I finally got everything in order and brewed my first batch of American Amber Ale. Everything went smooth. I followed the recipe for an American Amber Ale. Had an original gravity reading of 1.055 which according to recipe was spot on, tested at 2 weeks and got a gravity reading of 1.022. The recipe called for a week in primary and then 2 weeks in seconday and should be at 1.012. All bubbling in airlock has stopped. The guy at my local brew supply said that since I don't have a secondary fermenter I could just do 2 weeks in primary then bottle. I tasted when I tested and the beer tastes good, Should I let it go another week and retest before bottling?
First brew - need some advice
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chickypad
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I'll disagree with that, most of my beers are packaged around the 2 wk mark, but you should wait for stable gravity readings over a few days. It's okay to go a little longer until you get more experience with fermentatations. The beer should look clear with a layer of trub and yeast at the bottom.
Wldthang87
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My brewing brother!, my first brew brew I did was a Brewers best extract kit, American Amber, back in March, in the first two weeks my gravity points were almost the same as yours, then they dropped a few more points to what I was expecting, in the 3rd and 4th weeks, pretty much verbatim of what your going threw.
Did you record temperatures at the time of taking your gravity readings? My brew was kegged week 4, it matured in the keg. And at the 6-8 week mark tasted the best. Just as the keg was being finished. Always record the temperature and download one of the free temperature calculator compensation apps
Did you record temperatures at the time of taking your gravity readings? My brew was kegged week 4, it matured in the keg. And at the 6-8 week mark tasted the best. Just as the keg was being finished. Always record the temperature and download one of the free temperature calculator compensation apps
I am just speaking from my experience and I have found that my beers overall flavor and clarity are significantly reduced when I bottle at the 2 week mark. When I wait a week or more, the beer has a cleaner taste. You can bottle at the 2 week mark, but you may notice an improvement beyond 2 weeks.
Spartan300man
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You didn't specifically say, but was this an extract kit? It has been years since I did extract, but I recall people saying that extracts sometimes finish at a higher FG. If it was an all grain, the FG can be higher or lower based on mash temps and other factors. You will see a lot of people say that you don't need to transfer to a secondary, it just adds another opportunity for infection and oxidation. I am following that advice myself, except when I split the batch up to try different flavors or dry hopping variations.
Puddlethumper
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1. Don't bother with a secondary fermenter for anything you're holding for less than 3-4 weeks unless you need to free up the fermenter for another batch, want to try dry-hopping, adding fruit, or some other good reason.
2. NEVER decide anything about fermentation based on airlock activity. Airlocks lie. Hydrometers don't. Measure the SG of the beer then wait a day or so and measure again. If it is stable the beer is done fermenting and you can package it.
3. If the SG is higher than you want try sloshing the beer a bit and raise the temperature a degree or two for a few days. You might restart fermentation and get a few more points off the FG. A little warmer temp for the last couple of days can also help residual yeast to clean up any diacetyl that might be hanging around. (Fruity flavors)
4. You won't have off-flavors in your beer if you don't create them in the first place by poor temperature control. Invest in equipment to control fermentation temperatures. Then ferment your beer at the cooler end of the yeast temperature range during the first few days. Your beer will be ready to package in most cases inside of 2 weeks and will taste wonderful and clean. Holding most beers longer than that will become a complete waste of time. (Keep in mind that some beers do require aging/conditioning and you should be aware of this need when choosing which beers you want to make.)
Good luck and welcome to the obsession!
Cheers!
Thank you for all the advice. After multiple gravity reading that didn't change, I bottled my beer last night after approx. 3 weeks. The final gravity was higher than the recipe stated it would be, but I think the heat wave we had in So. California most likely had something to do with that, since I'm a newbie and was controlling temperature with a water bath and ice bottles. Now all I can do is think about what recipe I want to try next.
I hope it works out for you.
The danger of bottling before it is done fermenting is the potential bottle bombs if it decides to chew up that extra sugar. Put the bottles in a tub or something for a few weeks just in case.
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