Help needed please

[klaperruque]

Hi all,
So this is my first time doing a homebrew and picked up a pliny clone. I followed the instructions to a t and everything seemed to go well. I started with a gravity reading of 1.095 and piched my yeast. It took about 15 hours and then went crazy and it blew out of my air lock. I quickly cleaned it up and switched from a air lock to a blow off tube into some sanitazed water and the crazinees continued for about 12 hours. I am now on day 4 ( I started Tuesday night) and things have mellowed out. I am supposed to wait about one week and then transfer the beer for my dry hopping and 2nd fermentaion. Is this the right thing to do or should I wait longer? My other question is what should my end gravity reading be at before I aad my priming sugar and begin to bottle. I thank you for any help.

Slainte

Ken

 

[ChshreCat]

"Second fermentation" is actually a bit of a misnomer. You want fermentation to complete before you start your dry hop. At that point, you dry hop for how ever long the recipe calls for then bottle. The recipe should give you a target FG that you want to shoot for. If not, if you post the recipe, someone can probably give you an approximate target. You'll want to wait until the beer gets near that target and is stable for a few days.

Also you say "add my priming sugar". Make sure you aren't adding that to the fermenter. You want to dissolve it into a small amount of boiling water, pour that into a bottling bucket and then track your beer onto it. Then bottle from that. I'm sure you meant that, but just thought I'd clarify since you're a new brewer.

 

[BansheeRider]

Your beer will most likely be at FG after 2-3 weeks, and had time to clean up. That's when I would rack to secondary and dry hop for 7-10 days.

 

[klaperruque]

@Chshrecat- there wasnt a recipe it came in a premade kit and didnt have too much detail on it. The directions are very generic it says ferment for about 5-7 days and then transfer to 2nd fermentation and add dry hops for 5-7 days and did not give a target FG but i will look again. And thanks for clarifying the priming sugar.

 

[TANSTAAFB]

For a beer that big, leave it for 3 weeks. Then you can either rack or toss the dry hops into the primary...that's what I do! Just bottled a brew I dry hopped in the primary with a couple ounces of whole Cascade hops. Smelled and tasted delicious! Way to go all out on your maiden voyage! Slainte

 

[klaperruque]

So I weighed my dry hops and I comes out to 2.7. While I made my wort I added 2 bags of these and 1 bag about half the size. So I would guess about 7 oz of hops plus the other 2.7 I need to add here is a picture of the hops and grains. Also my SG is supposed to be 1.077 and I got 1.095 and TG: 1.015 so should expect to be at 1.033?

 

[lem14]

What yeast did you use? I will then run the numbers for you based only on the starting gravity. So it will be a rough estimate. Likely less than 1.033, it is more of a percentage of attenuation than a direct subtraction.

Also, did you mix up you water before taking a gravity reading? For more clarity what temperature was the wort when you took the OG?

Also, I deninately agree that at least 10 to 14 days in primary, then to secondary for another 7-10, then prime as instructed above and bottle. One thing to add to the priming instructions above is to make sure the priming solution is about room temp when you add your beer to it.

 

[klaperruque]

I used Lallemand Nottingham ale yeast. I cooled my wort below 80 to about 76/78 and then added approximately 1.5 gallons of water. I then stirred and did my reading.

 

[ChshreCat]

Don't worry too much about the OG. When you top up with water it's really easy to end up with stratification of the wort. Thicker, high-og wort sinks to the bottom and lighter, low-og wort floats to the top. If you take your sample from nearer the bottom, it'll be higher than expected. It's pretty hard to get an extra 20 points worth of sugar unless you misread the 5 gallon mark on your fermenter or something.

Sounds like you're in good shape. Just let it ferment out and ignore the transfer in 5 days crap they put in the instructions. This is a hefty beer and will benefit from more time in primary. Give it three weeks then a week or so in dry hop and then bottle. Revvy has a GREAT post about bottling you can find on here if you search for it.

btw... props to picking a Pliny clone as your first brew. That's jumpin' into the deep end!

 

[lem14]

Hey so based on your OG, I estimate that it will finish in about the 1.020 range.

I totally agree with the cat...Great job going off the deep end with your first brew and don't stress about the OG. Let it go in primary for over 2 weeks and then dry hop.

Good luck and as the mantra goes RDWHAHB. (well in your case, have a microbrew till your beer is done). Cheers!!