Newb with Mr.B kit second batch questions

[swoods93631]

Hello All,

I am going to be bottling my secoind batch this weekend. Let me give you the recipe first then tell you my issue and questions.

Recipe Gravity: 1.062 OG
Recipe Bitterness: 23 IBU
Recipe Color: 7° SRM
Estimated FG: 1.015
Alcohol by Volume: 6.0%
Alcohol by Weight: 4.7%

Ingredients:
2 X Mr. B Classic American Blonde
1 Cup of Honey
1/2 cup Mr. B Booster (this is 1/4 of a bag)
Willamette Hops in muslin sack entered @ boil left in fermentor
1 Packet US-05 Yeast

19 days @ avg. 65 degrees (No higher than 70 at anytime)

This has been fermenting now for 3 weeks (21 Days on Sunday) and the krausen is mostly fallen after being very thick. I tasted it last week and it was still a bit sweet and had a distinct bitterness in the aftertaste. I sampled it last night and there is no sweetness left (I do not have a hydrometer yet! Soon) in fact it is almost a little hot/alcoholish and still has quite a bitter bite on the back end.

Now I have read a lot and I know most of you are gonna say RDWHAHB right? Even so I am wondering about a few specific things from the masters here:

1) Should the Krausen be completely gone before bottling?
2) Will the "hot" in the front mellow in carb/condition?
3) Should the beer be clear before bottling or is some cloudiness expected?
4) Should I shut up and RDWHAHB?

I am pretty sure I have read that hop bitterness will mellow in conditioning so I was not stressing that too much. In all it smells like beer, smells like good beer even. But I would not drink this beer as it sits and I guess am looking for a little reassuance that patience and conditioning will work wonders here. Thanks for any advice!!!!

 

[Bmorebrew]

1) If you do not have a hydrometer, do not bottle if it still has krausen. If you still see krausen, fermentation is not done and you risk bottle bombs. Get the hydrometer as your next purchase.
2) Yes, allow the beer to condition for a couple of weeks. Better if done in the fermenter as the beer will still be in contact with the yeast.
3) When ready it will be pretty clear - not totally clear, but certainly not cloudy like a hefe.
4) You don't have to shut up, but I do recommend the drinking portion of the equation.

 

[mredge73]

I did a lot of experimentation with my Mr.Beer kit before moving on. You just made a pretty big beer, I would expect the OG to be higher than what predicted. The US-05 will drop the FG lower than what you expect as well (at 1.015 you will have a little sweetness, you said it is gone). Without a meter we don't know for sure. Blonde beers usually have a low ABV, yours will likely get to 6-8%.
If in the upper end it will be a "hot" beer and will take more time than expected to mellow out. I would let it sit a few more weeks in the fermenter, and bottle condition for 3 months before cracking open the first one.

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

1) If you do not have a hydrometer, do not bottle if it still has krausen. If you still see krausen, fermentation is not done and you risk bottle bombs. Get the hydrometer as your next purchase.
2) Yes, allow the beer to condition for a couple of weeks. Better if done in the fermenter as the beer will still be in contact with the yeast.
3) When ready it will be pretty clear - not totally clear, but certainly not cloudy like a hefe.
4) You don't have to shut up, but I do recommend the drinking portion of the equation.

^that. Especially the drinking part. Oh, and the hydro is kinda important too, grab one of those and take some gravity readings before you make a decision about what to do with your beer.

 

[swoods93631]

I did a lot of experimentation with my Mr.Beer kit before moving on. You just made a pretty big beer, I would expect the OG to be higher than what predicted. The US-05 will drop the FG lower than what you expect as well (at 1.015 you will have a little sweetness, you said it is gone). Without a meter we don't know for sure. Blonde beers usually have a low ABV, yours will likely get to 6-8%.
If in the upper end it will be a "hot" beer and will take more time than expected to mellow out. I would let it sit a few more weeks in the fermenter, and bottle condition for 3 months before cracking open the first one.

Interesting... So that makes me want to ask if this would be a decent plan of attack from here:

1-2 more weeks in fermentor
Bottle and carb for two weeks at 70 degrees (Can I do 78 degrees for this? This is room temp in my house?)
Condition for up to 3 months(Can this be done in the fridge at cooler temps?)

Thanks again, I am learning!!!

 

[swoods93631]

BTW I ordered a hydrometer today.... I know this will help lots.

 

[dantheman13]

Interesting... So that makes me want to ask if this would be a decent plan of attack from here:

1-2 more weeks in fermentor
Bottle and carb for two weeks at 70 degrees (Can I do 78 degrees for this? This is room temp in my house?)
Condition for up to 3 months(Can this be done in the fridge at cooler temps?)

Thanks again, I am learning!!!

Condition at room temperature. You want your yeast to stay active. When you refrigerate the beer, the yeast will fall out and cease to eat any sugars for carbonation. Even after the yeast have consumed the sugar for carbonation, keeping them at room temperature will speed the aging process up a little.

 

[swoods93631]

Ok, so I waited to bottle and am still waiting for my hydrometer to get here. I have been watching it and the krausen has fallen slowly over the last few days. It looks like the yeast is flocculating as the top portion of the beer is nice and clear. In the pic I opened the fermenter today to check the clarity and saw this. My first thought is bits of krausen left. It is like little white balls. What your thoughts?

 

[dantheman13]

Hard to tell, but it is probably just CO2 bubbles clumping up.

 

[Fennis]

Your recipe is very close to what I did for my second recipe as I also started out with a Mr. Beer kit, and I experimented a little bit too by adding in honey, and I also bottle primed with honey--the only difference between our recipes is I used cascade hops instead. Its hot because you used honey, two cans of liquid malt extract, and the booster. It will take time to mellow out, here is my experience...

I let mine ferment for almost a month as it took that long for me to get consistent readings on my hydrometer--it was also in the winter time so it was a little cold in the house and took longer to finish its job. Then I bottled it and let it condition at room temperature. After two weeks, I took one bottle, put it in the fridge for a few days, and tried it. It tasted like cider, it was hot, and somewhat cloudy. So, I let it sit at room temp for another month before I tried it again. This time it had mellowed out considerably, it was clearer, still a little hot but the cidery taste was almost gone. At that point I just put a few in the fridge every few days and drank it. That being said, the bottles I let condition at room temperature for over two months were probably the best beers I made with the Mr. Beer kit. They were amazing, great clarity, good head retention, lots of carbonation, and very smooth. The cidery taste was gone, yet it had a very good alcohol kick that would sneak up on you after 2 beers. So, just give it some time. It should turn out to be an excellent beer.

 

[swoods93631]

dantheman13 - I am inlcuding a bteer pic. I posted that from my iPhone last night a did not realize it cut the size down so much. I do not at this point think it is infected with anything and you are probably correct that it is Co2 bubbles prolly intertwined with the little remaining krausen floating around the top. I am not stressing yet!

hagelini - Thats good to know. I hope it comes out well... It certainly smells good! I did not use the whole bag of booster in fact only about a 1/4 of it. but yes it is still a pretty big beer. I will bottle this weekend and let it condition for quite a long time before I get too anxious to try it!