First Brew

[tccoog10]

Wife got me the Northern Brewer starter kit Chinook IPA as a Christmas gift. Krausen fell this morning and I transferred to secondary tonight, but have been reading that there is really no advantage to moving from primary. Still need to dry hop, but was hoping to get some input from the vets on my timeline going forward. Pic below

 

[BigMack]

That picture isn't loading for me, so can't comment on that. As for a timeline, dry hopping for different lengths can give you different results. Here is a cool experiment on the subject http://brulosophy.com/2015/10/26/dry-hop-length-long-vs-short-exbeeriment-results/

Personally I like to dry hop for about 4 days and then keg. So I would recommend a short dry hop and then bottling. After bottling give it about 2 weeks and they should be good to go.

And yes, no need for secondary on an IPA.

 

[ncbrewer]

For standard gravity beers, most brewers seem to leave it in the primary for 2 - 4 weeks - I usually do 3. But you want to be positive it's finished fermenting before bottling. Two days before bottling day, take a gravity sample. On bottling day, take another. If the gravity is the same, and somewhere around the predicted FG, and it's clear or slightly misty, it's ready to bottle. If not, wait a few more days and check again. Not everybody does this, but it's a good practice for safety reasons. You can get bottle bombs if you bottle before fermentation is finished.

Try to keep the beer at 70F or above for conditioning. If it's cooler, carbonation will take longer. I go for 3 weeks at 70 if possible.

 

[tccoog10]

Let's try the picture again.

Left is post-racking, right is primary. Being stored around 63 or so in dark garage closet.

 

[alexacuna]

Looks good! one of the big concerns is infection if you're not dry hopping or infusing, but sometimes i'll do it to try and clear out some trub.

 

[tccoog10]

I am going to dry hop early next week, as I will have a full day on the 15th for bottling.

 

[tccoog10]

So I kept this beer in primary until 2 days after the Krausen fell, then transferred to secondary. Was preparing to dry hop, and just got my hydrometer in, so I attempted to take a gravity reading. Came out to about 1.010. Am I just testing incorrectly or is it possible that I just brewed an O'Doul's IPA?

 

[slym2none]

1.010 is pretty dry - what was your OG???

 

[tccoog10]

Didn't get my hydrometer in until yesterday, so I couldn't take an OG reading.

 

[slym2none]

Did the instructions of the kit give you a range? I'm going to guess it was supposed to be around 1.060 or so... if that's the case, then 1.010 is great, that's about 6.5% ABV.

 

[tccoog10]

Instructions didn't come with an OG, but found online of 1.053. So about 5.5 ABV. I just didn't understand how the calculations were done. Feel much better now.

 

[slym2none]

Excellent!



Also, 1.010 might not be done, but if not, it's close. Take another reading in three days. If it hasn't changed, it's done.

 

[k-moe]

I just bottled a batch of this today. My measured OG was 1.060, and measured FG was 1.010 after 16 days. Definitely go ahead and take a few FG readings before bottling just to be sure that it's done.

 

[Sailingeric]

That looks like a lot of head space for secondary. Skip next time. Welcome to the hobby. This is a great place to ask questions, no one will put you down.

 

[tccoog10]

It's bottling day! Cold crashed since yesterday morning, had today off, so might as well get it done. I'll let y'all know how it turns out.

 

[tccoog10]

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Moment of truth. Put this bottle in the fridge last night. Here goes nothing.

 

[eadavis80]

Congrats on the debut brew!

 

[CUrchin]

Well? Did it taste like beer? Or did it kill you and we'll never hear from you again?

 

[tccoog10]

Welp......I'm officially hooked. This turned out WAY better than I was expecting. I mean, it's not Pliny or anything, but I am really happy with how it turned out.