frist batch of beer quetion

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baddagger

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well my frist brew has been in the primary for 3 week today.. and the beer still looks very dark.. now the beer is a raspberry wheat beer with citrus add's

now i added 1.5 pounds of raspberry puree in the primary... and im going to add a nother 1.5 pounds of puree in the secondary and 1-2 pound of frozen raspberry and might add some orange zest.... now with the beer being in the primary for 3 weeks should i move it to the secondary or should i wait a nother week?

here are soem pics i just took a few mins ago

PIC_0148.JPG
PIC_0150.JPG
 
oh im am going to check the fg for sure but i was more wondering on letting it age on the yeast cake to help let it clear up more if anything....

just did not knwo if the tht the beer would be better off letting it sit on yeast cake for a nother week then switching to the secondary to add the extra fruit or would it not make a diff of being in the primary one less week flavor wise sense i will probly have the batch sitting in the secondary at least 3 week or would 4 weeks help the fruit flavor come in better?
 
What I am far more concerned about than the fermentation time is the fact that you chose to name a beer after this guy:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frist

Nice dude!

@baddagger: I always let my beer sit in primary a minimum of 3-4 weeks before bottling/kegging or going to secondary. I find it let's the yeast clean up and the beer to mature a bit. I've yet to brew a beer with fruit, so I'm not sure when/if you should go to secondary to add it. The last beer I went to secondary on was in primary for five weeks before racking onto the dry hops. It's all about when you feel comfortable with gravity readings and tastes as to when you rack to secondary or bottle/keg.
 
well i just checked the gravity the og was 1.070 and now it is at 1.020 now how much alcohol is that about % wise.. i new there was a chart to show ..but i cant find it for some reason...


the beer tasted really wheaty... could not really taste the rasberry and had a very very very slight citrus in it but barly noticable. i thought i woudl tast alot more cause i put a pound and ahalf in the primary but im guessing the yeast must have ate it all up...... so im goign to let it sit for a nother week then im going to change it to the secondary and and 2 pounds of raspberrys and 1.5pounds of my left over raspberry puree that is frozen...

and i defently want to have a nice sweet citrus flavor so im goign to put in about 2oz of orange zest... now is that to much zest and woudl i be better to go with 1oz..


now what im goign to do take some water heat it up to 160 and then throw the stuff the fruit, puree, and zest in and let it sit @ 160 for a few mins to make sure that it is sterile... now should i put the water in the fruit,puree and zest is in or drain the water?
 
First of all... relax. Not really sure of what it could be. All I've seen is that you have a wheat based beer that has been fermenting for the past 3 weeks and you seemed worried about the raspberry flavor. Once again...relax. Also you are asking questions about a beer and haven't provided a recipe list so that others can decipher what your ingredients are. Things like grains/extract, hops, and yeast would be helpful in discerning as to what your FG might be. Is your beer based on a recipe or is it something you just came up with? Be advised that we members cannot give advice unless we know what your recipe consists of. So give some info.
 
6lb of wheat dme
.75lbs flaked oats
.50lbs pal malt (2-row)

2oz hallertau

.5oz orange peel
.25oz corriander seed


i stepped the flaked oats and pal malt for 30mins before boil

added the extract after when the water started to boil

threw in 1.25oz of hops at the beginning of the boil
added .75 oz 20mins before the end of the 60min boil
added orange peel 20mins before end of boil
added corriander seed 7 mins before end of boil
added 1.5lb of raspberry puree into fermentor
then put wort into fermentor

pitched yeast when wort was at about 70degrees
used WLP320 american hefeweizen ale yeast
 
Ok, as I said before, I'm inexperienced with fruit beers, but I'm guessing it's not much different from any other beer. At three weeks, your beer is 'green', that is, the flavors have not had adequate time to develop. Beer flavors benefit from aging, both in bulk and in bottles. That's why most of us ferment for a month or so and bottle condition for another month or so. This allows the beer to mature, the flavors to develop and meld together. No beer tastes the way you want it to after three weeks. I think this is one of those times ya need to RDW and let the beer go.... Give it a couple few more weeks in primary and then bottle. After it's in bottles for a few weeks, throw a couple in the fridge for a few days then try them.... My guess is you'll be happy with the result.
 
QUOTE=baddagger:
well my frist brew has been in the primary for 3 week today.. and the beer still looks very dark.. now the beer is a raspberry wheat beer with citrus add's

now i added 1.5 pounds of raspberry puree in the primary... and im going to add a nother 1.5 pounds of puree in the secondary and 1-2 pound of frozen raspberry and might add some orange zest.... now with the beer being in the primary for 3 weeks should i move it to the secondary or should i wait a nother week?

Okay, now we have the recipe and getting back to your original question. Based on my experience and just my opinion. Since it's been longer since my last post I would guess that your beer has been in there for about a month. You can go ahead and rack to secondary. But before you do take a gravity reading, and IF it is at or near your recipe's FG then take note. Also, if you decide to add the frozen raspberries in the secondary then I would add them first before racking the beer over. You should atleast heat them with about a cup of water to sterilize them thoroughly. Try and get the temp above 160F for about ten minutes, and stir it so that you don't have temp variations. Then let this cool to around the temp in your secondary. Either way your beer can be racked over to secondary if that's what you are wanting to do. Some people try to avoid the secondary step. But that all depends on what and how you want to brew. Most people use the secondary so that adjuncts can be added or to help clarify the beer. Others have totally eliminated the secondary with no ill effects to their finished beer. It depends on what you want to do. As with making a wheat beer and using a secondary be wary that some yeast will settle out and depending on if you are bottling you may not have enough yeast to carb the bottles. Not sure if you are wanting a hazy type wheat beer or something more on the lines of a Krystal wheat beer. BTW all beers when finished will appear darker in the primary. Your finished clarity will change depending on what method (bottles or keg) you decide to use for dispensing the beer. Aging the beer will allow to clarify too. That can be done in the secondary or by bottle conditioning. Hopefully this can help you some more. Just remember this is only my opinion and it is based on my experience. Some others will give you their opinions and by all means go with what will work for you. Cheers!
 
hey thanks for the info

i did move the beer over to the secondary on 7/4 i took 2 gravity readings... #1 at around week 3 wich came to be 1.020 and a nother one 6 days lattter and it was the same..
 
hey thanks for the info

i did move the beer over to the secondary on 7/4 i took 2 gravity readings... #1 at around week 3 wich came to be 1.020 and a nother one 6 days lattter and it was the same..

Hmmm.... 1.020 and it's been about 4 weeks? That Hefeweizen yeast should have attenuated down to atleast 1.012 or 1.010.
 
Hmmm.... 1.020 and it's been about 4 weeks? That Hefeweizen yeast should have attenuated down to atleast 1.012 or 1.010.

well i did add 1.5 pounds of raspberry puree after i took the gravity reading i belive so the og could have been higher...

and when i added the other 1.5lb puree and 2lbs of frozen raspberry it started to ferment again .. the air lock was going crazzy for a couple days like 1-2 bubbles every sec.
 
Give it a couple weeks in the secondary and then see what your gravity reading is. The yeasties appear to be eating again. Keep checking on it and take gravity readings the last 3 days of the second week. Like I stated in last post a Hefe yeast should have attenuated down to 1.012 or 1.010.
 
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