New Here and looking for advice

[CrimsonCobra]

Hello all I am new here been reading some of the post before signing up and i have a festa brew kit now it was only in the primary for 3 days before racking to the carboy now its slowly clearing and when i say slowly i mean very slowly but is it normal for their to be build up on the bottom also i used the blonde lager with a ale yeast to get a bit like a budweiser mix just need some advice as i dont really see much activity in the airlock at all the odd bubble here and there but there is a little bit of like foam on the top as if you were to shake the beer just spotted in places i can upload pictures later of the progress from primary to up till now

 

[Dan]

Welcome to HBT, CC. Three days is pretty fast to transfer to a secondary, next time you might just leave it in the initial (primary) bucket or carboy.

Brew kits are notoriously wrong with the instructions. Yes if you follow them you will make beer easily. But not the best beer possible.

Airlock activity is neat, I love hearing the steady burps that sometimes result in beer fermenting as the yeast eat the sugar and produce carbon dioxide and alcohol. But it isn't a true sign of fermentation. The only true way you'll know the wort is fermenting into beer is by using a hydrometer. A hydrometer measures the sugar in wort. That is called the original gravity. As the yeast eat through the sugar in the wort the gravity goes down. This is when you know your yeast are working and beer is fermenting.

The stuff on the bottom of your brewing container is called trub and totally normal, it contains settled yeast, proteins, hops. You'll want to leave it behind as much as possible when you bottle. Time is on your side, the junk in the beer will all fall out and settle with time. Even the off flavor byproducts the yeast produce during fermentation will be cleared out with time. The hungry yeast actually eat their fermentation byproducts to help make your beer taste better.

 

[unionrdr]

First off,after three days,only initial fermentation would be done. It'd then slowly,uneventfully creep down to a stable FG. Never rack anywhere till it's @ FG. Many of us don't use a secondary anymore,but you can if you want. If you'd left it in primary,for instance,you'd let it get down to a measured,stable FG. Then give it another 3-7 days to clean up by products of fermentation & settle out clear or slightly misty. Then bottle or keg.

 

[CrimsonCobra]

so im going to try and upload some pictures later of how the progress went so far

 

[Homercidal]

The foam is called Krausen and it's normal. 3 days ferment is really fast. It could be a sign of fermentation temps that were too high. It's usually good practice to stay below 70F. That's actual beer temp, not air temp. The fermentation process can create heat in excess of 5-10 degrees on top of the ambient temps. Fermenting too warm can lead to off flavors.

The stuff at the bottom is normal also. It's called trub and you should rack your beer off of that and into a bottling bucket when it's pretty clear. Using a bottling bucket is recommended for for an even carbonation and to make bottling easier.

It sounds like everything went normally, but I'd be curious to know what temps you fermented at, just because the fermentation went really fast. 7-10 days is more normal, and I regularly see my fermentations take 1-2 weeks.

 

[CrimsonCobra]

here they are in order from start till now with 2 more pics to come

 

[CrimsonCobra]

..

 

[CrimsonCobra]

I also followed the directions kept it at 20C for temp and checked in daily

 

[Dan]

Everything looks pretty normal and good. Let it ferment for two weeks and then take a specific gravity with a hydrometer, then take one a couple days later. If they read the same both days and are around what your recipe predicts, the beer is good to bottle. Let it sit a little longer, maybe another week or so and the protein and yeast will settle out a bit more and give you clearer beer. Dont worry about settling out all the yeast and not having enough to prime and carbonate, there will be plenty left, you just cant see them. Cheers! Welcome to homebrewing!


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[CrimsonCobra]

thank you very much this has been in a long time thing i been wanting to do

 

[CrimsonCobra]

i was very surprised how fast everything went

 

[CrimsonCobra]

also should add my home brewing supplier never told me how to use the hydrometor so i'm, kinda brewing blind right now

 

[Homercidal]

You really ought to get a hydrometer and use it to check that it's done. But, it looks like it's finished and ready. Nothing unusual in the pictures that I could see. 20C is ok for most yeast, although I generally try to get about 16-18C.

I think you are in good shape and it's clearing nicely!

 

[CrimsonCobra]

thank you i have the hydrometor just dont know how to use the damn thing haha and this is my first batch its only been in the secondary since friday i think i'd have to look at my phone but cant at the moment

 

[Homercidal]

The hydrometer is easy. You should have a tube to put the beer in. Usually the hydrometer comes with a carrying case that you can use for that, but there are better ones you can buy that work better.

Put enough beer in the tube to float the hydrometer and then read where the top of the beer is on the gravity scale. It will be something like 1.055 for the Original gravity, and something like 1.009-1.015 for finished beer. (more or less. different beers finish at different gravities)

You will measure the gravity at the BOTTOM of the meniscus, not the top.

 

[CrimsonCobra]

thank you very much so i should still be able to do this with the stage im at now? even though it says not remove the airlock until bottling?

 

[Homercidal]

Well you can remove the airlock to take gravity readings, you just shouldn't leave it off for a long time or air and bacteria can get in and possibly ruin the beer. I'd check out the bottling sticky and see read up on the best practices for bottling. In a nutshell you rack to a bottling bucket containing the boiled and cooled sugar solution and mix gently but thoroughly. Then fill the bottles one at a time and cap.

It's not to do but it's easier with a second person helping. A bottling want is a big help.

 

[CrimsonCobra]

ok yeah the instructions on this kits say 7 to 12 days in secondary so sunday is bottling day for me and i have the green flip top bottles

 

[CrimsonCobra]

ok so I just took a reading and its not very promising it says 1.00 - 0.99 so like no alcolhol on my next read I will take a pic and upload it

 

[CrimsonCobra]

just curious do i want a denser beer or not?

 

[Dan]

ok so I just took a reading and its not very promising it says 1.00 - 0.99 so like no alcolhol on my next read I will take a pic and upload it

Something wrong here. Water comes in at 1.000, so does well, extremely well fermented wort. If you were using an extract kit and all the water volumes were correct, your original gravity was correct. If 1.000 is a correct reading then there is alcohol, plenty of it. Only two things I can think that would cause that.

1. Something other than beer yeast are eating the sugars in the wort. Normal beer yeast don't get down to 1.000 final gravity.

2. The hydrometer you are using is completely inaccurate. Float it in some tap water, better yet RO or distilled water, all three waters should be reading close to 1.000. The tap water maybe a little higher, not more than a few .001s point

Edit: For S&Gs I just measured my tap water. It reads 1.000, the temp was 78F, so add 0.001 for temp correction, so my tap water reads 1.001. Don't sweat it if you don't have distilled or RO water at the moment to test your hydrometer. If plain old tap water is reading far off from 1.000 something wrong.

Give it a shot CC, report back.

 

[CrimsonCobra]

will do thank you

 

[CrimsonCobra]

ok so I think my batch may be belly up just took a reading again 2-3 days later still reading 1.000 in the secondary..... is there anything I can do?

 

[Dan]

ok so I think my batch may be belly up just took a reading again 2-3 days later still reading 1.000 in the secondary..... is there anything I can do?

I'm still not sure why you think it is belly up. Have you tasted it yet?

 

[CrimsonCobra]

lmfao yes I have taste it haha taste like flat beer but was talking to a guy at my local brewer and he is a old guy in the old way of brewing he said my beer is ready to be bottled so there is a relief so wish me luck getting bottles washed today and will bottle later tonight already have my sugar

 

[CrimsonCobra]

ok so im all bottled now the waiting game

 

[Dan]

Sounds great CC!


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[CrimsonCobra]

wish me luck

 

[Homercidal]

It may well be good beer, but the numbers don't add up. I'd check that hydrometer with water and see what it reads. *beer* won't generally read 1.000 unless you were making a very dry, very high alcohol beer by adding a lot of sugar.

 

[CrimsonCobra]

well i did do the test in water and same reading 1.000 but the hydrometor read lower then 1.000 in the beer so i must have some strong beer i hope lol

 

[Homercidal]

Must be! How much sugar did you add??

 

[CrimsonCobra]

it was a premixed wort so sugars were already in it just had to add the yeast and then for carbonation i cant remember the amount but my local brew store had it premeasured

 

[CrimsonCobra]

i think next i might do a IPA or a creamy lager may also do a amber ale

 

[CrimsonCobra]

so curious how do I tell if there is carbonation happening with out opening the bottles??

 

[unionrdr]

You can't. Store the bottles covered or in a dark place at 70F or a bit more for 3 weeks for an average gravity beer. Then fridge some for a week to let any chill haze form & settle & get co2 into solution well.

 

[CrimsonCobra]

ok thank you

 

[Homercidal]

Some people fill 1-2 plastic bottles along with their glass bottles (pop bottles work just fine.) You can monitor the carbonation to some degree by feeling how hard the plastic bottles get. They are just used for that purpose, but you could also drink the beer from them when they are carbed up and properly aged.

 

[CrimsonCobra]

never thought of that, thats pretty clever

 

[CrimsonCobra]

And the verdict is in for a first time brewer the beer turned out great she's a REALLY strong batch too so one bottle is like 3 but taste great

 

[Homercidal]