Help please, first timer. Is it time to bottle?

[hopsbee]

Howdy,

Been brewing batch of coopers Australian ale, been in the airing cupboard for about ten days now. Temp been pretty consistent at low 20's, my hydrometer has a line on it that says do not bottle until line falls into brew. My query is this, will it ever fall below the line as it is set at 1.006? My brew is around 1.010 now and started at 1.040, can I bottle it up now or is there something more sinister going on that needs rectifying?

Thanks in anticipation.

 

[RobWalker]

1.010 is about right. your beer has some non fermentable sugar left over, as all beer does - the higher your first reading, the higher your final reading is likely to be. you just need to measure it a few days in a row and if it's consistent, it's probably done.

Bottle it up, remember to add your sugar!

 

[hopsbee]

Cheers for that, I've got carbonation drops for bottling up, I trust these are ok?

 

[RobWalker]

Yep, same thing as sugar, just simplifies the process. good luck :)

 

[hopsbee]

Cheers, looking forward to it. So I can ignore that line in the future then? If the readings are the same over several days it means the fermentation has stopped enough to bottle up. I'll get there in the end, steep learning curve. :hmm:

 

[RobWalker]

Welp, that's why kits and carb drops are good - they get rid of some of the complicated steps and leave you free to learn the essentials. My brother is kegging his first kit ale as we speak :thumb:

Kit instructions are always too much of a "safe bet," your FG will be somewhere between 1.010 and 1.020 for most beers, maybe as low as 1.006 for a dry pilsner using pilsner enzyme that dries out the beer, or 1.025 for trippel with tonnes of malt in, it's mostly a simple case of more malt to start off with = higher ABV and higher final gravity. Most light ales/lagers etc come up around 1.012 give or take, so as long as you're around there and take consistent readings, it's fair to say it's done. Wines and ciders will dry out completely to below the 1.000 line.

The only one to watch is some of the Woodfordes kits are notorious for getting stuck near the end of fermentation, so if you're hitting around 1.018 consistently with a kit, let us know!

 

[charlie_mead_face]

make sure your brew is really clear or you'll get a lot of sediment

 

[hopsbee]

Thanks for all the help guys, it's all good stuff.