Brewed my 1st batch of CB 10 days ago. Fermentation was extremely fast(36 hours in total). Beer has now stabalized and is clear. sp is 1.021, alcohol is approx 2%, and bris is 5.2. These numbers have been unchanged in 3 days.
A local home-brew shop suggested that I “rack” or bottle my beer now. Isn’t it a bit early. Since this is my 1st brew ever, I’m hoping that many of you seasoned pro’s can give me some advice.
Thanks
Chef Ron
You will get lots of advice…so here’s mine. Leave it. Three weeks in primary then bottle is a good amount of time to let the yeast finish up and the beer to age a bit. You could bottle now. As long as it’s done fermenting it can go to bottle, but if you leave it longer, the beer should taste better.
It’s tough to wait on your first batch, but patience is a good thing for beer!
1.021 is about 10 to 12 points to high for CS. Let it sit undisturbed for another two weeks at about 70°.
Thanks for the advice. The taste is a bit “soft”. I sampled from the tube used for the hydrometer. I’ll leave it and YES…it’s tough to wait!
Just like everyone is saying and going to say: just wait. Three weeks in the primary will help the yeast do their job.
Now if you have even more patience, and this is just a personal preference, I rack into a secondary for another week just to help “clean” the beer, as in removing the beer off the yeast cake and letting more yeast drop to the bottom. This just keeps yeast from getting into the bottles and not a necessity, especially with a beer like CS and darker beers.
Wait three weeks, bottle your caribou slobber, and wait three more weeks for bottle conditioning.
[quote=“Chef Ron”]Brewed my 1st batch of CB 10 days ago. Fermentation was extremely fast(36 hours in total). Beer has now stabalized and is clear. sp is 1.021, alcohol is approx 2%, and bris is 5.2. These numbers have been unchanged in 3 days.
A local home-brew shop suggested that I “rack” or bottle my beer now. Isn’t it a bit early. Since this is my 1st brew ever, I’m hoping that many of you seasoned pro’s can give me some advice.
Thanks
Chef Ron[/quote]
Test your hydrometer in DI/RO water to see if it is reading properly. The paper can shift in the tube. If off, you can try gently tapping it into place. Or adding weight by painting nail polish or filing the glass off.
Alcohol 2%? Likely that is “potential” alcohol. Meaning if that was your starting gravity and it fermented to 1.000, you would have a 2% drink. OG of 1.052 and current gravity 1.021 give a ABV of 4.2%. http://www.brewheads.com/stats.php
Although fermentation may be done, there are byproducts that the yeast “clean up” after fermentation. Leave it alone for 3 weeks then bottle.
When you do bottle, fill one plastic soda bottle. Any size, 8, 16, 20… Squeeze the O2 out and screw the cap on. As CO2 is produced the bottle will expand. No wondering what is happening in the glass bottles.
You can fill as many soda bottles as you like. Great for taking camping or other places you don’t want glass. Just stick with neutral soda. No Root Beer, Mr Pib, Dr Pepper. Those flavors will stay with the bottle and contaminate your beer.
