my birthday she had got us a 5 gallon glass carboy, the plastic bottles and keg from a Mr. Beer kit, a 5 gallon pot, Alexander's Sun Country Pale Malt Extract, Ironmaster American Light, a packet of dry yeast, Easy Clean sanitizer, priming sugar, directoins, and a zymurgy magizne.
We cleaned and sanitized the brew pot. Brought 3 gallons of purified water to a boil and added the Alexander's Sun Country Pale Malt Extract and the Ironmaster American Light. Brought it back to a rolling boil for an hour. While it boiled we read in the Zymurgy magizine about adding the yeast to a small amount of water to help disperse when pitched? After an hour of boiling we put the pot in ice water in the sink to cool. While it cooled we cleaned and sanitized the carboy and a funnel. Once cooled we poured the pot into the carboy using the funnel and added 2 gallons of purified water. Then we pitched the yeast. After a day foam started coming out of the airlock. Everday for about 5 days we removed the airlock from the stopper and cleaned the foam out and replaced the water with sanitized water. After about 5 days the foam stopped coming out of the airlock. We've read about transferring to a secondary after a week to clear the beer. So we bought a 6.5 gallon carboy to use to ferment for next time and used it this time for a secondary. We also purchased a hydrometer and got a reading of 1.018 when we racked to secondary. I don't think much but when racking to secondary we did get a little air. It sat in the secondary for 2 weeks now and I still get a gravity reading of 1.018. The homebrew store told me not to bottle untill the gravity is 1.010 or lower, but it hasn't changed in two weeks.
Any help would be appreciated. This is my first experience brewing my own beer.
P.S. After this batch is done and bottled I'd like to try a Spiced Pumpkin Ale for Thanksgiving. Any good recipes?
Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2007 12:52 pm
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I'm totally new at this. During the past year my girlfriend and I have talked about brewing our own beer. So naturally on my birthday she had got us a 5 gallon glass carboy, the plastic bottles and keg from a Mr. Beer kit, a 5 gallon pot, Alexander's Sun Country Pale Malt Extract, Ironmaster American Light, a packet of dry yeast, Easy Clean sanitizer, priming sugar, directoins, and a zymurgy magizne.
We cleaned and sanitized the brew pot. Brought 3 gallons of purified water to a boil and added the Alexander's Sun Country Pale Malt Extract and the Ironmaster American Light. Brought it back to a rolling boil for an hour. While it boiled we read in the Zymurgy magizine about adding the yeast to a small amount of water to help disperse when pitched? After an hour of boiling we put the pot in ice water in the sink to cool. While it cooled we cleaned and sanitized the carboy and a funnel. Once cooled we poured the pot into the carboy using the funnel and added 2 gallons of purified water. Then we pitched the yeast. After a day foam started coming out of the airlock. Everday for about 5 days we removed the airlock from the stopper and cleaned the foam out and replaced the water with sanitized water. After about 5 days the foam stopped coming out of the airlock. We've read about transferring to a secondary after a week to clear the beer. So we bought a 6.5 gallon carboy to use to ferment for next time and used it this time for a secondary. We also purchased a hydrometer and got a reading of 1.018 when we racked to secondary. I don't think much but when racking to secondary we did get a little air. It sat in the secondary for 2 weeks now and I still get a gravity reading of 1.018. The homebrew store told me not to bottle untill the gravity is 1.010 or lower, but it hasn't changed in two weeks.
Any help would be appreciated. This is my first experience brewing my own beer.
P.S. After this batch is done and bottled I'd like to try a Spiced Pumpkin Ale for Thanksgiving. Any good recipes?