First brew doesn't look right

[Zeebeedee]

First attempt at this of many until I get it right!

Brewing a wherry bitter, sterilised everything followed the instructions to the letter. Sat the fermentation tank in a builders bucket surrounded by a moat if water kept at 19 degrees by a fish tank heater.

It's day one of testing following the Instructions and here is the results

No idea why that's upside down! It's reading 1.010

 

[sam.k]

What do you see that's wrong? Looks ok to me.

 

[Zeebeedee]

Just looked too pale in the test jar. How much longer do you reckon I wait before I transfer it to the barrel?

 

[sam.k]

Test again tommorow and the day after, if it stays the same then keg it with the priming sugar recommended (3G per litre I think isn't it?)
Leave in the warm for a week then move to the cold, wherry is at its best at about 2 months old.

Ps it's likely pale due to the volume of liquid, if you had it in a pint glass it would be darker as your looking through more of it.

 

[LeithR]

When did you start this off? It looks like it has fermented and just about finished, that's certainly the stage it looks like.

If you have done as you say then it may have got to this stage very quickly so its not a problem.

Can you transfer the wart into an FV with an air lock? If its sitting at 1.010 then it might go a little lower. There is nothing wrong with doing this, it allows the yeast to clean up after itself before you prime and bottle. It could stay in an airlocked FV for a couple of weeks quite comfortably.

Somebody else with experience of Wherry will be able to give a more focused response.

 

[PD]

Is it a Woodfordes Wherry ? if so it does look a little pale in the trial jar, but should still be fine.
If its another Wherry BITTER it might be spot on.
Give it a full 10 days from the start of fermentation before transferring it anywhere

 

[Zeebeedee]

Yeah it's a woodfordes wherry. Started the brew Saturday so its come on quick. I gather there is no harm in leaving it another 5 days then before adding the sugar and kegging it.

 

[Zeebeedee]

What do you all reckon then? Time to keg or leave for another 5 days? Can you overdo the first fermentation or is longer always better.

 

[PD]

to coin an old phrase........the longer the better.

best of all though, learn to use a hydrometer and be guided by that.

 

[andybrew]

leave it for another 5 days

 

[Zeebeedee]

It had dropped slightly more last night. What's all the crud then and how do you get rid off it?

 

[Duxuk]

When you syphon it into bottles or keg the "crud" will float on top so won't affect the beer. I tend to leave my brews for 14 days in the FV. I then keg or bottle without racking to a secondary. Hydrometer reading should remain constant for 3 days, but I tend to look at it and play it by ear, rather than taking loads of readings. Views vary but I'm anything for an easy life as long as the beer is better than anything you can buy!!!!!!!!!!!! Time is a great healer. Give it time and don't follow the instructions which may be telling you what could happen in laboratory conditions.

 

[Zeebeedee]

Kegged today! Fingers crossed but my first go seems to be working fine!

 

[PD]

5 days from starting to kegging ? :nono: :nono: :nono:

 

[Zeebeedee]

It's 10 I started it 5 days before my first post, should have made that more clear in my first post.

 

[PD]

:thumb:

 

[Zeebeedee]

Had a little taste, tasted good already!

I've sat it back in its water bath at 22 degrees for 2 days then its under the stairs for 2 weeks to finish!