Help meee

[Cwetherford]

I just brewed for the first time. I used a brewers best American cream ale recipe and kit... I followed the instructions down to a tee but for some reason I don't see this beer becoming a nice straw colored beer. It became a dark green color when I added the hops and it hasn't changed very much through the whole thing it has been 24 hours and it has lightened up a little but its no "straw" color.

 

[kapbrew13]

Patience. One advice about the Brewer's best kit I got from my lhbs is let it sit for 3 weeks then bottle. They were correct, at 2 weeks it was harsh. Atleast for my amber ale kit.

 

[jonmohno]

24 hrs. in the carboy is not going to give you a color gravity or anything. It has to ferment,condition and then be bottled then reconditioned before any judgment needs to be taken place. Patience.

 

[beninan]

I see it's your first post, so Welcome to the forums!

Now onto your question. As the old homebrewer's saying goes: RDWHAHB (Relax, don't worry, have a home brew), or in your case since it's your first beer, have a micro brew. I'm sure it will be fine. Give it time to ferment and let things settle out and do their thing. I'm sure you will be happy in the end.

Also, beers will always look a lot darker when in the carboy, because there is more mass to see though. If you pull a sample of it (and in not saying to do that, just leave it alone and let it do it's thing), it may be a lot lighter than you think.

 

[buffalobrewer]

The green will settle out in time. Let it rest. When you move it do it gently not to stir it back up.

 

[jonmohno]

Chances are your beer wont reach a full potential until after 2 months from birth,may as well get use to it, move on brew more drink more craft, learn to give it age, no such thing as instant beer as far as i know.From my short lived experience 2 months dude, its great!

 

[bcryan]

best move u ever made was coming to this website. there is some very knowledgeable people on here (not me) who have a great answer to your questions. have fun

 

[Cwetherford]

So how long should I let it sit in the carboy about 2 weeks? Then bottle or should I really do the 2nd fermentation? Does it really help the flavor that much?

 

[azscoob]

let it be in the primary for 3 weeks or so, then carefully rack it to your bottling bucket so you dont pull any gunk from the bottom, bottle it up and let them condition for another 3 weeks, chill a few for a week and enjoy!

In the mean time brew more beer, with that much lead time, you will be beerless before your next batch is ready. I would brew every week or two to build up a pipeline of beer so you have some to drink while the others condition.

 

[unionrdr]

A good rule of thumb is to let it reach FG,then in 2-3 days check it again. If the #'s are the same,let it sit another week or so to let the yeast clean up their by products & settle out to a slight haze. Then prime & bottle.

 

[azscoob]

I only secondary if I am making a fruit beer, or wood aging. I find it easier to ignore it for a few weeks or a month then keg it, the more times you move the beer the greater risk for oxidizing or infection. Thats just me thinking, loads of us always secondary without issue.

 

[Moonpile]

So how long should I let it sit in the carboy about 2 weeks? Then bottle or should I really do the 2nd fermentation? Does it really help the flavor that much?

Give it two to four weeks in the carboy then bottle. Do you have a hydrometer? You'll want to check the gravity before bottling to ensure that it's fermented out as far as you expected.

The directions might list an expected final gravity (FG). It should look something like 1.012, though the actual numbers may vary. If not a beer like this should probably be in the 1.006 – 1.012 range.

 

[HItransplant]

Also, I've never made a batch that looks the same in the fermenter as it does in a glass...

 

[Cwetherford]

I took a hydrometer reading right before I pitched the yeast. I don't understand it. It said 40 also 5%.

 

[unionrdr]

Forget about the ABV side,that's just a rough estimate. Read the side with the bigger numbers. 1.000 being water at 60F. Then 10,20,30,40,etc,with the smaller lines in between reading 2,4,6,8. So if you said the meniscus was at "40",then you'd read "1.040" as your OG.

 

[Cwetherford]

So when I get the fg I take the 2nd reDing and subtract the first then multiply by 131.5?

 

[HItransplant]

So when I get the fg I take the 2nd reDing and subtract the first then multiply by 131.5?

Not following.

It helps if you quote the post you are replying to so we have some context in which to place your question.

 

[grace1760]

So when I get the fg I take the 2nd reDing and subtract the first then multiply by 131.5?

You are describing a way to calculate ABV, which is determined by relative sugar content.

If your gravity reading (generally taken about 3 weeks from brew date) doesn't change over 2-3 days, then you know the sugar content of your beer is not changing (i.e. the yeast are done feasting). At this point, you are ready to bottle. By feeding the yeast some additional sugar (priming sugar, should be included with your kit, added to the bottling bucket), you've given them just enough fuel to generate the co2 needed to carbonate your beers. Folks seem to advise 3 weeks minimum for a typical beer.

I'd strongly suggest that you read Revvy's bottling post at least twice, as this helped me with my process significantly.