Advice needed.

[Davemc]

Came back to home brewing after a lay off, with a Festival kit which is now in the bottle and maturing. I decided to do a Wooford Wherry kit thinking it would have finished fermenting before I go on holiday.

The kit was started 10 days ago and was slow to start fermenting but then got a nice head on it and dropped from the og of 1044 down to 1030 in a week but has since slowed down considerably but there is still activity, it is now around 1028.

I know now from reading the forum that Wherry is slow to ferment (Wish I had read that before starting it). I am going on holiday on Friday so my question is should I rack it off into another FV and leave it untill I come back, or risk putting it into a barrel on Thursday?

 

[donchiquon]

Give it a stir with a sanitised stirrer to rouse the yeast - this sometimes does the trick.

What temperature do you have it at? You can also raise it to 20-21 degrees to help it along.

Test the gravity in a few days time. If it's not started dropping then I would pitch another packet of yeast. Something like Nottingham or similar will finish the job quickly enough.

Wherry is already quite a sweet brew so I would try and finish it as close to 1010 as possible.

 

[Dutto]

Ditto above but I never like to rush brews between stages so I would rack it into another sterilised FV to finish fermenting and leave it until after my holidays.

What you could do is to use this situation as an opportunity to do a bit of dry hopping.

If you are anywhere near a Homebrew shop then call in, buy some hops, rack the brew into a sterilised FV, add the hops, fit an air-lock and leave in a nice cool place to finish fermenting whilst you enjoy your holiday.

Here's a site that explains the hops available ...

https://ychhops.com/varieties

I recommend that you try one of the "aroma" hops that you think you may like.

Hope this helps. :thumb:

 

[Fil]

just let it be while your away, your going to come back to a finished brew nice and clear ready to rack off into bottles or a PB.

 

[Davemc]

Thanks for the replies.

I will rack it into a new FV and leave untill I come back. If I can get hold of some hops I will give that a go, but the nearest home brew shops are a bit away from me so may not get there before I go away.

 

[sjacksonuk]

Ditto above but I never like to rush brews between stages so I would rack it into another sterilised FV to finish fermenting and leave it until after my holidays.

What you could do is to use this situation as an opportunity to do a bit of dry hopping.

If you are anywhere near a Homebrew shop then call in, buy some hops, rack the brew into a sterilised FV, add the hops, fit an air-lock and leave in a nice cool place to finish fermenting whilst you enjoy your holiday.

Here's a site that explains the hops available ...

https://ychhops.com/varieties

I recommend that you try one of the "aroma" hops that you think you may like.

Hope this helps. :thumb:

Sorry for the simpleton question but what are the benefits to racking a brew into another FV?

Am I right in thinking it reduces sedmiment?

 

[Dutto]

Sorry for the simpleton question but what are the benefits to racking a brew into another FV?

Am I right in thinking it reduces sedmiment?

Sitting on top of the trub for a long period can sometimes affect the taste of the beer. (I liken the taste to "metallic".) As a general rule, such an off-taste disappears during conditioning; but it takes a bit longer than normal.

Another benefit is that the very thin layer of trub at the bottom of the second FV will allow you to bottle the beer without transferring it to a bottling bucket.