brewinblonde
New Member
Hello,
I recently brewed a wit and am concerned that it has not fermented properly. A number of factors, or a combination of factors, may be the culprit. However, there is considrable debate that the batch may actually be ok. please help shed some light on the situation! the jury is still out. . .
the primary (and secondary, heh!) suspects:
low temp in my house this winter. not sure exactly how low, but guestimate it dropped to ~ 60 at lowest point, and probably spent majority of primary and secondary fermentation between 64 and 68.
first time ever used powder yeast. followed directions to a 't,' but still, it wasn't liquid and I'm in unfamiliar territory
the facts:
wary of the cool temp and dry yeast, i extended frermentation and left it in primary for ~4wks and secondary for ~2wks
i am not home much, so rarely saw its behaviour. from my admittedly inattentive observations, it seems to be bubbling along ok, not as robustly as most, but ok nonetheless
original gravity reading: 1.041
gravity at racking: 1.025
gravity at bottling: 1.025
(if I am not mistaken, this caluculates to an extremely low alcohol content)
(what is the proper equation?)
I am not confident that these readings are accurate, so take them with a grain of salt (or barley)
after three weeks of bottle conditioning, the beer tastes pretty good. BUT it is suspiciously sweet. hmm. the flavour is unlike any i've made before.
it has weak carbonation at best.
these things lead me to question whether it actually fermented properly. did i bottle it too soon? did the yeast die? is something else wrong?
yet, my freinds love it. a few have claimed to get a buzz! i am not so sure. . .
so: what do you think? is this batch a dud?
also wondering if it may change with more time in the bottle? is there any point in storing it away for a bit? is there anything i can do post-bottle to stoke some more fermatation?
is there any way to get an alcohol reading from bottled beer? (assuming my gravity readings were incorrect)
I recently brewed a wit and am concerned that it has not fermented properly. A number of factors, or a combination of factors, may be the culprit. However, there is considrable debate that the batch may actually be ok. please help shed some light on the situation! the jury is still out. . .
the primary (and secondary, heh!) suspects:
low temp in my house this winter. not sure exactly how low, but guestimate it dropped to ~ 60 at lowest point, and probably spent majority of primary and secondary fermentation between 64 and 68.first time ever used powder yeast. followed directions to a 't,' but still, it wasn't liquid and I'm in unfamiliar territorythe facts:
wary of the cool temp and dry yeast, i extended frermentation and left it in primary for ~4wks and secondary for ~2wksi am not home much, so rarely saw its behaviour. from my admittedly inattentive observations, it seems to be bubbling along ok, not as robustly as most, but ok nonethelessoriginal gravity reading: 1.041gravity at racking: 1.025
gravity at bottling: 1.025
(if I am not mistaken, this caluculates to an extremely low alcohol content)
(what is the proper equation?)
I am not confident that these readings are accurate, so take them with a grain of salt (or barley)
after three weeks of bottle conditioning, the beer tastes pretty good. BUT it is suspiciously sweet. hmm. the flavour is unlike any i've made before.it has weak carbonation at best.these things lead me to question whether it actually fermented properly. did i bottle it too soon? did the yeast die? is something else wrong?
yet, my freinds love it. a few have claimed to get a buzz
! i am not so sure. . .so: what do you think? is this batch a dud?
also wondering if it may change with more time in the bottle? is there any point in storing it away for a bit? is there anything i can do post-bottle to stoke some more fermatation?
is there any way to get an alcohol reading from bottled beer? (assuming my gravity readings were incorrect)
