So I started my first brew last night (a summer crisp IPA that I'm jazzing up with some extra mosaic during dry hopping). First a couple observations, then some questions. OBSERVATIONS: 1.) I need a pre-wort chiller for my wort-chiller. The first 100 degrees of drop happened super fast with my wort chiller but the last 40 degrees took forever! I think I'm gonna buy another wort chiller to stick in an ice chest just to cool the water before hitting the main wort chiller. 2.) Star-San sanitizer in a spray bottle is amazing! Made me worry free for contamination. 3.) I poured my cooled wort through a strainer and a cheese cloth type fabric (sanitized of course) and it clogged super fast with the hops residues). Not sure now if filtering it into the primary fermentaion bucket is all that important. QUESTIONS: 1.) The wort, once in the primary fermenting bucket with added water to make 5 gallons was too foamy to accurately get a gravity reading from the hydrometer. How do you get your first OG reading, and at a day later is it too late now? 2.) I added an "alcohol boost" which is just a pack of powdery sugar that Austin Homebrew says increases your alcohol by 1% without affecting color, flavor or aroma. Does this make fermentation any longer? If so, how do I know how long to keep it before bottling if I don't have an OG reading?
Pre-chillers are okay. A cheap pond pump recirculating ice water through your immersion chiller is better, i.e. faster. You don't need all that trub in your fermenter. I strain with one of these, and if/when it clogs, dump the trub into a box and carry on. You can draw a sample out with a sanitized wine thief and take your reading in a test jar. But yes, a day after you pitched the yeast is too late for an accurate OG reading. Bigger beers generally take longer to ferment, but you probably won't notice a huge difference in fermentation time in this case. You'll know fermentation is done when two gravity readings, taken 2-3 days apart, show the same result. Regardless of whether or not you added sugar, you shouldn't go by some random number of days someone typed into the kit recipe.
Like @Vikeman says, a day later is too late for an accurate OG reading, but I'd take it anyway because it can be helpful. You are probably basically talking about overnight rather than a full day anyway, right? I always have the same foam on the top of my wort after transfer, so I just wait about an hour or so and the foam will disappear.
I agree with this. I tried a prechiller and it was painfully slow. I use a pond pump with icewater if I need assistance getting the temp lower.
