Hi all. Newbie homebrewer here. I’m looking for some guidance regarding my brew. Brewed the Dry Dock Apricot Blonde Extract kit 6 days ago. Followed instructions to the T. Pitched Safale US-05 at 74 degrees. OG 1.057. First 48 hours had a nice 2-3" krausen layer. Added apricot puree at the end of 2nd day per instructions. Visible signs of fermentation completely stopped after that. Krausen disappeared completely, airlock bubbles completely gone.
The variable that I am sure may be playing a role is temp, which I suspect may have caused the brew to ferment too fast, before the apricot puree was added. Kept carboy in closet. Temps in the closet stayed above 76 and got as high as mid 80’s where the carboy was stored due to a faulty ac unit.
I just took a gravity reading and it came out at 1.012 with the wort being 79 degrees.
What are my options at this point? Is that too quick of a gravity jump in 6 days from 1.055 to 1.012? Did the apricot puree ferment at all? Should I re-pitch and if so, when and what type of yeast?
Any info you can provide would be greatly helpful. Thank you in advance.
P.S. I’m working on getting more reliable temp control. :cheers:
It all fermented. Unfortunately 76*-80’s is much much too high and caused the yeast to go into over drive. There is nothing you can do about it now and expect fusel alcohol (hot burning alcohol). Good for you to develop a process that includes temp control as that is the number 1 thing for great beer.
Thank you for the response. I’m hoping that a 2 week primary may help somewhat. I’m supposed to do a secondary for 2-4 weeks and add 4oz’s of apricot extract at kegging. Maybe that will help somewhat as well. I’m not one to waste beer, so I will see this brew through to the end.
Remember the temp of the beer/ferment will be higher than the ambient temp. The same would be true with a human combination feast/orgy. Do you have a basement and/or tub (like the $5 walmart ones where you put ice and beer)?
Since you already seem to be on the right track, I will forgo my typical ‘invest in ferment temp control’ diatribe…
-Craigslist Chest Freezer: $0-50
-Temp Controller (priced from DIY-shipped-from-shady-Chinese-company-with-Celsius-only to a new plug n’ play Johnson Dual Stage Controller): $20-100
-Making “beer” and not “homebrew”: priceless
I purchased an insulated fermentation bag and I’m tinkering with the ice additions. I’ve also Google diy swamp coolers. I’m on it. Thanks for the help.
