I have an interesting situation. -5 weeks ago, I brewed a British Bitter, OG was 1.034
-After 3 weeks in primary, it still had activity, and the gravity was
1.015, so I racked it to secondary and place a dash of yeast energizer
in it.
-A week later (last weekend), I checked, the gravity was 1.010, but still an airlock “blurp” every 15 seconds.
-This morning, the hydrometer indicates 1.006. The “blurps” are 40 seconds apart.
*** Should I wait another week to bottle? If I bottle this morning, will I have bottle bombs?
I would definitely wait on this one since something is still going on. 1.006 seems like a very low SG for an British Bitter. Did you boil the nutrient to sanitize it before adding to the secondary?
If it was still active, you should have left it in primary, I’m surprised you got such a drop after transferring. That’s why it’s taking so long.
1.006 doesn’t seem like much risk of bottle bombs, but I’d still wait until you have a stable gravity. The blurps could be ongoing fermentation, or just temperature changing.
You beat me on the reply.
I thought the same about that SG reading, so I looked it up in my 2008 style guide.
Ordinary bitter (8A) suggests the FG range at 1.007-1.011. Given that the OP was also at the low end of the OG range 1.032-1.040, I don’t think he’s too far off the mark. Assuming the beer doesn’t get too much drier, that is.
I don’t think you can say it’s low according to the style guidelines. The OP never mentions what yeast he used . Also I would never judge if my fermentation was finished by style guidelines. Yeasts post their average attenuation %. It’s just an average I often get better attenuation than predicted using the posted average. Let it go until it stops dropping.
@brew_cat, You’re absolutely correct, but I wasn’t trying to imply that the OP’s beer was done based on style guidance. I was replying to @flars comment that 1.006 seemed “very low” for a Bitter. 1 point is close enough for me.
A pouch of S-04 in 5 gallons of a 1.034… I’m not doing any math here, but my gut says it may drop another point or two… Still, I’m not sure what the impact of the early racking will be.
I would taste yer sample too, just in case something else is taking over the ferment… You never know that you may not have cleaned up yer fermenter well, and, well, got a bug… Sneezles61
Sneezles, I did taste it after each gravity draw. It’s crystal clear, and taste just right. I’m planning on bottling this weekend, and will go light on the primer sugar.
