Midnight beat/wheat/porter @3 wks... bottle? and what next?

Hi all,
I usually secondary most my beers (IPAs, PAs, dry hopping, like clear beers, need to empty 6 gal for next beer, etc etc)

so I have this Midnight Beatdown Wheaten Porter PM
OG 1.056, FG at 2 wks 1.016
soon to be 3 weeks in primary.

I need the carboy for next batch soon, so should I:

  1. move to secondary? (probably not, I know)
    OR 2. bottle at 3 weeks? (70% attenuation)

then, onto this yeast cake, I could pitch something bigger, like the Sinistrial warrior IPA or Black IPA?
I’ve never made the Black IPA or anything over 1.065

thoughts?
thanks,
Melanie

Whatever works for you. If you want to secondary do it, if you have bottles and want to bottle do that!

There is a lot of debate about what is best for beer but really you will get into your own rhythm and style and that is what is great about the hobby.

Edit* Sounds like you should but another primary. Made my brewing life much easier.

[quote=“robotninja”]

Edit* Sounds like you should but another primary. Made my brewing life much easier.[/quote]
+1 what better excuse to do a bit of brew paraphernalia shopping.

If you’ve gone a week since hitting FG, then you could bottle and brew a new beer. If you plan on doing something with similar OG or even something up to 1.080, just use 1/3 of the yeast cake and save the rest in a sanitized jar for future batches.

:cheers:

Take you hydrometer readings and bottle when they stabilize. Fermentation isn’t done at 3 weeks (necessarily). Bottle bombs aren’t any fun.

If the beer has cleared in the primary, it is probably done but you really won’t know with taking gravity readings.

Paul

wow, thanks everyone!

ok, checked the FG again, still at 1.016 since last check a week ago.

so now 3 weeks in primary, nice and clear, beautiful beer, tastes fantastic!

not sure if keeping in primary another week, or transferring to secondary will make much of a change,
but I am happy to move it to secondary,
I just don’t want to rush it.

** would it be totally weird to dry hop this beer?

hops: summit @60 min, then cascade and centennial @ 10 and 0.

dry hop with mix cascade and centennial?

thanks

Dry hop away! I’ve noticed with the beatdowns, you can’t get too hoppy :smiley:

ok, I will dry hop the next time I make this beer. thanks.

I decided this time I should make the recipe as is… I just bottled it and it quite possibly could be the best beer yet that I’ve brewed and I can imagine dry hopping it.
I don’t know if it’s the kit, the PM (and full boil) or just that I’m getting better at this, finally.

I love the regular wheaten beaten too, but this porter, wow!

making another SWIPA now, first time PM with this one.

I see that you have a Waldo going, I just bottled that too, and it’s quite tasty… didn’t think I’d like an Amber so much.

thanks for all the tips.

Melanie

I’d attribute the better beer to your knowledge of brewing. Beer #1, at the time delicious, I know now was the worst beer I made :wink:

I’ve heard lots of good things about the amber. Wanted to try a different style. I brewed it 1/2/12 and am trying to get the ferment to finish so I can bottle it up and get another beatdown in the primary.

I’m definitely going to add the midnight beatdown to my next NB order!

:cheers:

my midnight beatdown is 13 days in the primary and has been stable at 1.018 for a few days as well. just waiting for the shipment from NB to get here (hopefully tomorrow) to rack to secondary and dry hop with cascade pellets. probably an ounce. this is also my first PM and im stoked on it. i think its going to be the best brew yet. never dry hopped before, any advice? planning on using an oz of pellets. just dump em in? cold crash before bottle? dont mean to thread jack you, hope you dont mind, figured it was closely related.

yes, just pour the hops in there to dry hop.
for 7-10 days or so.

they usually sink after awhile.

when I rack to bottling bucket, I tie a nylon knee high to end of tubing, to filter out any bits of hops.

I am going to dry hop next time.

this is a very good beer, I’ve been tasting a little while carbonating, wow!

keep us posted!

newbrewermel - i know its awesome, reminiscent of widmer black ipa…but better. and i only tasted it when taking a sample for a hydrometer reading a week in primary. its going to be so good in the end. have you bottled it already? i just ordered this mini keg kit with 4, 5 liter kegs ( the kind you get at the store with heineken) and a tap that uses co2 cartridges, thinking of bottling half of it and filling two of the little party kegs…so when you dry hopped in the past, did you ever get any negative results? ive read of a “grassy” or green flavor…im having second thoughts of dry hopping this particular batch, cuz i really think its top notch at the moment. maybe i just shouldnt mess with it this time and wait til the next go round like your doing. yeah, i think i will experiment with dry hopping on a different brew, this one is pretty hoppy already. i still dont know what to call this beer…a porter? not really. a wheat beer? technically. a black ipa/cascadian dark ale? not quite…i think its in a league of its own.

hrpuffinstuff:

I bottled my midnight porter about a week ago, and my soda bottle tester bottle is all puffed up, so I am chilling it now, will taste tonight (again), I taste it every chance I get!

yup, maybe you should try it first without dry hop. It’s so good the way it is.

I have never had a bad dry hop experience. It’s fairly safe to play around with, it’s for aroma. Start with 1 ounce and go from there.
I dry hop with 2 ounces for my IPAs and now am using some whole hops.
Make sure and use the hops recommended for dry hopping.

tell me more about those mini kegs, I’m intrigued. Where did you buy it?

I’m thinking of getting 2-3 gallon carboys to split batches and try different stuff, like dry hopping, adding coffee, etc.

I’m going to name this beer “midnight wheat”

keep us posted!
Melanie

[quote=“newbrewermel”]I bottled my midnight porter about a week ago, and my soda bottle tester bottle is all puffed up, so I am chilling it now, will taste tonight (again), I taste it every chance I get!
[/quote]

thats a good idea…plastic soda bottle.

even though i got my cascade hop pellets yesterday ive decided to not dry hop this. i will have to do a litte more research on what good dry hopping types are. racked to secondary yesterday though after two weeks, will probably leave it there for 1 - 3 weeks. still throwing names around for this one…got like a whole page worth probably wont decide until i actually taste it in its prime, the final flavor may alter my decision.

im thinking the same thing, if it doesnt turn out the best, thats only 2.5 gallons you have to drink, toss, or give away.

well i found some threads about re-using the ones from the store, either bottle primed or force carbonated. but i found this kit for sale:

, its pricy for what it is, the tap is where all the money is going, the empty kegs are about the same price as a full one from the store, so i could have saved some money there, or at least gained 5 gallons of beer, but i like that theyre blank, and that they dont have the gravity fed tap on the bottom. also i wouldnt be able to drink all that beer in time to use it when i want to. apparantly these leak for some people, or dont hold carbonation for more than a day after being tapped. i think its more of an operators error considering everything ive read. wish i had room for a 3 or 5 gal corny, cuz i have all the other necessary equipment to force carb, but i dont. plus these are way more portable.

heres a couple videos featuring the mini kegs too: