At day 10 I would expect a lot of yeast in suspension plus some of the trub that may not have had time to settle out. I usually leave my beer sit in the fermenter longer so the yeast and trub have more time to settle out. Then I let the beer sit even longer in the bottles.
Irish stout kit
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Go ahead and test on Saturday as you may see some change. I've been brewing for quite a while now and have a long pipeline so I let my beers sit in the fermenter for 3 to 4 weeks or whenever I get to them. Longer seems better to me.
flars
Well-Known Member
Three weeks and sometimes more ensures fermentation is complete. Especially for some yeasts that are slow to finish the last couple gravity points. During this time excess yeast and sediments suspended by CO2 will drop out as the CO2 comes out of solution. Less sediment dropping out in the bottle and especially for dark beers negates the need for a secondary clearing vessel.
Give the beer some time after the target FG has been reached. The target FG is just an estimation for comparing the resulting dryness and body of the beer.
![Craft A Brew - Safale BE-256 Yeast - Fermentis - Belgian Ale Dry Yeast - For Belgian & Strong Ales - Ingredients for Home Brewing - Beer Making Supplies - [3 Pack]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51bcKEwQmWL._SL500_.jpg)
So should I be racking this beer to a secondary?? Didn't say as much on instructions
flars
Well-Known Member
Quite often the instructions included with kits contain practices which have become outdated. Racking to a secondary vessel was almost mandatory a couple of decades ago because of bad yeast. The yeast would start producing off flavors, autolysis. No longer a worry with the quality yeasts we have now.
There are some beers which do require a secondary such as when there are fruit additions or the beer is oaked.
I would, and I do, leave stouts in the primary for a minimum of three weeks. Less work to do. No risk of infection or oxidation during racking. Less equipment to clean.
flars
Well-Known Member
What do you mean by light? If it looks light colored in the fermentor it is because of the suspended yeast. When the excess yeast drops the beer will look much darker.
Meant more about the body of the sample I tried. It didn't seem as full body as Guinness. But also, yeah the color is not as dark and that's been from the beginning. Eben before I added yeast. The color was dark but not that Guinness black..
Give the beer a chance. It needs time, lots of time. Time for the yeast to settle, time to carbonate, and more time yet to gain the full body. You're just rushing this beer.
flars
Well-Known Member
Ok will do. So don't worry abt steeping for 60 min instead of 30?
Nothing to worry about with the extra time as long as it was steeping temperature and not boiling temperature.
McKnuckle
Well-Known Member
Besides the good advice you're seeing about primary fermentation, it is a fact that even average gravity stouts take a good 3-4 months once packaged to reach their best flavor. I know that's a huge drag for someone waiting on a single batch like it's the most exciting thing going, but with some brews under your belt you'll learn this. Young beer usually is mediocre, even though much of it is "drinkable."
Just didn't think beer was aged. I guess I thought that like other things there's a peak, plateau and decline , but looked at beer as a ready to drink, better in a month or two, finish under a year, kinda thing. Say a program on booze traveller where someone was putting yrs on the dark, heavy beers like they were wine. Well, hope to bottle this up and let some or half rest for a few months
McKnuckle
Well-Known Member
Since there are so many different kinds of beer, it isn't too much of a stretch that they have a wide range of conditioning needs. Some are very much ready to drink right away. Some are definitely best drunk fresh to preserve (mostly) hop attributes. Others really benefit from cellaring, lagering, or both. See for yourself: Brew a decent size batch and just drink a glass every week for a while. You'll see which characteristics improve, decline, or evolve. And it will vary for each beer style and even for each individual batch.
Generally speaking, the more roasty or high alcohol, the more aging benefits the beer. The more hop aroma, the more time hurts it.
Generally speaking, the more roasty or high alcohol, the more aging benefits the beer. The more hop aroma, the more time hurts it.
I sometimes wonder if we are doing IPA's wrong with the 2 weeks fermenting and 1 week of dry hops. Would it be better to let the underlying beer mature in the fermenter longer before we add the hops so we don't drink young beer just to get the hop aroma? Maybe I should try that for my next batch, leave the bitter beer in the fermenter for 6 to 8 weeks and then dry hop it. A week in the bottle to get carbonation and then drink it up?
It might be done at 1.016. You'll know for sure if it is still 1.016 two days after the original 1.016 reading. As for getting rid of haze, whirfloc tablets or Irish Moss used in the last 15 minutes of the boil can help, as can cold crashing your beer for a few days prior to bottling, if possible.
Ok. 7 days later and beer is at 1.015 which is pretty much same gravity and it's been a total of 17 days. Figured I'd bottle. Sanitize all my stuff and near the end of sanitizing last of the bottles my friend saved for me I finally noticed they're screw ons. Can I still use them??can I press a cap on to miller lite screw cap bottles?? Holy **** how did I not noticed this before...please let me know if I can still use these bottles
McKnuckle
Well-Known Member
http://byo.com/malt/item/416-can-homebrewers-use-twist-off-bottles-for-their-beer
Quoted:
"What you do need is a capper that does not grab the neck of the bottle when used. Most hand-held cappers grab the small ring around the perimeter of the neck and use that ring to hold the crown tight to the bottle. In my experience I have found that this ring on the one-way, twist-off bottles we use breaks when capped with a hand-held capper. The ring on the bottle is simply too thin and too weak for use with hand cappers (at least the one I have). Bench top cappers do not grab onto this ring and are the preferred type of capper to put crowns on twist-off bottles."
Quoted:
"What you do need is a capper that does not grab the neck of the bottle when used. Most hand-held cappers grab the small ring around the perimeter of the neck and use that ring to hold the crown tight to the bottle. In my experience I have found that this ring on the one-way, twist-off bottles we use breaks when capped with a hand-held capper. The ring on the bottle is simply too thin and too weak for use with hand cappers (at least the one I have). Bench top cappers do not grab onto this ring and are the preferred type of capper to put crowns on twist-off bottles."
I have a colonna corker/capper. I did put a cap on one bottle. Don't know how I missed it then. There just doesn't seem to be a lip there for the cap to really hold on. When I tried it, seems to work but easily removed with a bottle opener. Idk, I just order 2 cases from Midwest supply so it is what it is. This beer was supposed to sit this week anyway for 3 total weeks
I'm real curious and I don't understand how this beer is done at 1.015 from a OG of 1.050. I've done wine and I've done cider and I'm not understanding if you have a gravity and baseline is 1.000 correct? I mean how does it not keep working until at least 1.0? The yeast packet is good for 5 gal ok, and starting gravity was 1.050...yet this ol boy is finished it seems at 1.015. If I made a cider of an OG of like 1.060 and I used nottingham in a month it was flatlined at 1.000. So why doesn't this do the same. What don't I get?
There are several kinds of sugars. You may have heard of sucrose, lactose, glucose, etc. Not all of those can be eaten by the yeast we use to make our beer....and there are many strains of yeast. Lactose isn't fermentable by the yeast we use nor are some of the long chain sugars called dextrines. When we do a mash (or the place where you get your extract does) we have some control over the ratio of fermentable and non-fermentable sugars by the temperature of our mash. We can also have some control by the use of our grains. For instance, the caramel or Crystal grains will add mostly unfermentable sugars. By using these unfermentable sugars to our advantage, we can have very dry beers or malty beers or something in the middle like your Irish stout.
OswaldvW
Well-Known Member
Most beers of average strength end up in the 1.008 to 1.012 final gravity range, give or take. I don't think I have ever had a beer go down to 1.000. Meads and ciders yes, but not beers.
Is that to imply I should have steeped for 60?Ok will do. So don't worry abt steeping for 60 min instead of 30?
Steeping dissolves sugars and extracts flavor and most of that is done within 30 minutes. It won't hurt to steep longer but the gain from doing so is pretty small.
Think of a tea bag. You normally steep it for what? Couple minutes to extract the flavor. Steep it longer you get more flavor. Steep it longer yet and it soon becomes hard to tell if there is more flavor because most of it was extracted in that first couple minutes.
OswaldvW
Well-Known Member
Ok will do. So don't worry abt steeping for 60 min instead of 30?
This is an exact quote from post #3.
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