Question about my first batch.

[andrewk]

I did a Brewers Best Imperial Pale Ale which is supposed to be a an Arrogant Bastard clone. Its been in the fermenter for 2 weeks and I didnt do a SG reading when I made the brew. I did a reading today and it read at 1.02 and the kit says the FG should be between 1.017 and 1.02. Would keeping it in the fermenter be beneficial for any reason? I tasted the beer and it didnt taste sweet but definitely hoppy. Will the priming sugar add any sweetness to it? What should I be looking out for?

 

[cracked1]

With an extract kit, as long as your volumes are correct, you don't really need to measure the SG pre fermentation. It should pretty much be what the box/instructions say it's supposed to be. If it were mine, I would let it sit for another week or two. This allows the yeast to clean up after themselves which gives you a cleaner looking and tasting beer. This is your beer though... If you take readings for three days in a row and the SG doesn't change then feel free to bottle whenever you like. The priming sugar won't really add any sweetness to it because the yeast will eat it up to create the co2. Carbonation and bottle conditioning will change the flavor though.

 

[kyleobie]

I did a reading today and it read at 1.02 and the kit says the FG should be between 1.017 and 1.02. Would keeping it in the fermenter be beneficial for any reason? I tasted the beer and it didnt taste sweet but definitely hoppy. Will the priming sugar add any sweetness to it? What should I be looking out for?

1). I would keep it in the fermenter for at least another week and take a second gravity read. A FG of 1.020 might make sense, I always finish on the high end with extract brews. It will age out a little better in the fermenter for another week if it's as big and complex a recipe as I suspect it is.

2). Priming sugar will not add much besides mouthfeel in the form of carbonation. The amount of sugar you're adding is very small compared to the amount of sugar in extract, for example. 100% of it will ferment into CO2 which carbonates the beer.

3). You should be looking out for hard-to-resist homebrew when you're done. I think you're doing fine!