Learning from my first batch

[funkyunky199]

Quick question for all you veteran brewers. Just brewed and bottled my first batch of beer. It was a double ipa from midwest. I learned what to do and not to do during the entire process. The one thing that I am curious about is the sediment that was in both primary amd secondary fermenters. Quickly looking through posts in other threads, I know many of you dont do the secondary.

My question is this...whem racking to my secondary (and even to my bottling bucket) do I want to take the sediment or leave it behind? I am tasting my beer and notice very little carbonation and am concerned that I left too much yeast behind that was dormant. However, I didnt introduce any new sugars for them to eat other than the priming sugar. Did I goof up here?

 

[two_one_seven]

No you did it correctly. All the stuff in sediment is to be left behind. When you rack to secondary you are clearing the beer. The sediment does no good for the beer. Don't worry there are plenty of yeast left to do the remaining job.

With that said after you have racked the beer off the yeast sediment you can save it. Go to the yeast forum and look up yeast washing.

 

[JLem]

You should leave it all behind. There should be plenty of yeast still in suspension to fully carb your beer. How long have you let the bottles sit? The basic guideline is 3 weeks at 70°F, so if it sooner or colder than that, you can expect not-fully-carbonated beer. And even 3 weeks at 70°F may not be enough - higher gravity beers need more time.

Also, the priming sugar is all the sugar you need to add at bottling.

 

[funkyunky199]

Thanks guys, I appreciate the feedback. Funny enough, just 2 days after posting, there was good carbination in my next bottle. Good things come to those who wait, but I really want to try what I made! Thanks again!!

 

[AdamPag]

You're gonna have some carbing as early as 3 days but it wont be much. I know this is futile, but seriously... Dont drink it until 3 weeks. We all go bananas our 1st brew and start getting into the bottles at like the 10 day mark, and kick our selves when we have a 6 pack left at the 3 week mark and that last 6 pack tastes fantastic.

Also, read up on harvesting/washing yeast, good idea to build a yeast bank instead of buying yeast you commonly use all the time