First time brewer and decided to try the Amber Ale, My question is when I transfered the beer after several weeks on Monday from the first container to the carboy I didn’t syphon just poured and I’m afraid I oxygenated the beer as there were several inches of foam when I was done which has now all gone away.
My question is did I mess up the batch? Should I continue to leave in the carboy for another week & half as called for in the receipe or should I bottle it now, The OG was 1058 and the FG is 1011.
PTM
Definitely not a good idea to pour as you definitely oxygenated your beer. You REALLY want to try to avoid that at all costs.
I would let it runs its course and make sure when you bottle it, that you siphon instead of pour into your bottling bucket.
I seriously doubt the batch is ruined, but it probably could be better. Look at what you have learned already.
Also, looking into making yeast starters if your gravity is over about 1.045 on future batches.
If you did not control your fermentation temps, this is very important as well. Do a search on “Swamp Coolers” for ideas on inexpensive ways to control fermentation temps
Thanks, I kept the beer in the basement it started off at 22C but for most of the time it was between 18-20C, based on it being oxegenated will it have an off taste?
I’m going to disagree with 560sdl on “running it’s course”.
Get the beer in the bottles as soon as possible. It’s already been sitting for 3 weeks. It’s aged enough.
Oxygen post fermentation also leads to staling of the beer.
http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter6-9-3.htmlFill anything you can. Plastic soda bottles work great. You can give them away (if the beer is ok) and not worry about getting them back. Fill the bottle, squeeze the O2 out and screw the cap on. They will expand as CO2 is formed.
Whether you bottle now or in a week the potential damage is done. You might as well get it in the bottles and drink it if it’s any good. If it’s not, that sucks but dump it if you can’t picture yourself pounding 50 bottles of it and start another one knowing what you now know. I’d also save one bottle just to compare to a new batch to see the difference.
