First time Secondary - does this sound right?

[bobbo]

I'm brewing my 4th batch, first time using a secondary. It's an IPA, and the gravity after I pitched the yeast and shook the heck out of it was 1.061. Activity had slowed and the krausen had fallen by the 5th day or so, but I didn't get the chance to rack until last night(day 9). After I got it in the secondary, the gravity read 1.019. I don't know what my final gravity should be - I'm guessing between 1.010 and 1.015. Should I have any trouble getting down to that range in the secondary? By the way, it tasted pretty good so I'm not too concerned - just want to make sure.

 

[Yooper]

It should drop a couple more points in the secondary but it depends on a variety of factors- like yeast, temperature, amount of unfermentables, etc. As long as it tastes good, though- that's the important thing!

 

[cweston]

It sounds to me like it would be very close to done, if the krausen fell 4 days before you racked it--it might get a point or two lower.

What is the yeast strain?

Is there a lot of crystal malt in the recipe?

Did you do a partial boil? Top off with tap water?
If a full boil, what did you do about aeration?

What was the fermentation temp?

Sorry to interrogate--but that's all info that is needed to estimate what the attenuation should be.

 

[Evan!]

The first handful of batches I did never got below 1.020. I wasn't concerned, since they were turning out okay, but I was talking to a friend who's the brewmaster at a local brewpub, and he was espousing the virtues of manual aeration. So I bought myself a $30 aeration kit from Austin Homebrew. Since then, I've gotten much better attenuation, and have no problem getting into the lower teens for my FG. I would highly recommend this course of action in the future. You may get a nother few points down in secondary, but it won't amount to much.

Ultimately, though, you have a 5.55% ABV beer, which isn't bad. Your attenuation so far is 67.74%...not spectacular, but not bad either, depending on your yeast strain.

The other thing that I cannot recommend enough is making HUGE yeast starters. I'm talking about 2L of water with 8oz of DME. This will ensure vigorous fermentation in most cases, and will help your attenuation. I also recommend adding yeast nutrients to the starter.

 

[bobbo]

Sorry to interrogate--but that's all info that is needed to estimate what the attenuation should be.

Not a problem! I wasn't sure what info would be useful.

What is the yeast strain?
Wyeast Irish Ale (1084, I think)

Is there a lot of crystal malt in the recipe?
1 lb of Briess 40L

Did you do a partial boil? Top off with tap water?
If a full boil, what did you do about aeration?
I did a partial boil, somewhere between 2.5 and 3 gallons by the end of the hour. Then I topped it off with boiled tap water. For aeration, I strained it into the fermenter through a sceen which was continually getting clogged, so it trickled and splashed in. Does that help aerate at all? Then, after that, I shook it up pretty good for a couple of minutes.

What was the fermentation temp?
The room was 70-72, but the sticker on my carboy read 74-76 when the fermentation was strongest

 

[cweston]

Wyeast says that that yeast attenuates at 71-75%, so you're a little below that range, but not egregiously. With that much crystal in there, it's not too surprising. As Evan says, a little more vigorous aeration would probably make the difference.

Unless you're sure there's an issue with your tap water, try topping off with unboiled tap water next time--boiling drives all the oxygen out of it.

 

[bobbo]

Unless you're sure there's an issue with your tap water, try topping off with unboiled tap water next time--boiling drives all the oxygen out of it.

Interesting... all the books say to boil it. I just assumed that meant there was stuff in most water that had to be killed off. It sure would be simpler if I didn't have to boil and cool my top-off water.

 

[TheJadedDog]

Hmmmm, now I'm thinking about getting that aeration kit, I typically get within the attenuation range, but it is often low. How long do you have to run those things before pitching?

 

[bobbo]

Wyeast says that that yeast attenuates at 71-75%, so you're a little below that range, but not egregiously.

Hmmm, I never paid much attention to the attenuation part of things. I just looked up the formula, and it looks like I'm at about 68.8%, which like you said is a little low. When I calculated in the FG for 71% attenuation, I get 1.0176 - so if it does drop another point or two, I'll be just barely in the correct range (I think). Is that correct?

 

[cweston]

Hmmmm, now I'm thinking about getting that aeration kit, I typically get within the attenuation range, but it is often low. How long do you have to run those things before pitching?

If it's an air system (aquarium pump), about 15-20 minutes.

If it's pure O2 from a tank, a few seconds.