# 1st Brew, Forgot The Sugar, Added Later, Drinkable?



## drunk_pirate (25/8/10)

I started my first brew on the 20th of this month, everything went well with cleaning a sterilizing, mixed up the kit and began fermenting. The instructions I had with the fermenter said nothing about sugar, I saw coopers homebrew enhancer in the supermarket, 
but the word enhancer implies that it's not a basic requirement so I thought i would leave it until i was more experienced, after two days it stopped fermenting, I had started to think something was wrong after a day because I was reading forums and blogs about home-brewing and realized what the problem was, it's a coopers pale ale kit btw, says nothing about sugar or even other fermentables on the can, so i thought about it for a while and then got coopers homebrew enhancer 2 and mixed it in, it started fermenting again after a while but has stopped 24hrs later, ready and drinkable but low in alcohol or get rid of it and start again? to wrap up, brewed coopers pale ale for 2 days with no sugar, left it for about a day like that, mixed in coopers homebrew enhancer 2 on about day 4, began fermenting again for 24hrs but has stopped now, hydrometer reading says 1.014 if i am reading it right, so what should I do, can i bottle it? can I drink it? Will it just be a very light beer and if so why?, I put in a kilo of fermentables, just a little late.


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## Banshee (25/8/10)

Leave it for a few more days in the fermenter, it won't hurt. At least then you'll know it has finish for sure and by leaving it the yeast will settle in the bucket not in your bottles.


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## Hatchy (25/8/10)

1014 isn't completely concerning but I wouldn't be bottling yet. Wait until you get a stable reading for a few days. If you leave it for a week after it reaches FG it won't be the worst thing you could do. There's nothing in yr post that suggests the beer won't be drinkable but no ones 1st beer is their best I don't think (mine certainly wasn't). Did you measure the OG before or immediately after pitching yr yeast? To work out the alcohol % get the OG minus the FG & multiply by 0.14. I don't know why it's 0.14 & have never questioned it. Someone will probably be along to tell us that it's actually 0.13975923749828 or something like that.

Make sure you've been shopping & have something to put in that fermenter once you bottle this lot. There's nothing sadder than an empty fermenter.


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## petesbrew (25/8/10)

From what you said, I'd be leaving it for another a week. This will give the yeast a chance to eat away at that Brew Enhancer.
At a guess I'd say it'll finish round 1008. If you bottle it now, you'll be expecting bottle bombs.


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## Pennywise (25/8/10)

Your beer will be fine, adding fermentables during fermentation is a common practice, especially for big Belgian beers. Your beer has only been in the fermenter for 5 days, so that's not very long, I leave mine in for 14 days minimum. I'd suggest leaving it where it is untill next weekend, it will only do good things for your beer.


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## bignath (25/8/10)

Hatchy said:


> Make sure you've been shopping & have something to put in that fermenter once you bottle this lot. There's nothing sadder than an empty fermenter.




Yeah, i would definitely get another going as soon as...

+1 for above posts, but in addition to this, the only thing i would worry about is your beer may have become oxidised after you mixed in BE2. Aeration of wort when pitching yeast is a highly recommended thing to do (not necessary as in your beer won't work if you dont - but highly recommended for a complete fermentation). It depends on how vigourosly you stirred it in. Personally i wouldn't be opening my fermenter lid at any stage once fermentation has begun, unless you are doing some of these:

1. Racking your beer to secondary - need a spare fermenter for this. Not all beers should/need to be racked by the way. Depends on the result you want.

2. Dry hopping your fermenter - once again, USUALLY done when transferring to secondary fermenter.

I wouldn't tip it yet. You would want to atleast taste a few bottles of this batch so you know what your "yard stick" for comparison in your brewing is. 

BTW, my dad ONLY makes his beer by tipping the can-o-goo, and yeast into a fermenter. He likes the lower alcohol that this produces. I personally don't like the taste of his beer, but there is nothing wrong with his process. He has just recently (based on recommendations from his boys) started adding some small amounts of hops to his beers, but still doesn't add any extra fermentables besides the can. 

Well done on getting the first batch down, and i GUARANTEE that the next batch will be hugely better. There are many, many more knowledgable people on this forum than me, but i've been brewing for a lot of years and i am still constantly learning new things to improve my beer. Keep reading and having fun, and remember - it's your beer, make it how you want.

Cheers and welcome to the forum mate!

bignath


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## drunk_pirate (7/9/10)

ok i need a little more help if it's not any trouble

It's still in the fermenter now, I've tested it everyday for the last 3 days and every reading has been 1.010, only just below the green line, the airlock never started bubbling again, and has been kept in 22 - 26 degree range the whole time.

Would it be ok to bottle, I've heard that you don't bottle until its 1.080 or under but it doesn't look like its ever gonna get there, also i never did an initial SP.GR reading but i'm not sure if that means anything besides me not being able to calculate the alcohol %.

I started a second batch as well, coopers lager + home brew enhancer 1, the airlock went nuts for 2 days and then stopped, is this common, this is what the first batch did except without any enhancer.

thanks for the help everyone


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## Lecterfan (7/9/10)

More experienced and intelligent people than me will reply to this, but if you stirred the extra into the brew at least 12 days ago (if I am reading your post correctly), kept the temp in a range that would ensure fermentation (a touch hot if anything) it's now at 1.010 and has been for a few days then I would guess that all the major fermentation has taken place. How strong it will be depends on what your original gravity reading was... but it should be fine.

Someone else previously suggested racking if you have the spare fermenter which has always been my saving grace to ensure the brew is done.

But in my humble and relatively limited experience it sounds to me like you can start thinking about the next stage, either racking or bottling.

Good luck.

Edit: don't get stressed about the lack of airlock activity, it just tends to maybe indicate that the first two days was a more active fermentation, but just because the airlock stops doesn't mean that the overall process has stopped. The bloop-bloop can be addictive but you have to learn to just let it go haha...


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## manticle (7/9/10)

1010 sounds fine. Leaving it for a couple more days will actually benefit the brew but you are looking for a small range rather than an exact figure. Too many variables in each batch for that. It's just the tin and a kilo of brewing sugar?


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## hirns (7/9/10)

Eighteen days and three consistent readings of 1.010, I'd think you are right to bottle. The 1.080 notion or the green line on your hydrometer tends to be for kits using sugar or dextrose that ferments completely out. The BE2 has some malt and maltodextrine which don't ferment out fully and will give you a higher final F.G.

Cheers

Hirns


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## manticle (7/9/10)

Hopefully you mean 1008 not 1080 (OP and hirns)


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## hirns (7/9/10)

Whoops :unsure: 

Hirns


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