When to bottle?

[drumike102]

Ok so i have had a batch sitting in the secondary for the about 3 weeks now and it has stopped bubbling completely and i measured the gravity and it is at 1.020 and its supposed to be at like 1.013. Is it going to change at all if i leave it any longer. Doesnt seem to be doing anything in there. Im new to this so any help would be greatly appreciated. thanks.

Mike

 

[rjester]

The same thing happened on my last batch. You might want to try rousing the yeast that has fallen to the bottom. I did that but the gravity readings didn't change. Since the FG was the same for 2-3 days I bottled. It's been in the bottle for 2 weeks with no problems. Tastes pretty good so far.

 

[drumike102]

hmmm can anyone else comment on this. i was thinking about that but im not sure if i should.

 

[rjester]

What is the temperature? If it is cool, you can try moving it to a warmer area.

 

[TheJadedDog]

Sounds to me like you may have racked too early. I would take hydrometer readings on consecutive days with no change, then you can go ahead and bottle.

When you rack you leave most of the yeast behind so fermentation should be mostly over before you rack. Secondary is not really a fermentation stage, but rather a clearing tank to age and clear your beer.

 

[BarleyWater]

I high FG doesn't neccesarilly mean bottle bombs or anything else bad. As long as fermentation has stopped you are good to bottle, just check it like Jaded Dog said and bottle if it's done.

All a high FG means, as long as fermentation has stopped, is a little more sweetness and a fuller body.

 

[drumike102]

ya i had had FG's that didnt move for a couple days now so i bottled it up today. nothing wrong with a fuller body beer. well see in a few weeks how it all made out.

 

[Cool Hand]

What kind of kit did you use?

 

[WOP31]

Depending on the style and the ingredients the higher FG could be caused by the unfermentables in the beer. I just had a stout end out at 1.020, but because of the unfermentable sugars, that is around where it should have ended up.

Can you post the recipe?

Cheers

 

[MariaAZ]

My first batch was a pale ale that started out at 1.062, and didn't drop below 1.021. I took SG readings a couple days apart, and when it didn't change, I bottled. that was three months ago and I have about 1/2 the batch left with no problems so far.