swilfong89
New Member
This is my very first batch of beer, and I'm brewing sorghum because my girlfriend is gluten-intolerant. The fermentation has been a bit off what I expected, so I wanted to share what I've done and see what people think. I'm anxious as to whether it's going to be a very good brew or not...
Ingredients for 2.5 gallon batch:
3.3 lb. Briess Sorghum Malt Extract
4.2 AAU Fuggles hops (bittering)
2 AAU Mt. Hood hops (taste/aroma)
1 pkg Danstar Nottingham ale yeast
Sanitized everything that would come in contact with unfermented wort.
Boiled 1.5 gallons water, poured into sanitized 6 gallon bucket to cool.
Boiled another 1.5 gallons water. Lowered heat, stirred in sorghum extract, resumed boil. Watched for hot break, added Fuggles hops, started timer for 45 minutes. Added 0.25 oz Mt. Hood hops with 10 minutes remaining, and another 0.25 oz with 1 minute remaining. Shut down boil, put lid on pot and moved pot to ice bath in sink. Cooled to 80 degrees in about 15-20 minutes. Poured wort into bucket with pre boiled water, measured OG at 1.045 (actual measurement of 1.043, adjusted for temperature), pitched yeast which I had rehydrated earlier and had already been foaming impressively. Aerated bucket by shaking for one minute. Affixed airlock.
Airlock began to bubble within an hour or so, reaching about 1 per 5 seconds within a few hours. Bubbling diminished to literally nothing overnight. The next day I realized the bucket was sitting at about 60 degrees, so I racked to a 6 gallon sanitized glass carboy and moved closer to the heater where the temp was about 70. Small bubbles and a tiny amount of foam appeared within hours, but the airlock has not bubbled at all.
Now, 8 days after brewing, the beer still looks the same, little bubbles appearing and popping on the surface, tiny bit of foam. Quite cloudy. Sediment layer on the bottom has actually decreased slightly. Siphoned a little beer out for a gravity measurement today, which was about 1.027. I'm assuming I should probably let it sit for about another week, maybe start measuring gravity again in a few days. Tasted the sample: quite weak but otherwise tastes like beer, albeit cheap (what else could you expect with roughly 2.5% abv...)
Questions or comments? Does this beer seem to still be fermenting? Also, I've read about conditioning with honey. I don't want to go too experimental with this, but I also don't like refined sugar very much and would like to avoid dextrose if I can. Would using honey be pushing my luck?
Ingredients for 2.5 gallon batch:
3.3 lb. Briess Sorghum Malt Extract
4.2 AAU Fuggles hops (bittering)
2 AAU Mt. Hood hops (taste/aroma)
1 pkg Danstar Nottingham ale yeast
Sanitized everything that would come in contact with unfermented wort.
Boiled 1.5 gallons water, poured into sanitized 6 gallon bucket to cool.
Boiled another 1.5 gallons water. Lowered heat, stirred in sorghum extract, resumed boil. Watched for hot break, added Fuggles hops, started timer for 45 minutes. Added 0.25 oz Mt. Hood hops with 10 minutes remaining, and another 0.25 oz with 1 minute remaining. Shut down boil, put lid on pot and moved pot to ice bath in sink. Cooled to 80 degrees in about 15-20 minutes. Poured wort into bucket with pre boiled water, measured OG at 1.045 (actual measurement of 1.043, adjusted for temperature), pitched yeast which I had rehydrated earlier and had already been foaming impressively. Aerated bucket by shaking for one minute. Affixed airlock.
Airlock began to bubble within an hour or so, reaching about 1 per 5 seconds within a few hours. Bubbling diminished to literally nothing overnight. The next day I realized the bucket was sitting at about 60 degrees, so I racked to a 6 gallon sanitized glass carboy and moved closer to the heater where the temp was about 70. Small bubbles and a tiny amount of foam appeared within hours, but the airlock has not bubbled at all.
Now, 8 days after brewing, the beer still looks the same, little bubbles appearing and popping on the surface, tiny bit of foam. Quite cloudy. Sediment layer on the bottom has actually decreased slightly. Siphoned a little beer out for a gravity measurement today, which was about 1.027. I'm assuming I should probably let it sit for about another week, maybe start measuring gravity again in a few days. Tasted the sample: quite weak but otherwise tastes like beer, albeit cheap (what else could you expect with roughly 2.5% abv...)
Questions or comments? Does this beer seem to still be fermenting? Also, I've read about conditioning with honey. I don't want to go too experimental with this, but I also don't like refined sugar very much and would like to avoid dextrose if I can. Would using honey be pushing my luck?
Turns out it's the yeast who are the boss of me & not the other way 'round 
