Help I'm new and need help!!!

[slifeapotomous]

I am new to home brewing and am trying to read books, online threads, magazines and use the guys at the brew supply store and still have questions.

1. With my last batch after flame out I noticed "floaties" in my wart. It looks like snow flakes. I was using a recipie off line which had approximately #3 grains and #6 LME and used 3 oz hops throughout a 60 minute boil. Does anyone know what this is and am I even brewing correctly.

2. My final gravities have been low on my last several batches so reading online I found I could use dextrose. It said not to exceed 5% of my total grain bill. Does this include the LME or is it just the grains that I steep?

3. I am using a 6 gallon glass carboy for my primary and a second for my secondary. Making 5 gallon batches do I need to worry about oxygen during my secondary. I am also dry hopping and the hops are floating on the top creating what I would guess as a barrier protecting the beer underneath. (I am being mindful when racking to the secondary to not airate the beer)

I am sure I will come up with more questions as I progress. I am on my third brew now and plan to bottle in 7 days. Luckily I have produced 2 other beers that I enjoy and what I have given to family and friends seems to be well received. I want to make sure I am doing this correctly and just havent been lucky my last 2 batches.

1. Chocolate Rasberry Stout
2. "Citrus" IPA only using hops which turned out scarily close to the Heavy Seas, Loose Cannon.
3. DIPA - to be determined.

 

[Yooper]

3. I am using a 6 gallon glass carboy for my primary and a second for my secondary. Making 5 gallon batches do I need to worry about oxygen during my secondary. I am also dry hopping and the hops are floating on the top creating what I would guess as a barrier protecting the beer underneath. (I am being mindful when racking to the secondary to not airate the beer)

1. Sounds like "hot break". I get lots of it, and it looks like egg drop soup to me. That's perfectly normal, and you want a hot break because it means the boiled wort coagulated some of the proteins for you, and they'll drop to the bottom during fermentation, leaving you a clearer beer.

2. I don't understand. I think you mean your final gravities have been too high, not low? If the beer is finishing above 1.020, it's possible to sub some corn sugar for some of the malt, but I wouldn't. I'd fix the problem with the beer by working on yeast health instead of thinning out and drying out the beer.

3. I don't usually use a secondary, but a large headspace is not ideal after fermentation stops. Can you leave the beer in the original fermenter and then not rack to a new vessel? That would be ideal if you don't have a clearing vessel in the correct size. Or get a 5 gallon carboy if you want to rack to a clearing vessel after fermentation is over.

 

[theonetrueruss]

1) read more stuff on this site
2) there is always bunches of floaties in the wort after boiling and cooling... this is not a problem. Whatever bad luck you have is not this
3) It sounds like you are using extract kits with some steeping grains. The vast amount of your sugar is from the extract. Unless the water volume is wrong or you left a bunch of extract in the jar/can/bottle then you are actually hitting the gravity the kit says. Most likely you are topping off with water and it isn't getting mixed fully.

It sounds like you are doing just fine. Just keep on brewing and reading and it will all become more clear.

 

[Dan]

I am sure I will come up with more questions as I progress. I am on my third brew now and plan to bottle in 7 days. Luckily I have produced 2 other beers that I enjoy and what I have given to family and friends seems to be well received. I want to make sure I am doing this correctly and just havent been lucky my last 2 batches.

This doesn't make sense. Three batches total, the first two you enjoy and they are well received by your family and friends but you just haven't been lucky on those batches?

Sounds like you've been very "lucky" to me.

FWIW, I think you're doing just fine. Do have to ask another question. How long are you fermenting?

 

[bottlebomber]

This doesn't make sense. Three batches total, the first two you enjoy and they are well received by your family and friends but you just haven't been lucky on those batches?

Sounds like you've been very "lucky" to me.

FWIW, I think you're doing just fine. Do have to ask another question. How long are you fermenting?

He wants to make sure it isn't just luck that they luckily enjoyed them

 

[slifeapotomous]

Havent is a typo. I meant I wanted to make sure I was doing this right and just didn't get lucky my first 2 times.

I am also fermenting for a total of 14 days. Primary for 4 racking to a secondary, dry hopping and fermenting for another 10 days. My first batch I bottled my second I kegged, which I liked except for it makes it more difficult to give out my home bore.

 

[Dan]

When you say your final gravity is low, are you talking the specific gravity after the boil or after the fermentation?

 

[likwidbliss]

Enjoyment is free beer/

I will agree that you seem to be doing fine. Get more batches under your belt.

 

[slifeapotomous]

Both my OG and FG are low so my alcohol % has been low. Not complaining too much, it just means I get to enjoy more of my brew before inebriation. All of my beers have been around 4-4.5%.

 

[Yooper]

Both my OG and FG are low so my alcohol % has been low. Not complaining too much, it just means I get to enjoy more of my brew before inebriation. All of my beers have been around 4-4.5%.

Can you give a typical recipe with the OG and FG you measured? We can double check and see if it's accurate or if there is an issue.

 

[slifeapotomous]

My last batch my measured OG was 1.036 and my measured final gravity after total of 14 days fermentation was 1.01

another question I thought of as I am reading more and notice the use of dextrose, what effect does the time during the boil have when it is added.

 

[slifeapotomous]

Alright, crisis averted I believe. Being the new guy and taking the above advice of reading more on this site I realize my specific gravity readings may be incorrect because I am topping off my fermenter. I am going to solve this problem with a lager brew pot and less topping off.

 

[frankieboy007]

Be sure to check your wort temp when you do your gravity check, the higher the temp, the lower your gravity will read. Most hydrometers come with a chart showing how many gravity points to add if your temp is, say, 90, 100, etc. A true OG reading will be achieved when the wort is closer to between 60-70 deg.

And also, when asking for advice, having your grain bill or fermentables listed is really helpful to us who don't know what you are brewing. Hope this helps!

 

[gcdowd]

My last batch my measured OG was 1.036 and my measured final gravity after total of 14 days fermentation was 1.01

another question I thought of as I am reading more and notice the use of dextrose, what effect does the time during the boil have when it is added.

It does not matter when you add dextrose, the yeast will find it. However, by adding dextrose you are just upping your abv and thinning out your beer. If you want a higher FG, you want something like maltodextrin, which is basically unfermentable and serves to add body to your beer.

 

[slifeapotomous]

Be sure to check your wort temp when you do your gravity check, the higher the temp, the lower your gravity will read. Most hydrometers come with a chart showing how many gravity points to add if your temp is, say, 90, 100, etc. A true OG reading will be achieved when the wort is closer to between 60-70 deg.

And also, when asking for advice, having your grain bill or fermentables listed is really helpful to us who don't know what you are brewing. Hope this helps!

I will make sure to add this from now on should have thought of that first. Thank you for all of your help everyone.

 

[slifeapotomous]

Alright I need more help. I am 2 days into fermenting what is supposed to be my apricot wheet. I am having what I think is going to be a big problem. Here's the recipie.

1 lb 2 row pale malt
1 lb malted wheat
3 lbs pale liquid extract
3 lbs liquid wheat extract
0.5 lbs candied sugar added at boil

1.5 oz cascade hops added @ 60, 30, and 5 minutes. 0.5 oz each addition.

Wyeast wheat yeast I forget the number ill have to look it up

So here's the problem. It has been a very active fermentation from go. My blow off tube had co2 bubbling in my cup 2 hrs after adding yeast. The temp quickly rose to 78 it was cooled then cooled to 66 in a bathtub of water. Today my wife (whose pregnant and has a hypersensitive nose) says the house smells like rotten eggs. If I smell close to the blow off cup I notice a banana smell as well as a pretty strong sulfer smell.

I am worried the batch is ruined what happened?

 

[thisoneguy]

Some yeasts throw off sulfur smells during fermentation. Ride it out... it should go away.

 

[slifeapotomous]

Some yeasts throw off sulfur smells during fermentation. Ride it out... it should go away.

Another question. I had planned on racking to my secondary tomorrow. I still have a strong fermentation. I am assuming I should let it fo until it settels down correct.

 

[duboman]

Another question. I had planned on racking to my secondary tomorrow. I still have a strong fermentation. I am assuming I should let it fo until it settels down correct.

You don't transfer a fermenting beer off the yeast until fermentation is done. You verify it is done by taking gravity readings and this is generally not even done before 7-10 days and even 2 weeks. You want the same reading over a few days.

 

[jeffd10]

You don't transfer a fermenting beer off the yeast until fermentation is done. You verify it is done by taking gravity readings and this is generally not even done before 7-10 days and even 2 weeks. You want the same reading over a few days.

+1

I'm the 21 day primary guy...People say thats a long time, it's just the way I do it... but racking after 4 days just seems way too short, the 5 golden rules to brewing

Sanitation
Good consistant temps
Healthy Yeast
Patience
Sanitation


Get you processes nailed, temps controlled and you are going to make great beer all the time

 

[shahan]

Can i use bud light aluminum bottles to bottle my beer? ?

 

[duboman]

+1

I'm the 21 day primary guy...People say thats a long time, it's just the way I do it... but racking after 4 days just seems way too short, the 5 golden rules to brewing

Sanitation
Good consistant temps
Healthy Yeast
Patience
Sanitation


Get you processes nailed, temps controlled and you are going to make great beer all the time

There is no definitive number of days really, it's just important to NOT move the beer prior to the completion of fermentation, I personally keep my beer in primary for 3-4 weeks and very rarely if ever use a secondary unless I am bulk conditioning or dry hopping(and I know you can do this in the primary as well, I just prefer not to)