First Time Brewer Needs Help . . .

[DaytonFlyer]

Ok, a little over a week ago i asked if it was to early to bottle since it had stopped fermenting. Most of you said to leave it for at least anther week, so i left it for another week and a half. its now about day 18 since it started fermenting.

I had originally stated that my start sg was 1.050 and a week ago it was 1.018, now when i posted this someone stated that i should see a end sg of under 1.010, i just measured it again it it was dead on 1.018 again, 1 1/2 weeks after the the other one. Does this mean that its done doing its thing and that i'm ready to bottle?

(fyi its a wheat beer, using coopers liquid malt and a bag of dry wheat and the standard yeast that came with the kit)

Also, another question i'm going to do an initial wash of my beer bottles in the dish washer is it ok to use cascade? I'm still going to use that sterilizing wash.

 

[EamusCatuli]

Im no expert, but if its stuck at that gravity it most likely wont move, it really depends on the beer though. Your recipe should have had an approx. final gravity? it sounds like you are okay to bottle, but wait to see what more experienced people say.

As for the dishwasher, i dont even put any detergent in it. Just run your hottest setting, most likely pots & pans, and the water and heat gets hot enough to kill anything. Does the job, and it also works great to get off labels!

 

[RICLARK]

Wheat beer usually done Fermenting in about 4 days, Then you let it sit for 3-5 days and usually dont secondary, when you are unsure if something is done fermenting.....For example if you brewed on Saturday take a gravity reading the following wednesday, take another thursday and a final one on friday. If you get the same reading all three days it is done, and with a wheat beer just rack and bottle, Some people secondary there hefe but a lot dont since secondary is for clearing and hefes are cloudy.

Also for your dishwasher question, Lots of people on this site say no to the dishwasher Detergent but in my case It is all I use because im lazy, I rinse the bottles out after drinking wash them in the dishwasher and heated dry them.

 

[Orfy]

I have no experience with wheat beers and I don't know what "Dry wheat" is.
But 1018 from 1050 sounds too high.

Have you tried agitating the brew?
What temperature is it at?
What yeast did you use?

 

[Poindexter]

I used to use my dishwasher for bottle cleaning duties, but I had some gushers.

For initial wash I am back to 48 hour soak in OxyClean, bottle brush, excellent rinse, then disinfectant of choice.

I think the concensus of those of us burned by the DW is it doesn't do a real good job of cleaning crud out of the bottles.

Remember one drop if crud visible to the naked eye is billions and billions of bacteria.

 

[DaytonFlyer]

I have no experience with wheat beers and I don't know what "Dry wheat" is.
But 1018 from 1050 sounds too high.

Have you tried agitating the brew?
What temperature is it at?
What yeast did you use?

Yes, i agitated it twice took the bucket and rolled it around, this was a 1 1/2 weeks ago when i took the sg and it was 1018, today i took the sg and it was still 1018.

The "Dry Wheat" was a bag of dry wheat something that came with the kit very fine almost like a cross between priming sugar and sand.

The temperature started at about 64 for the first 2 days (which i know is 2 degrees under wath it should be) but it started fermentation in under 12 hours. It was later moved for the rest of its life (another 2 weeks and 2 days) to aother location where it stayed consistanly at 68 degrees.

The yeast that was used was included with the coopers liquid malt. There was no # on the package just sayed Coopers Yeast.

But hopefully i didn;t make beer bombs because it is now all bottled. But i would assume that after a week of the sg not changing and 2 agitations that the yeast was done doing what it was doing. But what do i know this is my first batch ever.

If this one turns out bad, i already have a German Octoberfest that i'm brewing tomorrow. So if you have any pointers for that, that would be great. Thanks in advance

 

[BlindLemonLars]

I think the concensus of those of us burned by the DW is it doesn't do a real good job of cleaning crud out of the bottles.

I wouldn't trust my dishwasher to CLEAN my bottles. However, it does a nice job of sanitizing bottles that are already clean.

 

[hootman]

I don't mean to hijack the thread just have a quick question. When you use a dishwasher to sanitize the bottles do you have them laying down or have the mouth of bottles pointing down somehow?

 

[RICLARK]

I don't mean to hijack the thread just have a quick question. When you use a dishwasher to sanitize the bottles do you have them laying down or have the mouth of bottles pointing down somehow?

Stand them upside down on the little posts.Not much water gets in but the stuff that does will run out and the Heated dry is good for sanatizing.

 

[WhyTee]

I also use the DW to sanatize. If they're bottles I get from friends I run the bottle-brush through them and clean them pretty well. If they're my bottles, after I pour my beer I rinse them out pretty well and throw them in the dishwasher with some dishes and store them. When i'm ready to bottle I run them through the heat cycle in the DW again and just pull them out as i'm bottling. Also, I store the bottles in those big containers you can get at walmart for like 4 dollars each which keeps the sun off them and should prevent a giant mess in case I ever create bottle bombs

 

[9/9]

Back on the original topic, I posted not too long ago with almost the exact same numbers, an OG of 1.050 and a seemingly stuck FG of 1.018.

Unfortunately, no one really was able to tell me how to get the gravity down (besides the warmings/swirling suggestions, which I did) and weather or not it would be dangerous to bottle at this point.

Sorry I can't help.

 

[IndyPABrewGuy]

Back on the original topic, I posted not too long ago with almost the exact same numbers, an OG of 1.050 and a seemingly stuck FG of 1.018.

Unfortunately, no one really was able to tell me how to get the gravity down (besides the warmings/swirling suggestions, which I did) and weather or not it would be dangerous to bottle at this point.

Sorry I can't help.

Bottle it.

I just bottled a Porter that had an OG of 1.061 and got stuck at 1.018, maybe a shade lower. Extract brews tent to not ferment out as much and leave you with a higher than expected FG. This has happended to me throughout all of my brews. I think I've hit my FG twice. Now I've been within a couple of points of my FG (maybe +.003 or something), which could be atributed to temp, the extract, etc.

I would say that if it hasn't moved in a week and a half, and you've done everything but "shake it like a salt shaker", you should be fine, unless your projected FG was 1.009 or something. I'll put it this way. I'd bottle it.

Cheers,

 

[9/9]

Bottle it.

I just bottled a Porter that had an OG of 1.061 and got stuck at 1.018, maybe a shade lower. Extract brews tent to not ferment out as much and leave you with a higher than expected FG. This has happended to me throughout all of my brews. I think I've hit my FG twice. Now I've been within a couple of points of my FG (maybe +.003 or something), which could be atributed to temp, the extract, etc.

I would say that if it hasn't moved in a week and a half, and you've done everything but "shake it like a salt shaker", you should be fine, unless your projected FG was 1.009 or something. I'll put it this way. I'd bottle it.

Cheers,

I was right with you until the end there. The expect FG was 1.010.

 

[BierMuncher]

Terminal gravity is terminal gravity.

If the wort didn't get aerated properly, the yeast could have konked out.

It's time to bottle.

 

[9/9]

Terminal gravity is terminal gravity.

If the wort didn't get aerated properly, the yeast could have konked out.

It's time to bottle.

Thanks. It has only been a couple of weeks, so I still plan on giving it one more (since I was basically planning three to start with).

I thought I had aerated well, but I am a n00b at this. Live and learn, I suppose.