Still getting the hang of everything and this is only my second batch. Everything thing is pretty straightforward though and easy to understand. Here's the recipe so i don't have to explain everything. http://www.brewersbestkits.com/pdf/1038_Scottish_Ale.pdf The OG I just got was 1.070. Doesn't make sense. Any ideas why? I did everything it said and only use what was in the kit. I checked the hydrometer with water too and it's fine.
Did you top the wort up to the proper volume with water and then stir well before taking your reading?
-_- Yeah that was the problem. Went back and figured it out. haha I guess I was eager to get the OG 'cause I forgot to my with first batch.
I'm gonna piggyback on your question thread since I'm too lazy to create a new one and this fits me pretty well. On Sunday, I brewed my second effort, an imperial pumpkin porter. Felt I did a good job on it. Target gravity per the recipe was 1.072 and I got mine in at 1.073. Created a yeast starter of WYeast 1084 the day before and pitched into a fermentation bucket after chilling down to 75. The fermentation bucket is sitting in a bath that keeps it at a solid 65-72 degree range for the past two days. My question: I set up the fermentation bucket with a blowoff tube figuring it might need it since it's a higher OG brew. But not only has that not been a problem, the krausen line visible from the exterior of the bucket is generously a half-inch high. I was expecting a high gravity brew pitched around a good temp to form a vigorous krausen 48 hours in, but that has not happened. Does the krausen level get impacted by a leak in the airtightness of the bucket (thinking that the bucket might not be perfectly airtight)? Did I mess up my starter? Do I just need to RDWHAHB? (The plan is to wait until the tenth day, take a gravity reading, and rack to secondary with my rum and pumkin spice tea.
depending on your fermentation temp, the yeast will act differently. if you're down toward the bottom end of your range, the yeast is going to ferment a bit slower, so you won't see that really hard-bubbling, vigorous fermentation that you would if it were 7 degrees hotter. rdwhahb, and be glad you're probably not fermenting it too hot. i had some issues with that throughout my first 10 batches and i made some pretty weird brews that i did not enjoy drinking too much...
I vote for RDWHAHB on this. Since you do have krausen, that's a good indication that something's going on in there. You may have to hold off the racking to secondary a few days, but you shouldn't have too much issue.
