St Peters Ruby ale

[joiner_8]

Hi, I have just started to brew the St Peters Ruby Ale and this is the first time i have brewed this kit, I short brewed it to 21.5 Ltrs with an SG of 1046,anyway I started it last Sunday morning pitched the yeast at 70 Degs checked it on Monday afternoon and it was bubbling away fine I have a brew fridge with temperature control so its been sitting steady at 18 Degs, on checking today Wednesday the fermentation seems to have slowed down quite a bit but its still bubbling away slowly .
I have resisted the temptation of opening the lid to see what was going on, some of the posts about this brew say you should leave it alone and let it bubble away for at least two weeks before checking it, is this correct this is only my second beer brew so still a beginner.
Any advise welcome.

 

[TartanSpecial]

If it were me I'd leave it until it stops then check the gravity.

 

[Covrich]

Yep leave it nothing to gain from sticking your nose in yet especially if its still bubbling away

I hope by the way you changed from Fahrenheit to Celsius mid post :p

 

[terrym]

Hi, I have just started to brew the St Peters Ruby Ale and this is the first time i have brewed this kit, I short brewed it to 21.5 Ltrs with an SG of 1046,anyway I started it last Sunday morning pitched the yeast at 70 Degs checked it on Monday afternoon and it was bubbling away fine I have a brew fridge with temperature control so its been sitting steady at 18 Degs, on checking today Wednesday the fermentation seems to have slowed down quite a bit but its still bubbling away slowly .
I have resisted the temptation of opening the lid to see what was going on, some of the posts about this brew say you should leave it alone and let it bubble away for at least two weeks before checking it, is this correct this is only my second beer brew so still a beginner.
Any advise welcome.

First I assume your pitching at '70 Degs' is a typo for 20 Degs. Otherwise
The advice you mention is a sensible way forward, i.e leave the lid on and give it two weeks.You could perhaps do the first of your SG readings on day 12 and if the same on days 13 and 14 you could then go ahead and bottle. If you are unable to bottle on day 14 the you can leave it in the FV for longer, or up to 2/3 days less if the SG tells you it's OK to bottle.
And when you get to try your brew don't forget to tell us what you think of it in the Kit Review section.

 

[joiner_8]

I'm a bit puzzled, if you leave your brew for say 2 weeks and most of the sediment has dropped to the bottle and it's pretty clear, will there still be enough suspended yeast to assist in carbonation I thought the cloudiness was the suspended yeast, so if it's dropped to the bottom will the brew still carbonate.
I am also thinking about batch priming if I do, can anybody give me an idea of the normal amount of priming sugar to use also to answer you question I did change from degs for to degs c mid stream sorry

 

[Bigcol49]

Hi!
There is a priming sugar calculator on Brewer's Friend - this isn't the only one by any means.
The sedimentation is mainly dead yeast, but there is enough live yeast in there to make it possible to pitch a new brew onto the trub of a finished brew.
However, not all of the yeast settles out - there is enough yeast left in suspension to chomp on the priming sugar and carbonate your beer. You can't see the little darlings, but they are there. That's why some commercial breweries filter the finished beer to harvest their house yeast and add a different strain of yeast for conditioning.

 

[terrym]

Wot Bigcol says.
Clearer beer means less live yeast but all this means, I suppose, is that it will just take longer to chew up the priming sugar. Suspended yeast levels after two weeks in primary should still normally carb up after a week in the warm but to make sure two weeks is usually recommended.

 

[joiner_8]

Check my ruby ale this morning and it's down to 1020 from 1046 but there does not seem to any activity from the airlock, but you can still see some small bubbles rising to the surface of the brew, it's been going from last Sunday do you think I should just leave alone until a week on Sunday and that will be it fermenting for 2 weeks

 

[Covrich]

Check my ruby ale this morning and it's down to 1020 from 1046 but there does not seem to any activity from the airlock, but you can still see some small bubbles rising to the surface of the brew, it's been going from last Sunday do you think I should just leave alone until a week on Sunday and that will be it fermenting for 2 weeks

Yes, it is only day 5 and it will have slown down a lot but those last few points will come, it will probably get down to 1014 ish

 

[LarryF]

As of late I've been giving my brews three weeks in the FV in the hope of clearing the beer a bit and it seems to be working well. Also, as I'm doing one off and one on it breaks up the timing as I'm not tied to doing beer day every second Saturday.

 

[terrym]

Check my ruby ale this morning and it's down to 1020 from 1046 but there does not seem to any activity from the airlock, but you can still see some small bubbles rising to the surface of the brew, it's been going from last Sunday do you think I should just leave alone until a week on Sunday and that will be it fermenting for 2 weeks

The advice on here is to leave it for about two weeks, so be patient, and keep the lid on as much as you can.

 

[Blinky]

Its my favorite kit beer - made 2 batches and both have been excellent

 

[joiner_8]

Just checked my ruby Ale this morning its been brewing for about 13 days now the SG was 1013 is that about the sg you would expect at this stage i will check it again tomorrow also its still a bit cloudy and it tastes like beer but maybe a little light in flavour, i brewed it to 21.5 ltrs.
Should i leave it another week or if the sg is the same tomorrow, batch prime and bottle maybe Monday, also if i'm batch priming i was thinking of adding 85 Grams to the brew is that about the amount i should be adding for light carbonation

 

[terrym]

You are now at the stage where the primary should be pretty much done. If you get the same SG reading tomorrow, to assist in clearing, I would put the FV a cold place for a day or two if you want to bottle asap, or leave it for a few more days in the warm followed by a cold period which will allow you to bottle when you can get to it.
I don't batch prime but my understanding is that if you do, you do not leave the brew primed for very long before you bottle i.e a few hours only, rather than a whole day which is what I understand you intend to do.
85g sugar across the brew should be fine to give you the carbonation you want.

 

[joiner_8]

Checked my ruby ale this morning and it seems to have dropped another point to an so of 1012 and there still seems to be some activity in the brew, I think I'll leave another few days and test it again

 

[joiner_8]

Just bottled my st peters ruby ale and stored it in my brew fridge at the same temperature that I brewed the beer, which was a steady 19 degs c, should I be increasing the temperature at this stage or just leave it at that for around two to three weeks.

 

[Bigcol49]

Hi!
I bottle conditioned my last brew for two weeks at 20 degrees, simply because I had a wine going in the same brew fridge. The advised temp for bottle conditioning is room temp, 20 or 21 degrees.
Having said that, I read a post from a NZ home Brewer who bottle conditions at 19 degrees for 3 weeks, so you look to be OK.