Nobody Listens

Finally got around to bottling my first batch of Pale Ale. 

I soaked my bottles in OxyClean to remove them and clean them Friday night thinking I would get to bottle on Saturday night.  One thing led to another and I wasn’t able to get to it until Monday.

I can see why people Keg.  Not only is the whole process a pain, but storing all those bottles sure does take up a lot of room especially considering I’ll need to bottle batch number 2 in a few weeks.

I tasted the brew and it tasted pretty bitter.  I’m hoping the carbination will cut that a bit.

My Final gravity was 1.014 so it hadn’t changed since I racked to secondary (which is expected).  My Original Gravity was 1.056 so that puts the ABV at 5.46%.  Not bad.  My target Final ABV was 6.02%.

Now, more waiting. 

• Total time in Primary: 12 days
• Total time in secondary: 16 days

So I racked to secondary.  The kid in me won out (sorry John!).  

 I prepped all my gear and got to siphoning.  The whole process went pretty smoothly.  I did notice a Star San Snake appear out of the top of the carboy, but as I have read numerous times, “Don’t fear the foam!”

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I’m still pondering the same question from a few days ago: should I rack to secondary?

Being the newbie that I am, I e-mailed the Brew Dudes mainly asking what my Final Gravity should be and if when I should rack to secondary.

Brew Dude John was kind enough to respond:

“Now, for the secondary.  For this brew, I would leave it alone until Sunday and then rack to bottles or a keg.  I don’t think you are going to get another 3 points in another vessel for a while (do you really want to secondary for another 3-4 weeks?) if at all.  To me, I think you have gotten what you can from your yeast.  I think it’s close enough and you probably have a good beer on your hands.  So, you didn’t hit your final gravity…you got pretty close and that works most of the time.

I get pretty close most of the time and I am happy with that.I think secondary fermenters don’t need to be used for the ale you are making….I would skip it this time.” 

The impatient kid in me wants to use all my new toys.  I’d like to rack to secondary just to do it and use my new carboy.  The impatient adult in me wants to drink this beer ASAP.  So waiting an extra week or two is a week or two without this beer.

I know John is right.  I’m not going to get much more out of this brew in terms of drops in SG or any increase in ABV.

Decisions… Decisions…

John also pointed me in the direction of BeerTools.  They have a free registration where you can calculate your FG and some other cool stuff. 

Thanks again John! 

Fermentation has slowed significantly. I’m getting about 3-7 bubbles per minute. I’m wondering if I should rack to secondary. I’ve actually been reading up on that. You have those for it, those against it, follow the 1-2-3 rule, or not.My recipe didn’t come with a target Final gravity but did have the ABV listed so I guess I can figure it out that way.I took a reading @ 69 degrees. The SG was 1.018 which I think is my final gravity although the ABV doesn’t add up.  OG was 1.056.

Does this look… right?

According to the recipe, I’m aiming for an ABV of 6.02%. How much will change in the SG with the secondary and how much is gained in bottling? ABV right now is at 4.92%. I don’t think bottling will take it up to that point.In googling about, I found out that my strain of yeast, WLP005, is a bottom fermenting yeast. According to their FAQ:

” We advise to keep it in the primary fermentor until fermentation is complete. You might have to shake it once in a while to rouse it back up from the bottom and make sure it finishes.”

I think I’ll take another reading tomorrow night then go from there. I’m leaning toward going ahead and racking to secondary. I might give the folks at HomeBrew USA a call to see what they recomend.

Fermentation is well under way.  Bubbling like mad.  Pretty exciting stuff.  My wife is already tired of me talking homebrew.

Woke up this morning eager to see if any signs of fermentation were happening.  The lid was bulging a bit, so I pressed it slightly.  A few bubbles, but nothing spectacular.

I was being a bit impatient.  Did I aerate enough?

The temp. was around 67.  I did something (potentially) dumb: I hooked up a heater next to my bucket.  The air temp quickly rose to about 71 and the airlock began bubbling like mad.  I thought better and turned it off.  The bubbling subsided shortly there after.

The airlock seemed to be sucked all the way down and looked like it was pulling water back into the bucket.

Maybe I should just leave well enough alone.

The setup.  A perfect little spot for making beer.

The day (actually night) had arrived.

I had read around on some postings that secondary fermenters should be glass, not plastic due to the headroom and the permeability of plastic. So I decided to use the 7.5 gallon bucket I got at HomeBrew USA for my primary. I’ll pick up a carboy later. Plus the old bucket was, well… old.

I put the old bucket to good use however. I cleaned it well and mixed up 5 gallons of Star San. Overkill, yes but it should keep for a long time.

Here’s the recipe I’m making. It is a Pale Ale that HomeBrew USA calls “Cape Henry Pale Ale”

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