First homebrew: Better brew IPA everything normal?

[Trebor]

Hi!
I debated posting this in the thresd for the better brew IPA kit but since i'm still a long way from seeing how it turned out i'd like to just get feedback on where I am at so far (and hopefully find I have nothing to be worried about).

In the photos you can see the surface of the fermented beer. It's been in a FV without an airlock for a week today at about 21-22°. The hydrometer has read 1.012 on three readings taken in the last 4 days. The beer kit for the better brew IPA says to allow 10 days to ferment but I am thinking that tomorrow I will siphon it into a secondary for a few days to a week (still waiting on some swingtop bottles I orderered to arrive).
Being my first brew, I am kind of worried about things like infection but it doesn't smell unpleasant. What do you think?

 

[henteaser]

It's hard to tell with the lighting in the photo but it looks fine.

I would suggest leaving it in primary until your bottles arrive.

You may have reached final gravity, but unless you've tasted it (and you're happy) there may still be some beneficial activity happening (e.g. Diacetyl reduction) which some more time will be of benefit.

Hope it turns out well!

 

[Ciaran12s]

Looks fine to me mate. Haven't done this particular kit but all looks normal. With my schedule my beers get close on 4 weeks primary before transferring to a bottling bucket and batch primed. At that point there's next to no residue on top and it's all crystal clear.
If I was you I would leave it where it's at. The day before the bottles arrive I'd move the fermenter to where you're going to siphon from to allow everything to settle back down again. Then after 24ish hours rack to bottling bucket and batch prime. Now that's pretty much what I do and I'm happy with it. I've never secondary fermented and never had problems because of it but others may disagree.
Imo the advantages of doing as described are 1)there aren't any massive benefits from secondary fermenting (I've never done it but had no problems)
2)batch priming has been successful for me and that's how I go now. If you rack to secondary and then to a bottling bucket for batch priming that's double the oxygenation risk.

I would imagine being an IPA this is dry hopped? If so I would advise against putting any sort of filtration sock over the siphon suction, but put it on the outlet. I ruined a beer doing this with a youngs auto siphon. The suction filter clogged and effected the flow. The beer splashed everywhere and is undrinkable with a horrible cardboardy/wet dog taste

 

[Slid]

Hi!
I debated posting this in the thresd for the better brew IPA kit but since i'm still a long way from seeing how it turned out i'd like to just get feedback on where I am at so far (and hopefully find I have nothing to be worried about).

In the photos you can see the surface of the fermented beer. It's been in a FV without an airlock for a week today at about 21-22°. The hydrometer has read 1.012 on three readings taken in the last 4 days. The beer kit for the better brew IPA says to allow 10 days to ferment but I am thinking that tomorrow I will siphon it into a secondary for a few days to a week (still waiting on some swingtop bottles I orderered to arrive).
Being my first brew, I am kind of worried about things like infection but it doesn't smell unpleasant. What do you think?

Looks fine to me.

Two weeks in the FV is always a good move, Just leave it alone for now.

Whether you rack it off to another FV for a further week is up to you. I do, but most don't and I very much doubt it makes any real difference.

 

[Ciaran12s]

Whether you rack it off to another FV for a further week is up to you. I do, but most don't and I very much doubt it makes any real difference.

Its one of those things it seems. I have done once resulting in a drain cleaner but that's more because of the kinked siphon tube and the hop strainer on the suction end. Everyone has their way and if it results in good beer who's to say what's right or wrong. I think it really comes down to personal setup/preference and doing what works for yourself. Im happy with current setup and will tweak and look for advice.

I've had a few pints of "lager" tonight. First in a good few weeks and I must say they were really unenjoyable. I've been used to really good beer and that's one can kits with very simple tweaks

 

[Sandimas]

Use of a secondary increases the risk of infection - been there, got the T- shirt :-( I don't use a secondary anymore.

Looks like there's still bubbles on the top, so it's still going. How long has it been fermenting? Best not to bottle until Day14 or later.

 

[Budgie]

+1 for leaving it alone for a bit. The photo looks perfectly normal and healthy. I never even open the fermenter before 2 weeks. The more you open it, the more chance of infection. If you follow Ciaran's advice, you wot go far wrong.

 

[LarryF]

Welcome to the forum Trebor. I bottled one of these a couple of months ago and it looked exactly like that. My one had two full weeks in the FV and it bottled just fine. My final Gravity was 1008 but I was using Mauribrew 514 re-pitched.

 

[Old_P]

+2 for leaving it alone. I have had much better results and clearer brews since leaving it in the primary FV for a minimum of two weeks, usually up to three weeks and then rack it off in to a bottling bucket and batch prime.
It's worth tasting your beer at the different stages and noting the difference. In time you will start tasting the subtle changes which all adds to the learning process.

 

[chub1]

Looks fine to me.

Two weeks in the FV is always a good move, Just leave it alone for now.

Whether you rack it off to another FV for a further week is up to you. I do, but most don't and I very much doubt it makes any real difference.

I do same as Slid.
Also looks good to me:thumb:

 

[GerritT]

A bit off topic, but if I wanted to dry hop, isn't one of the methods adding hops to secondary, after racking?

 

[Slid]

A bit off topic, but if I wanted to dry hop, isn't one of the methods adding hops to secondary, after racking?

Sounds on-topic to me. Yes, adding dry hops after racking to a secondary FV does sound good.

Not likely to lose much aroma from CO2 bubbling out and bottling comes at much the same time as removing the hops.

 

[Godsdog]

A bit off topic, but if I wanted to dry hop, isn't one of the methods adding hops to secondary, after racking?

Do it loads of times more often than not

 

[Druncan]

Just don't keep peeking without a Starsan spray!!! TBH, IMHO, do not open if possible at all and take samples from delivery spout,,,
At all times look to reduce the risk of bacterial/wild yeast infection. However, Sadly, It will happen,, then learn, sanitise, progress.

Then enjoy drinking top quality cheap beers the UK legal system does not control. party on!:grin:

 

[Trebor]

Thanks for the advice!

I bottled it today. It looks and smells like, well.. beer. I had a taste too, it tasted fairly weak, like it's under 4% abv. My final read was 1.011. Still, seem's nice enough. Now I will wait until the end of October before giving one a try

 

[GerritT]

Secondary is not so bad, to get rid of most of the trub. Few days in secondary probably won't raise the risk of oxidation much but gives an extra possibility to untrub the beer. Well, we'll just have to find out, as the hare said to the porcupine.

 

[Trebor]

Hello I can give an update now on how this turned out because I have opened 3 bottles now.

The first one I had was very pleasant, this is after 11 or 12 days fermenting and then another 3 weeks after adding brewing sugar for carbonation. The first one was very pleasant. It reminded me a little of trooper beer. Not quite as much carbonation as I would have liked. The second bottle was one that was bottled from the bottom of the fermentation bucket and had more sediment in it. I poured the sediment into the glass too and this gave it an awful taste and it had to go down the sink. Lesson learned!
I am on my third now which is about another week later and I am finding it to be quite hard to drink. The aroma is strong and I don't quite know how to describe it and the flavour has a very strong bitter aftertaste that lingers for quite a while, it's not very enjoyable to be honest. There's sediment resting in the swingtop bottle still, which I took care not to pour much of into the glass.
Can any experienced brewer share some insight into this?