Hydrometer says my beer is 1.01 at 18 degrees C after 72 hours

[BangladeshBrewer]

This is my first batch.

I pitched the yeast US-05 too hot at 31 degrees C. I had to get away for the weekend and I was short of time. I had used Glucoamylase following the mash, at the required temperature, for a hour. The ambient temperature here in the brewing room is 18-20 degrees C day and night.

The mix was 4 KG of crushed barley and 1KG of rolled oat flakes. It was in a 30 litre kettle with about 22 litres of liquid at the end (guess).

The fermenting air lock liquid had some condensation going up the tube from the kettle, and a few little bubbles just hanging around in the airlock. When I moved it away some spilled and it foamed up madly. It smelled of beer that you might have dry on your hands. I had left some hydrogen peroxide in that airlock water. I don't know if that made a difference.

There is "scum" around the high tide mark of the kettle.

The beer smells lovely. It is very dark and cloudy. It looks like milk tea.

I put the airlock back on. During the process of sampling for the hydrometer I sanitized everything so as not to create a problem.

Some places I read that I am done now, with a reading of 1.01. But I'm so inexperienced I don't know what to expect.

 

[IslandLizard]

Congrats with your first brew!

a reading of 1.01.

Is your current SG 1.010? Or 1.013, or 1.016, or 1.019?
That third (last) decimal is crucial, especially at that (low) gravity. 1.010 and 1.019 tell 2 entire different stories.

What was your OG?

Have you checked your hydrometer for accuracy in plain or distilled water (should be 1.000 or thereabout)?

It's surely possible for a yeast to completely ferment out in 3 days especially when you pitched hot (31°C).
But it would need extra time for the beer to condition out, cleaning up. Moreso if it fermented on the warmer side for the first 24-36 hours, like mid 20s.

It typically takes 24-48 hours for dry yeast to establish herself and start going, but it highly depends on the temperature.

I'd let it be for another week, to condition out at 20-22°C, if you can, then measure the gravity again. If the same as today's, (3rd decimal matching!) it should be safe to bottle it.

 

[BangladeshBrewer]

Before pitching the yeast I hydrated it in 20 degrees C water for about 45 minutes. It was foaming. There was a lot of white stuff at the bottom of that container, which I rinsed out with wart and added into the wart to esure I got 100% of the yeast in there.

The wort would have cooled down to from 31 degrees to 20 degrees C overnight. I will buy a cooling coil for next time.

I failed to take an OG reading of the wort before I pitched the yeast. I also forgot to aerate the mixture. I don't know what that will do. There was plenty of air in the top of the tank, with the liquid only taking 22 litres out of 30 in the tank.

I just checked the hydrometer and it rests at 1.000 in plain water. In my brewing wort it was at 1.010 to my inexpert eye. I will have a more careful look after week, as you suggest.

I gave the kettle a bit of an agitation, just a couple of moves from side to side, to see if that helps the yeast to get moving about again.

I was very interested in the crazy reaction of "water" spilled out of the airlock when I moved it. That spilled out foamed up madly. There was obviously a lot of (I guess) carbon dioxide trapped inside the apparently still water. I wonder if it was due to the fact I had hydrogen peroxide in the original water in the airlock. That was only because I needed sterile water and that stuff was handy and I was in a hurry. It was probably about 1%-2% hydrogen peroxide.

 

[IslandLizard]

I just checked the hydrometer and it rests at 1.000 in plain water. In my brewing wort it was at 1.010

OK! That's the precision you need.
Keep it closed with the airlock on.

I had used Glucoamylase following the mash, at the required temperature, for a hour.

It may slowly creep down a few more points over the next week, or even 2 weeks, if there are any fermentables left. Glucoamylase makes wort/beer very fermentable, and is known to produce dry (non-sweet), very low final gravity (FG) beers, 1.000 not being uncommon.

Don't bottle until gravity readings 3-7 days apart have been identical, and close to the expected final gravity (FG).

I've never heard anyone using peroxide in an airlock. Clean water or some sanitizer (e.g., Starsan) is most common. Some use cheap vodka, but I think it's a waste of vodka, water is lot cheaper.

 

[Kickass]

To add to the hydrogen peroxide comment, sometimes the liquid in the airlock can get sucked into the fermenter is there’s a negative pressure differential (temp drops or atmospheric pressure changes). If me, I wouldn’t want that in my beer. I use water or starsan in my airlocks.

 

[Zambezi Special]

I don't think there would be a problem with hydrogen peroxide being sucked into the beer. It's H2O2, and will just become water....
2 H2O2 -> 2 H2O + O2

 

[CleanEmUpIves]

I don't think there would be a problem with hydrogen peroxide being sucked into the beer. It's H2O2, and will just become water....
2 H2O2 -> 2 H2O + O2

Peroxide is a super oxidizer. A fenton reaction reagent.

The O2 will contribute to oxidative reactions in your beer especially if fermentation is finished (yeast no longer need O2) and you haven't bound metal ions with a gallotannin like Brewtan B.

 

[Zambezi Special]

I figured that the amount of O2 coming into the wort would be minimal and used by the yeast.
But obviously with active fermentation, it won't be sucked in. Only when fermentation is (close to) finished. My bad.

Didn't think about oxidation reaction with metals.
So @CleanEmUpIves Thanks for corrections & putting me right

I use starsan or vodka in the airlock (I just happen to have vodka and I don't drink it)

 

[IslandLizard]

Peroxide is a super oxidizer. A fenton reaction reagent.

The O2 will contribute to oxidative reactions in your beer especially if fermentation is finished (yeast no longer need O2) and you haven't bound metal ions with a gallotannin like Brewtan B.

There's only a very small amount (1-2 oz) of peroxide in the airlock. I doubt it having any negative impact on the beer even if the "whole" airlock content got sucked back, and mixed into 5 gallons (22 liters) of beer.

Moreover, at the end of fermentation, there have been many, many gallons of CO2* blown through that airlock, effectively stripping all O2 from the peroxide. There's no O2 potential left in there.

* Around 600-700L (150 to 170 gallons) of CO2 is produced from fermenting 5.5 gallons (22 liters) of a 1.060 OG wort to 1.010 beer.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/thread...duced-during-fermentation.696039/post-9180941
More precise calculations of the volume of fermentation CO2 production here, by @doug293cz: Keg purging with active fermentation

 

[hotbeer]

I don't know about the hydrogen peroxide in the airlock either. We quibble about small amounts of oxygen getting in our beer post fermentation via other sources and hydrogen peroxide will lend plenty of oxygen to most anything that it comes in contact with. Beer included.

However a properly filled airlock shouldn't let any liquid back to the FV. If there is that much suck back then at the proper liquid level, air should just bubble through it into the FV just as CO2 bubbles out when things are properly going the other way.

I use either just a dose of my sanitizer solution in the airlock or bubbler bottles. Sometimes the remainder of a scotch, whiskey or bourbon bottle that somehow just doesn't taste that great by the time I get to the bottom of the bottle.

You might be done fermenting with the 1.001, but you need to compare to another reading 3 days later. If it's not changing, then fermentation is over. However that doesn't mean it's time to bottle. Yeast and other stuff is still suspended in the beer more than likely. So either give it a week, two maybe three to settle out so your beer will be clear, clean and tasted better.

If desired you can use gelatin and/or cold crash it to help clean it up and maybe get to the bottle faster. But regardless, if you hand me a cloudy murky brew, I'm not so certain I wouldn't hand it back to you and say I don't want your swill!

 

[CleanEmUpIves]

Didn't think about oxidation reaction with metals.
So @CleanEmUpIves Thanks for corrections & putting me right

Shhh... don't tell the other guys about this very serious matter... ack! aye! Too late... whatever shall be done!?

 

[pvtpublic]

Pitched at 31C? I would expect some off flavors. IE esters, fusels, and solvents. What yeast did you use?

 

[BangladeshBrewer]

I waited a week, as suggested, and tried again. This will be the first of three tests, if the results are all the same. Today the reading is....

1.008

Because this was taken at 15 degrees C (this is what it is right now) I am adjusting to 1.007. I found this web site which makes the adjustment.

https://www.brewersfriend.com/hydrometer-temp/
The taste is DELIGHTFUL.

Pitched at 31C? I would expect some off flavors. IE esters, fusels, and solvents. What yeast did you use?

US-05. It seems to be very forgiving.

 

[hotbeer]

1.008

Because this was taken at 15 degrees C (this is what it is right now) I am adjusting to 1.007. I found this web site which makes the adjustment.

Of course you have to know what temp your hydrometer was calibrated at. 68°F (20°C) is typical of most hydrometers sold for use with brewing. However my newest hydrometer sold explicitly as a brewing hydrometer was calibrated at 60°F (15.5°C).

So the reported actual 1.008 might be correct.

Which ever it is, I'm not going to quibble over 2 - 3 points. But I will quibble over which temp your hydrometer is calibrated to.

 

[BangladeshBrewer]

Of course you have to know what temp your hydrometer was calibrated at. 68°F (20°C) is typical of most hydrometers sold for use with brewing. However my newest hydrometer sold explicitly as a brewing hydrometer was calibrated at 60°F (15.5°C).

So the reported actual 1.008 might be correct.

Which ever it is, I'm not going to quibble over 2 - 3 points. But I will quibble over which temp your hydrometer is calibrated to.

Good point. My hydrometer is calibrated to 20 degrees C.

I have another one, which is numbered up to 100, with no indication of the temperature to which it was calibrated.

 

[PCABrewing]

Sometimes the remainder of a scotch, whiskey or bourbon bottle that somehow just doesn't taste that great by the time I get to the bottom of the bottle.

Yeah drinking from the bottle causes some saliva to go back in and that can definitely change the taste
A lot of us have resorted to using glasses.

 

[BangladeshBrewer]

Today I have a reading of 1.006 at 12 degrees C, which is the temperature in the house. That corresponds to 1.005 adjusted.

The beer is a lot clearer than yesterday. Whereas yesterday there was a lot of form on the top of the beer, more than a week ago, today it was less. The beer tastes very good, not too dry. I guess that is from pitching Glucoamylase and not aerating the beer at all (I forgot). A lot of starch was turned to sugar but then the yeast didn't get the oxygen it needed to turn that to alcohol.

I have a heating blanket. Should I turn up the temperature to 20 degrees C for some time?

 

[pvtpublic]

Why would you crank up the heat? 1005 is already pretty dry. And since it's clearing, the yeast are flocculating out of solution, that should be your final gravity. Heating it up won't do too much, maybe drop it another point or two, tops. That's just splitting hairs at this point. Let it sit for at least another week to clear up and clean up. You also don't want to keep going in there if you don't have to, especially now. You'll be introducing oxygen and increasing your chances of contamination.

 

[hotbeer]

It's not so much that you can't or shouldn't increase the temp. It's more why do you need to. You have a pretty low SG that is below what many beer recipes expect.

Did your recipe have a expected FG?

At your low gravity, I think you've finished as far as fermenting. But you should confirm that with a same reading 3 days later. And it's ready to bottle or keg depending on if it's clear enough solution with as much dropped to the bottom as you wish.

If you bottle your beer, you might go ahead and put them somewhere warmer initially till they carbonate. Then when they've conditioned to the taste you like, move them to a cooler place.

If your beer gets much lower SG, then I'd be wondering if it's infected.

 

[Dr_Jeff]

The beer tastes very good, not too dry. I guess that is from pitching Glucoamylase and not aerating the beer at all (I forgot). A lot of starch was turned to sugar but then the yeast didn't get the oxygen it needed to turn that to alcohol.

The OP mentions Glucoamylase, it could very well ferment to 1.000 or even a bit lower.
I wouldn't add any additional heat, just leave it alone for several more days, possibly even a week.