Hello!
I thought I wanted to share my first brewing experience so far with you and maybe you could share some thoughts too!
As a first brew I wanted to do something simple, so I went to my local homebrew store and bought two cans of Brewferm Christmas kit. As a yeast I used the supplied dry yeast.
Specs:
- 2 cans Brewferm Christmas extract
- 2 packs supplied dry yeast
- OG 1.065
- expected FG from manual 1.020
- no additional sugar
I brewed the kit per instructions expect I didn't rehydrate the yeast. Fermentation started after few hours, temperature was 73F. Airlock showed activity for 48hrs and then stopped. After a week I took a sample and gravity reading: 1.026 (hydrometer).
I swirled the fermentation bucket around and waited another week. Sample showed gravity reading 1.026. So I thought I had a stuck fermentation. Then I went to get a pack of Lalvin EC-1118 Champagne yeast. Rehydrated the yeast and pitched it into fermentation bucket.
A week went by and still no airlock activity and gravity reading of 1.026. So I figured that maybe there were some unfermentable sugars and went ahead and racked the beer after three days into secondary.
When racking the beer I saw some yeast rafts floating on top that weren't there before. After racking I took a gravity reading and it was 1.021! And now in the secondary I've got airlock activity maybe twice or more in minute.
I guess I should wait before I bottle? The kit instructions state that one should bottle the beer at 1.020 without priming sugar. I assume that the gravity could drop lower than 1.020?
Cheers!
I thought I wanted to share my first brewing experience so far with you and maybe you could share some thoughts too!
As a first brew I wanted to do something simple, so I went to my local homebrew store and bought two cans of Brewferm Christmas kit. As a yeast I used the supplied dry yeast.
Specs:
- 2 cans Brewferm Christmas extract
- 2 packs supplied dry yeast
- OG 1.065
- expected FG from manual 1.020
- no additional sugar
I brewed the kit per instructions expect I didn't rehydrate the yeast. Fermentation started after few hours, temperature was 73F. Airlock showed activity for 48hrs and then stopped. After a week I took a sample and gravity reading: 1.026 (hydrometer).
I swirled the fermentation bucket around and waited another week. Sample showed gravity reading 1.026. So I thought I had a stuck fermentation. Then I went to get a pack of Lalvin EC-1118 Champagne yeast. Rehydrated the yeast and pitched it into fermentation bucket.
A week went by and still no airlock activity and gravity reading of 1.026. So I figured that maybe there were some unfermentable sugars and went ahead and racked the beer after three days into secondary.
When racking the beer I saw some yeast rafts floating on top that weren't there before. After racking I took a gravity reading and it was 1.021! And now in the secondary I've got airlock activity maybe twice or more in minute.
I guess I should wait before I bottle? The kit instructions state that one should bottle the beer at 1.020 without priming sugar. I assume that the gravity could drop lower than 1.020?
Cheers!