Tossed my yeast - hydrometer @ 1011

[askerly]

Dear HomeBrew!

I'm working my second batch and pulled a rookie move. We started everything in a carboy and when we racked it off into an ale-pale we checked everything with the hydrometer. The instructions say it needs to be 1006 but it was 1012. No biggy we could just return it to the carboy and let it sit. But - my assistant emptied the remnants of our yeast from the carboy down the sink before we dropped the hydrometer into the mix to test it out. Shucks! What we've done for now is just return the brew back into the carboy and put the airlock back in place. I tested it this morning (two days after the original dumping of the yeast) and it's down to around 1011/1010. As this is only my second batch I'm worried that by tossing out the yeast the fermentation is dieing off and I've got a 5-gallon jug of junk! Or 5-gallons of potential vinegar which I could use to start my own small grocery store but that's not likely. Please help this new-b. Should I just let it sit? Add yeast? Bottle and hope for the best?

Help me O-B-Juan-Can-O-Beans

Askerly

 

[EdWort]

Just give it time and it will finish. 1.006 is pretty dry for a beer. As it is, 1.010 is too, but if that's what your directions say, then RDWHAHB.

 

[zoebisch01]

Hiya, welcome and all that jazz.


Young Padawan all is well. let go your feelings.

 

[Ecnerwal]

Gawd, I hate directions that think all instances of any given fermentation will go exactly the same.

You have plenty of yeast still floating around in the beer. Don't worry about that.

Rather than shooting for a specific particular gravity number, you should be looking for stable, unchanging gravity numbers as a sign that fermentation is done. If that be 1.010, 1.008, 1.006 or 1.005 is not the issue - the point is it should not change over the course of a week, perhaps 3 days at minimum. Pay attention to sample temperature so that the numbers are correct/comparable.

Peculiar to be starting in a carboy and racking to an ale-pail, unless said ale pail was your bottling bucket and you were aiming to bottle. Normally if one is using bucket & carboy and racking to secondary, the bucket goes first and the carboy does secondary, not that that is written in stone or anything.

 

[Special Hops]

Yep - plenty of yeast still in suspension. No worries.