Brickwarmer Additions

hoppman21 · February 19, 2014, 8:15pm

Hi All,

I just brewed and am fermenting the NB Brickwarmer Red Ale kit.

I followed the recipe pretty close except for a few things.

I boiled 4 gals and topped to 5 instead of the 2.5 in the instructions and also added crushed coriander seeds in a mesh bag @ 15 min to the end of the boil.

Questions:

When I measured the OG it came out to 1.052 instead of the 1.062 that the instructions state. Could that be due to the 4 gal boil and then top off to 5? Could/would the coriander play any role in the lower gravity?
Can anyone give me any suggestions surrounding any additions they have made to this kit? I dont think this kit needs a secondary, but I was thinking of dropping 2 cinnamon sticks in if I did. Can they be dropped in the primary after fermentation is done?

Thanks for any insight. Again, this forum is awesome. I am very new at this (this is my 3rd brew) but the info from here and the actual brew day teach me something every time.

Cheers,

~Hopp

flars · February 20, 2014, 2:22am

Your recorded OG being low is most likely because top off water and boiled wort not fully mixed in the fermentor. Your sample came from part of the wort light in sugars.
Secondary is optional. Most home brewers skip the secondary and use the primary for clearing the beer.
You can add your additions to the primary. I would wait until the beer clears to do this if you plan on having the additons in the beer for a very short time. This way you can rack directly to the bottling bucket when the time is up.

hoppman21 · February 20, 2014, 3:46am

Thanks. Now that u say that, I,don’t know that I swirled them around before I took the gravity reading. I would have thought that racking onto the water in the carbon would have been enough to mix the. Sufficiently. Either way I think I will be ok.

Thanks for the reply.

flars · February 20, 2014, 2:21pm

[quote=“Hoppman21”]Thanks. Now that u say that, I,don’t know that I swirled them around before I took the gravity reading. I would have thought that racking onto the water in the carbon would have been enough to mix the. Sufficiently. Either way I think I will be ok.

Thanks for the reply.[/quote]
Vigorous shaking for aeration usually accomplishes the mixing of the wort and top off water.

hoppman21 · February 20, 2014, 3:44pm

[quote=“flars”][quote=“Hoppman21”]Thanks. Now that u say that, I,don’t know that I swirled them around before I took the gravity reading. I would have thought that racking onto the water in the carbon would have been enough to mix the. Sufficiently. Either way I think I will be ok.

Thanks for the reply.[/quote]
Vigorous shaking for aeration usually accomplishes the mixing of the wort and top off water.[/quote]

Thanks. I did aerate, but I believe it was after the gravity reading. I have aggressive fermentation now so I think I’m good. But lesson learned for next time. I didnt even think that a slight oversight like that could have an impact.