Question about yeast and gravity readings half way through fermentation Brewed a Brewer's Best extract kit for an India Black Ale. The OG was right on at 1.058, aiming for a FG of about 1.015. Using dry yeast, American West Coast Ale yeast (Bry-97) from Danstar. Never used it before, and did not hydrate it prior to pitch. I pitched at 59 degrees, and the fermentation did not take until about 48 hours later when the temp in my apartment got the fermenter up to about 73 degrees (and swirled it around gently after 48 hours). The airlock was very active for the next 24 hours then stopped completely after the third day. I'd like to rack to a secondary so I can dry hop and clean the beer up a little. But how do I know if the yeast was active enough? If I take a gravity reading, what am I looking for? Should it be close to the FG? Also, I'm wondering about some of the variables I introduced. It's now been in the primary for about 9 days. If I pitch some more yeast, should I do it in a secondary? What are the downsides to keeping the beer in the primary too long? Also, what are the problems associated with varying the wort temp so quickly (eg going from 59 to as high as 77 within the span of 48 hours), if any? Thanks in advance for any advice.
You will most likely get some actual "expert" advice on this thread as I have gotten in the past. I am not that, but have a dozen or so extract brew under my belt. Here is my two cents for what it is worth. #1 What does the beer look like now? Airlock activity is only 1 indicator of fermentation. If you are fermenting in glass, you will see a ton activity (floaties and such) well after the bubbles have stopped. The beer will also clear up gradually and the krausen and other associated junk will settle towards the bottom. If you had an active fermentation for 24 hours or so, I would guess that there is still fermentation going on in there after only 9 days. I have always waited a minimum of 14-20 days before racking to a secondary (if the style warrants secondary aging/dry hopping) or straight to bottles for some styles (after 14-20 days) The only way to know if fermentation has actually ceased, is to take 2 gravity readings, 2-3 days apart, if they are the same, fermentation is done. If it is still dropping, wait 2 more days and check again. As far as problems go with such drastic temperature swings during fermentation, you may have some off flavors due to stressing those little buggers out so much (again, vikeman or portlargo or many of the hundreds of more experienced homebrewers will give you much more technical advice), but you will most likely still have beer to drink. Next time, try to find a spot, or a timeframe where the temps wont be so all over the place. Temp control is the real key to coaxing out the flavors you want from your yeast. Best of luck!
If I were you, I would not move this beer to secondary, there is no need to do so. I'd leave it in primary for a month, dry hop in primary, and take a gravity reading when you're close to bottling. In my experience, the best thing to do is usually nothing. Just keep the beer at a constant temperature that's optimal for the yeast, and let the yeast do their thing.
in reading your post, sounds like only 24 actual hours of activity (hours 48~72) after pitching? yes, definitely take a reading, but based on what you describe, you'd be nowhere near full attenuation. best one-day attenuation I've gotten was about 60% of my expected gravity drop, and that was a direct pitch onto a MASSIVE yeast cake. temp spike shouldn't make much difference in attenuation, you could have some very mild off-flavors, but at 73 degrees tops, shouldn't be bad. i'd be a lot more worried about a 15 degree spike that topped out in the upper-70s. and in general, don't rush racking to a secondary. in my almost 5 years of brewing, I've never said to myself 'I waited too damn long to rack that off the yeast'. it'll be fine.
If he's going to be nowhere near full attenuation, why take a reading? It's just wasting beer. Airlock activity means nothing.
I'll bet the BRY-97 is done, but another week won't hurt... it was probably fermenting away long before 48 hrs. The fermentor did not instantly get to 73 from 59. Do yourself and your next beer a favor though...have some semblance of temp control...a wet T-shirt over your bucket with several inches of water and some ice in a Walmart tub at a minimum...especially this time of year...in high humidity environments...add a fan and more ice.
^^^ Agreed. I'd argue that fermentation control is one of the biggest factors in how brews shape up. It's an incredible difference.
'wasting'!?!?! seriously, the whole 5oz or whatever it takes to fill a hydrometer flask? and if airlock activity means 'nothing', all the more reason to take some intermittent hydro readings and learn something about the process...
Take a gravity reading. I would be willing to bet that you get a reading in the neighborhood of 1.015. I would highly recommend that you not transfer to a secondary. Simply dry hop in your primary. Cheers!
Fermentation is likely done. A hydrometer will likely show you're in the neighborhood of your target FG. 59F is a little cooler than I like to pitch dry yeast, but it's probably not an issue here. Then again, I've never used Bry-97, so I can't comment on it, specifically. What you described sounds pretty normal to me. Take a gravity reading to put your mind at ease. Pitching more yeast won't do anything - the fermentable sugars were eaten by the first pitch, so there's nothing left for the second pitch to eat. If you choose to pitch more yeast, do it in the primary fermenter (you're eventually going to rack it off the sediment anyway. No need to do that step twice). Indeed, I wouldn't bother with a secondary at all. Two to three weeks in primary is a good ballpark for me, then straight to the keg.
Well, that's your approach, and that's fine. The way I see it, every time you lose 6 ounces to take a reading, that's half a beer. And every time you take a reading, you risk introducing bugs into the beer. I personally like to leave my beer alone for a good long while for those reasons, and because even it fermentation is complete, another 2 weeks in the carboy will allow the yeasts to clean up after themselves. I take a gravity reading on brew day, and another one a month into to process to insure that fermentation is complete, and leave it at that. Newbies have a tendency to be impatient and to bottle too soon. Don't bottle just because fermentation is done, let the yeasts clean up the beer.
if that quantity of beer is an issue, maybe it's time to step up to a refractometer. It 'wastes' two drops.
Sure, or I can just continue doing what I do: one reading on brew day and one reading 1 month in. Works just fine for me, thanks.
Thanks for all the feedback, and the different opinions, very much appreciated. I took a gravity reading tonight, and it came out to around 1.020. Not bad, looks like it's on it's way toward the 1.015 FG. I ended up just dry hopping in the primary, never done that before, 2oz of Zythos pellets. I guess I'll just let the beer sit on the primary for another week or so, and try and filter pretty well on bottling day. doesn't smell infected or bready, the dominant aroma is the malt (80 L Crystal and Victory grains, Amber DME, Dark and Amber LME) with an alcohol scent mixed in. Anyway, thought I'd put an update up here for posterity. Happy brewing everyone.
yes, I could pull out the refractometer and minimize my 'loss', but I often like sampling the beer during the process - tasting the impacts of fruit additions, the reduction of diacetyl over time, etc . and as I suggested above, a lot can be learned about the properties of the yeast (growth curves, etc.) from one brew batch to the next.
