Does this look right?

[Johnson1522]

My first batch. It's an extract kit hefeweizen on day 14 of primary. All of the signs point to a finished fermentation with final gravity of 1.010. I'm thinking of racking tonight but I want to make sure I'm not, as one poster said, "brewing by a calendar" instead of brewing by the beer.

So far, my product smells like an average hefeweizen. It tastes pretty good too. Like a flat and slightly bitter/yeasty beer. But does it look right?

Will ALL of that fall to the bottom? If not, how do I avoid getting that in the siphon?

 

[unionrdr]

Make sure to do a hydrometer test to see if it's at a stable FG before doing anything else.

 

[Kealia]

14 days at a decent temp (what was it?) and it's likely done by a long shot.

Did you take two readings (a day or two apart) to be sure it's done?

To answer your question directly: yes, it looks 'done' to me. The krausen has long since fallen and you have some residual hops and proteins, etc. left floating.

You can let it sit for a few more days or just rack away - assuming you mean to a bottling bucket. There's no need to rack this to a secondary.

Just stick your siphon below the surface and above the trub on the bottom and you'll be golden.

 

[Johnson1522]

Thanks uniondr, it's been stable for the last two days and I don't expect to see anything different when I test later tonight.

Kealia: I've kept it at 65.5 F without exception and I'm planning on going directly to a bottling bucket. I *feel* like it could have been done a few days ago, but I've heard a lot of people suggest that lower temperatures may take longer fermentation times.

 

[unionrdr]

That'd depend on the ideal temp range of the yeast used. but it did look like it was clearing. so it's likely done if you say it tested stable.

 

[processhead]

Should be ok as others mention. After you keg or bottle it, it will settle out some more and appear more finished.

 

[Johnson1522]

Should I be worried about how long it settles? Now, I'm assuming it's bitter because of the suspended yeast.

How does a normal hefe retain the cloudiness without being bitter?

 

[sweetcell]

cloudiness is part of the hefe style. unless you filter the beer (called kristallweizen), it's supposed to be cloudy. and having some yeast in suspension is part of the taste. hefe yeast is a very low flocculator. don't worry about it and bottle

 

[processhead]

don't worry about it and bottle

Sage advice here.
Follow it.

 

[Johnson1522]

It is bottled.

My caps seem watertight but I can twist them with a heavy amount of effort. I notice that I can do this on some store bought bottles as well. I used 6.5 oz of dextrose as opposed to the estimated 5oz for 5 gallons. Anything to be concerned about?

 

[bleme]

I'd be a little concerned about those bottles.
I have had one batch, with less than 5oz, blow up 6 bottles (just the 22oz bottles). Just make sure you have a blanket or something over them to catch glass shards.

 

[Johnson1522]

Thanks Bleme, I'll keep an eye on them for sure. The style seems to call for up to 8oz but I decided that would be too much of a risk.

 

[bleme]

A lot of it depends on the bottles. Grolsch bottles or champagne bottle could handle that pressure easily but a lot of commercial bottles are pretty thin.