Hi,
So after weeks of research and planning I finally brewed my first beer on Friday. It was an LME kit, HBC Discover America Pale Ale.
Everything went smoothly and I ended up with an OG of 1.044, which from what I've read is about what I was expecting.
My batch has been in the hot press since Friday night at a fairy steady 19/20 degrees. It is currently bubbling away nicely with a nice layer of foam sitting on top of my beer.
My questions are about the fermentation and bottling process, primarily how long I should leave the batch before bottling. I've read that between 1 and 2 weeks is the norm. I'm reluctant to open the fermenter too often to take gravity readings in case I contaminate the beer. So I suppose my question is; is there a bare minimum length of time to leave the batch before taking a gravity reading, regardless of when bubbling stops?
Secondly, when I do get around to bottling should I use some form of priming agent to help carbonation? What works best for this sort of beer? And once bottled how long long and what conditions do I leave the bottles before I crack into them?
So to summarise my ramblings, my questions are:
1 - Is there a standard length of time I should leave the beer fermenting before taking a gravity reading? Or do I just wait for bubbling to stop?
2 - When bottling, what is the best priming agent to use for a Pale Ale?
3 - How long do I store the bottles for before drinking? And in what sort of conditions?
Any help is greatly appreciated
Welcome to the forum :)
Quote from: Conor84 on November 03, 2014, 02:44:27 PM
1 - Is there a standard length of time I should leave the beer fermenting before taking a gravity reading? Or do I just wait for bubbling to stop?
Usually 2 weeks is a minimum. The bubbler is not a reliable indicator so I usually ignore it. You say there's a nice foam forming on top. That's good. This is at the height of fermentation (called high krausen). When the foam has disappeared, you know that the yeast has cleaned itself up. This is when I usually bottle/keg or transfer to secondary. And it's usually 2 weeks. You can take a gravity reading whenever you want but you know the yeast is working so leave it alone.
Quote from: Conor84 on November 03, 2014, 02:44:27 PM
2 - When bottling, what is the best priming agent to use for a Pale Ale?
Table sugar is fine. Pale ales tend to have a dry finish so sugar won't do any harm.
Have a look here (http://kotmf.com/tools/prime.php) for how much sugar to use.
Quote from: Conor84 on November 03, 2014, 02:44:27 PM
3 - How long do I store the bottles for before drinking? And in what sort of conditions?
You will need 2 weeks in the bottle at +19°C to let it carbonate. Store somewhere dark. Stick them in the fridge a few hours before drinking.
I bottled this same kit last night - it had fermented for 14 days (8 in primary, 6 in secondary) and finished at 1.010
I used brewing sugar (dextrose) for priming but ordinary table sugar should work fine (use caster if you have it, as it dissolves easier). 2 weeks is enough to carbonate the beer, but it generally tastes a lot better after 4.
Smelled and tasted really good as I was bottling it, this is my first attempt at an extract kit.
That's brilliant. Cheers lads. I definitely find the 'being patient' part the trickiest when it comes to homebrewing!
Quote from: Conor84 on November 03, 2014, 02:44:27 PM
My batch has been in the hot press since Friday night at a fairy steady 19/20 degrees.
Isn't that a pretty low temperature for a hot press? Surprised to hear you say that the temp is steady also, given that the temperature in most people's hot presses would spike and drop dramatically at various points during the day..?
Quote from: Bubbles on November 04, 2014, 01:22:05 PM
Quote from: Conor84 on November 03, 2014, 02:44:27 PM
My batch has been in the hot press since Friday night at a fairy steady 19/20 degrees.
Isn't that a pretty low temperature for a hot press? Surprised to hear you say that the temp is steady also, given that the temperature in most people's hot presses would spike and drop dramatically at various points during the day..?
Yeah I agree, my first extract was a Golden Ale, put it in the hot press to ferment. After a day saw the temperature was rising from 26 Celsius to 28 so moved it to somewhere cooler around the 18-20 mark. The warm temperature at the beginning of fermentation gave off some strong banana smells which made my beer seem more like a German Wheat (still worked out nice though!)
Thought I'd ask away here rather than start a new thread. Week five in the fermenter at this stage Brupaks extra stout (with extra molasses), OG was 10.050, FG is steady at 10.014 but when I draw off a sample there's still CO2 fizz in it. I would assume the fizz means its still fermenting? Has this happened to folk here before?