Simple question about repitching

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Kris78

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Hello all. This is my 3rd batch and im trying different things out with the filtering processes. The 1st i left it in the primary the whole time and it turned out amazing. Tho my friends and family did not like the 1/4 of hops on the bottom. The 2nd i tried the secondary and it works great.

So this time i was getting ready to put my wort in the primary and i came up with a IDEA!! lol. I still had my grain bag in a bowl so i cut it and stretched it ofer my bucket and filtered most of the hops.... its a Scottish Ale i hop this doesnt ruin anything.... But my question is, tonight at 8 will be 72 hours and no movment. I have bought another packet of yeast and will repitch if need be tonight. I read in the stickies to just sprinkle it on top? Also my friend was using my equipment and i didnt take any readings......

Could this be a bad batch?
 
No problem using the grain bag to separate the hops. It won't affect the beer in a bad way and will help aerate your wort (as long as you chilled it first). Lots of people use a mesh strainer or funnel with strainer built in for this purpose.

When you say 'movement', are you talking about the air lock? If so, that is not a good measurement of activity. I assume you are using a plastic bucket as a fermenter? If so you can check for krausen or take a hydro reading to see if there's any activity. Give it some more time before you decide to re-pitch. Everything is probably fine.
 
Yea meaning the air lock. And yes i use a plastic brewing bucket. Ill wait till the weekend and see whats up.
 
Just take a hydro reading in a few days. As long as you keep your temps steady and within the optimal range for fermentation, a week in the primary should be good enough. Just make sure to take that hydro reading and don't transfer into secondary until you've hit your target FG. If you transfer too soon, you'll take away too much yeast and you're beer will probably not be able to hit the FG you were looking for.
 
Thats the prob i didnt take any readings, i forgot i lent it out. Ill be buying one this weekend. Should i repitch or not. I was just going to let it go and move it to the secondary in about 4 days.
 
Even without a starting reading it shouldn't be hard to figure out if it's fermenting/fermented. You can estimate your starting gravity based on the recipe and then take a reading to see if it's changed, or you can simply look into the fermenter and see if there is a krausen or signs that there has been a krausen (crap stuck to the sides of the bucket).
 
I use a paint strainer the excat way that you used your grain bag. I assume you sanitized it first. I use the 5 gallon paint strainer sold @ the home improvement stores. It has an elastic band @ top. It is made to fit over 5 gallon buckets.
 
Well you could peel back the lid to see if there is krausen. If so then your lid leaks. Let your beers ferment for at least 7-10 days before transferring and you will have a better product.
 
I like that idea, im in the middle of my first batch, when i started it i knew very little about brewing and basically followed the directions completely.

With my next batch i think i'll try to use a secondary, but adding this strainer would probably help a lot too.

i'll look for the paint strainer mentioned above...
 
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