festival - london porter

[terminal500]

I have started a London porter festival kit, have to admit its been different to the previous kits I have done, I have been surprised how little activity it has had, temperature has been a steady 22 - 23 degrees which apparently is about right according to the instructions, I did add an extra 500g of spraymalt, hence the last post on spraymalt. I am now on day 5 and supposed to add the hops, after another 5 days I am supposed to barrel. So I am wondering what to do now, I have never had a kit ferment out by the due date, do I add the hops and wait till the gravity reaches its target of 1.009 or leave it a bit longer before adding the hops, I get the impression I don't want add the hops and leave them too long. Any advice welcome.

Tom.

 

[brewtim]

Don't add the hops until you know you are 5 days (or less for me) from moving it from the FV. I find the hops in the festival kits too overpowering and bitter for my taste, so I hop for less time or use less hops.

You need to check gravity readings to ensure fermentation has finished though, 3 days steady, regardless of bubbling activity or what it looks like.

Ignore kit instructions, leaving it in the FV longer than the 10 days they recommend will not do it any harm, my preference is no longer than 20 days though.

HTH.

 

[terminal500]

Hi, on day 7 today, just took a reading of 1.020 so I'm 11 of the supposed target, any ideas how fast I should expect it to hit its finish gravity or is that a piece of string question. I would be the same as you I feel, I'm not sure I want it really bitter, its quite smooth and silky at the moment but still a bit sweet so hopefully it will ferment out some more, interestingly the surface is very reminiscent of a mill pond with only a few bubbles around the edge. I'll dip it again in a couple of days and see.

Regards
Tom.