Help!

Australia & New Zealand Homebrewing Forum

Help Support Australia & New Zealand Homebrewing Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

peas_and_corn

I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I cannot mash that
Joined
13/9/05
Messages
4,687
Reaction score
145
Location
South Australia
I started a smoky Belgian ale on the 24th of August. I racked it on the 30th, but I think I did it too early! The SG today is 1.022, and it's still very cloudy

I would prefer it if the SG dropped to about 1.010 before bottling... so what should I do??
 
I would leave to see if it is still brewing, check the sg after a few days and see if it is still coming down.


LX
 
is it chocka full of malty goodness?
very high final alc%?
 
PnK

firstly, don't worry. it should be fine that you racked it at that point. I guess from your hopes for the fg that it is now about 2/3 of the way done. if the sg is not dropping you can rouse the yeast a bit by swirling the fermenter. just rock it a bit on its base, fairly gently, just so the yeast gets back into suspension if it has dropped out.

in fact, thinking about the weather here in sydney, if the temperature has changed a few degrees you may get the same reading even though fermentation is going along fine as sg readings change with temperature.

if you rouse it, then wait. there's no problem leaving it in secondary for a good long time. in fact, it will help your beer.

hope this is of some help and i'm sure it'll be fine.

stuart
 
I think I'll give it a bit of a swirl around later tonight, see what that does.

I'm not worried about it spending a long time in the secondary because of the beer, I just want this batch to be bottled so I can get a start on my next one! I've got a few I want to try out and I'm getting impatient- not a good when talking home brew, since everything takes time to do properly (which is what I want to do).

Cheers!
 
How many fermenters do you have? Another one can do wonders for time management. I now have three, with two beers to be brewed tomorrow, the one spare for racking into. Could be worth a thought?

Stuart
 
Well, I have two right now- the second I will probably use for bulk priming.

I will get a third soon, but I will have to get a second heating pad as well- I keep the fermenter under the staircase and while it is quite cool, sometimes it gets a little too cool. I like to keep it between 22 and 24C
 
sounds pretty warm to me. i try for more like 18C. if it works for you....
 
Keeping the brew around 22 degrees Celsius is fine if you are using the yeast under the lid of the kit. If you are using a different yeast, such as Safale for instance, you might want to consider dropping your temps to 16 or 18 degrees Celsius.
 
Trade in them heat pads for another fermenter. A man definately needs three fermenters at least - 'though two is better than one, and a fermenting fridge if possible.

Keeping them cool is harder than heating them, but more important.

You'll see.
 
Tangent- yeah, it is a high alcohol beer; I can't remember exactly what the start SG is but assuming the final sg is 1.010 it sill be about 6.2%

Right now I am using the yeast that comes under the lid because I haven't yet started venturing out into the world of experimenting with different yeasts yet. It seems to work well at that temperature; but I'll look into temps for each yeast as I start experimenting.

And i don't have a fermenting fridge either! I haven't been brewing for long, and I'm starting to build up everything I need. I'm looking around for a good fridge I could buy that I could use as a fermentation fridge... but I'm still looking. Plus, I am looking for a keg fridge as well.

For fermentation fridges, what would you recommend?? what do you have for your setup?
 
mate, i'd hate to plug a subsiduary of Telstra, but you'd be amazed what you can find in the Trading Post.
 
Hmm... the trading post... sounds interesting.

I'll have a look around uni for fridges for sale first, and then I'll look in the trading post.

What setup do you have?
 
P&K.. it doesnt have to be a working fridge either. i regulate perfect temps by cycling frozen bottles of water daily... works a treat.
 
It's amazing how many people have old working fridges in their shed. Ask around.
Here's one that a friend gave me. He even threw in free delivery because he has a ute.

That pump cover at the back is a nuisance - I'll need to take the door lining out to get a fermenter in (with airlock). The screws are hidden under the edge of the rubber seal.

Also need to fit an over-ride thermostat.

Then of course, I'll need another fridge for secondary. Where does it end? Anyone know?

fridge.jpg
 
Interesting that you happen to mention that, because a bloke at work reckons his dad has a fridge he wants to get rid of!
 
You can never have too many fridges! Got lucky when I drove past a FREE fridge, in working order, outside a neighbours house on the weekend. Convinced the wife that a spare 'food' fridge would come in handy. Now just have to convince her that we don't really need a spare 'food' fridge! ;)
 
dickTed said:
That pump cover at the back is a nuisance - I'll need to take the door lining out to get a fermenter in (with airlock). The screws are hidden under the edge of the rubber seal.

[post="81082"][/post]​

DT... could you not just build a little 'stand' to sit in front of the pump cover.
then surely a ferm could sit on top of that and the pump cover.?
or is that photo deceptive in terms of the fridge hieght.?
 

Latest posts

Back
Top