Please help with my latest disaster (St Peters Ruby)

[dwellernet]

Hi all.

Please can anyone give me a tip / reassurance of what I should do, I am making St Peters Ruby from the box with nothing but what was inside the box, unfortunately my morale took a beating after ruining my first batch.

Anyway I mixed it all up and after 8 days in the fermenter bucket at room temperature (may get a bit chilly overnight) the gravity is about 0.995 but the colour is very dirty/cloudy.

Any advice on what I should do? ie, 1) get some balls man and bottle it, 2) stir it up? 3) leave it for longer?

Thanks for any advice, just want to make sure I am doing everything right this time to save more moaning from the Mrs over costs lol

 

[BobC]

If you can you could cold crash it by getting the temperature down to 38F/3C for about week that should clear it up.

 

[beergolf]

Just let it sit for a little longer. It should clear up.

 

[Geordan]

I'll admit I'm confused by your gravity reading being below 1.000 -- I can't imagine that's correct. How are you reading your hydrometer?

 

[dwellernet]

I'll admit I'm confused by your gravity reading being below 1.000 -- I can't imagine that's correct. How are you reading your hydrometer?

Hydromiter measurement is the line between 0.990 and 1.000. I am really tempted to give it a good stir up as the colour really is murky.

Thanks for all replys so far, I am not in a place to cold crash something that big but can do after bottling.

 

[Andrew5329]

Yea I agree with Geordan, a gravity of .990 doesnt sound right... what was your OG?

Regardless, your beer isn't "dirty" but it will be cloudy for now. What most people on this forum recommend is either an extended primary (3-4 weeks, preferably 4) or that you rack to a secondary fermenter for an extra 2 weeks or so (your beer spends roughly the same time in a fermenter at any rate).

People will argue the pros/cons of either method, but for where your at an extended primary is the way to go because you don't have to do anything but wait at this point.

Over the next 3 weeks numerous chemical reactions will be occurring in your beer changing the clarity, the mouth-feel, and most importantly the taste of your final product.

The point of the cold crash is to force suspended/dissolved material to solidify and fall to the bottom clearing your beer, though if you wait long enough you shouldn't have an issue with clarity. (clarity is mostly a vanity thing anyway)

If your really worried about the clarity of your beer, in the future you can add a teaspoon of Irish Moss to when there's 15 min left on your boil. (your LHBS will sell them in pre-measured tablet form for like $2 a dozen)

If you want a nice easy-to-brew summer beer that boosts your confidence, I'd try a German wheat beer kit, the ingredients are simple (wheat malt/hops/water) and its fairly light so when your done it will taste either Great, or even at absolute worst inoffensive and drinkable no matter what you do to it

 

[homebrewdad]

Hydromiter measurement is the line between 0.990 and 1.000. I am really tempted to give it a good stir up as the colour really is murky.

Thanks for all replys so far, I am not in a place to cold crash something that big but can do after bottling.

The thing is that pure water should read 1.000. A reading at less than 1.000 mean that you have so much alcohol in the water that what sugars are there are not enough to balance out to a sensible gravity reading. Even a stupidly dry beer (hardly any sugars) reads about 1.006 or so.

This screams user error/faulty hydrometer.

Take a hydrometer reading of plain water. If it's not 1.000, the hydrometer is bad.

 

[Bithead]

And the temperature of the water used to calibrate should be 60* F, 15* C.

 

[TopherM]

Don't stir it! At this point, that'll introduce oxygenation that will denegrade the quality of your beer!

I looked up your kit, and the manufacturer states that the FG is supposed to be 1.010 - 1.016. 0.995 is really really dry, like dry champagne dry, so something may be a little off.

Stick your hydrometer in a glass of water as close to 60F/15.5C as you can, and it should read 1.000 exactly. If it doesn't, your hydrometer is off.

Also, just FYI, the manufacturer does have their own forum board to discuss their kits, so you might find a little more experience with this kit over there, since they don't sell those in the US:

http://www.jimsbeerkit.co.uk/forum/index.php

 

[dwellernet]

The thing is that pure water should read 1.000. A reading at less than 1.000 mean that you have so much alcohol in the water that what sugars are there are not enough to balance out to a sensible gravity reading. Even a stupidly dry beer (hardly any sugars) reads about 1.006 or so.

This screams user error/faulty hydrometer.

Take a hydrometer reading of plain water. If it's not 1.000, the hydrometer is bad.

Aha, starting to get the old confidence kicking in again, a test with the hydrometer on tap water and it plumets, still floats but beyond the measurement scales (took up too much room in the cupboard anyway.

Thanks for all of your help, one day I shall be an old dab at this, I shall keep the beer in the bin for another couple of weeks, bottle and enjoy! (hopefully)