First ever brew Cream of Three

[Puddlethumper]

Is it possible this brew is finished? It has been 8 days since pitching and hardly any airlock activity anymore. I don't have a thief to get a sample to check gravity. I guess I could use the racking cane and siphon off a little to check it. Or should I just wait til this weekend and take a sample while transferring to bottling bucket?

The only way to know for certain is to take an SG sample. If you don't have a hydrometer I would strongly suggest that you invest in one, a sampling jar and wine thief as absolutely necessary brewing tools.

With that in mind: Airlocks lie. Do not, under any circumstances, form opinions or make decisions based on airlock activity. Period. If you can't take gravity samples then do increase the temperature by a couple of degrees (70-72F) and leave the beer alone for another week. In most cases the beer will have finished and be safe to bottle. Better yet, buy a hydrometer and sample jar and find out what the gravity is. Then post your recipe, fermentation time and temp and gravity reading here. There are some pretty knowlegable people here who can help take a guess with you.

Cheers!

 

[snail71]

Bottled this one up on Saturday. I grabbed a sample in the test jar while transferring to bottling bucket. FG down to 1.005. I could not believe how great this tasted straight out of the fermentor. I had a huge amount of trub. So much that I only ended up with 46 - 12 ounce bottles. I can't wait for this bottle condition so I can try it carbed up.

 

[snail71]

Finally got to drink my first brew. It turned out great . What's even better is that SWMBO liked it as well and she usually only goes for fruit beers or something like Mich Ultra. I will be brewing this one again for sure.

 

[HomeDrewBrew]

Would Pale Ale malt be a wise choice with this recipe?.
Just curious if anyones tried it at all for the 2 row sub.

 

[Puddlethumper]

Would Pale Ale malt be a wise choice with this recipe?.
Just curious if anyones tried it at all for the 2 row sub.

It would be an interesting experiment. Pale Ale Malt is usually a little darker than Domestic 2 Row and will have a little more candy/sweetness to it. The resulting beer would probably be a little sweeter and a point or two darker. I'm not sure I would care for it in this recipe because part of the appeal is the dryness that lends a sort of refreshing crispness to the beer. But the old YMMV jumps up here as everyone has their own take on what they like so it may produce a wonderful beer for some palettes.

If you decide to make up a batch please post the results here as I, for one, would be very interested in the outcome.

Cheers!