St peters ruby red ale

[richard]

Hi

Im new to brewing beers, done my intro yesterday and have to say you all seem like a freindly bunch :) , here is my first of many questions to come.I put a St peters ruby red ale in the fv on 21st of may, gravity started at 1.044, had a look at it yesterday(24th may) and the ferment had stopped, i checked the gravity and it came out at 1.014, i just checked it again today and its the same, the temp was constant at 19, this is a fast ferment, will it have any downside to the taste as the instructions say it should take 4-6 days to ferment out. Should i continue to follow the instructions and keg it today with 3oz of sugar(demerara), put in a warm place for 2 days then in a cool place for a few weeks before sampling?

Cheers

Rich

 

[phettebs]

Hi Richard,
That does seem pretty fast. At what temp did you ferment the beer? I see you mention 19 but is that what it's currently at or it never got any higher than that during fermentation? Higher temps will encourage faster fermentation but can also cause the yeast to give off flavors to your beer; headache inducing fusel alcohols are one of the compounds produced.

I typically will leave my beers in primary for 2 weeks even if fermentation is finished. This gives the yeast a chance to clean up after themselves and produce a, in my opinion, better quality/cleaner beer.

With that said, if you truly have reached your finished gravity, then yes, you can rack it to the keg and add the sugar. I've never added sugar to my kegs as I force carb with CO2. But when I bottle, I leave in a warm place for 2 weeks before moving to a cooler place. That's just how I do it and not by any means mandatory.

Good luck and happy brewing!
Barry

 

[richard]

Hi Richard,
That does seem pretty fast. At what temp did you ferment the beer? I see you mention 19 but is that what it's currently at or it never got any higher than that during fermentation? Higher temps will encourage faster fermentation but can also cause the yeast to give off flavors to your beer; headache inducing fusel alcohols are one of the compounds produced.

I typically will leave my beers in primary for 2 weeks even if fermentation is finished. This gives the yeast a chance to clean up after themselves and produce a, in my opinion, better quality/cleaner beer.

With that said, if you truly have reached your finished gravity, then yes, you can rack it to the keg and add the sugar. I've never added sugar to my kegs as I force carb with CO2. But when I bottle, I leave in a warm place for 2 weeks before moving to a cooler place. That's just how I do it and not by any means mandatory.

Good luck and happy brewing!
Barry

Hi Barry

Thanks for the reply, the temp was 19 at the start and was continuse through the whole ferment, i will give it a couple more days on the yeast as you say it gives a better beer, with regards to the keeping of the beer in a warmer place for a few days, what is the reson for this? is it to finish off any ferment?

Cheers
Rich

 

[Tony]

Sounds ok to me, some yeasts ferment incredibly quickly - I had an S-33 ferment in 2 days; SO-4 typically takes 3 to 4. I'd say you were done and can continue as planned - you could just leave one more day and take another reading, if it's the same then continue.

I always rack to a secondary and leave for at least another week .. but that isn't strictly necessary if fermentation has definately stopped.

Good luck!

 

[phettebs]

Richard,
My assumption was that you were racking to the keg and wanted to add sugar right away to get it to carbonate. A warmer area will encourage that carbonation more quickly. That's not to say that it won't carbonate at 10C. It just won't carbonate as quickly as it would at say 20C.

As Tony said, you can go to secondary and I sometimes do depending on the style and what I need to do with the beer. However, some beers I do go straight from primary to keg. It really depends on your personal preference.

Also, what I said about a "better" finished beer by leaving it in the primary longer is completely subjective. I feel that leaving my beers in primary for a while longer after they are done fermenting makes my beers better. Others may have a completely different opinion. As we say in the US homebrewing circles: YMMV (Your mileage may vary). :

Barry

 

[richard]

Ok, thanks guys, i will leave it till tomrow, if the gravity is the same then i will rack it to the keg, i will be going on hols monday for 3 weeks so hopefully i can have a beer when i get back :party: , i think that when i put my next ale on i will try racking to a secondary fv for a week as mentioned above, any suggestions and tweeks for my next brew are welcome?

:

rich

 

[Tony]

YMMV (Your mileage may vary)

I love that! Great expression Barry!


3 weeks .... not bad richard, have a great time .. it's a little extreme however, just to keep your hands off the beer Have a great time. I'd suggest taking a good brewing book on hols with you - Graham Wheeler's book would be a good start; read up and be all prepared when you get back, but whatever you do, have fun! :

 

[richard]

YMMV (Your mileage may vary)

I love that! Great expression Barry!


3 weeks .... not bad richard, have a great time .. it's a little extreme however, just to keep your hands off the beer Have a great time. I'd suggest taking a good brewing book on hols with you - Graham Wheeler's book would be a good start; read up and be all prepared when you get back, but whatever you do, have fun! :

:lol: its a good job im on hols, i would probly end up drinking some cloudy :) , thanks Tony, Graham wheeler`s it is then.

Cheers

Rich

 

[richard]

I just had a little taster of this before i go on holiday for three weeks, i have to say it tastes loverly, i am looking forward to this when i get back :party:

Cheers

Rich

 

[Tony]

Sometimes I have so many tasters there's not a lot left on the 'due date'

Have a great holiday!
:

 

[richard]

Hi all

Well i just got back off holiday and had to have a taster of my ruby red. It was not very good, it was thin,boaring and still very cloudy, i had hoped it was going to be better as it tasted nice before i went away, the temp in my house has not been ideal for conditioning as the coolest spot i have is 18. Do you experts out there think it will improve? or should i feed the pumpkins with it?

Cheers

Rich

 

[Beer Belly]

mine was great after only 2 weeks in the bottle. conditioned at about 18c.

try drinking it at a different temperature

 

[richardagutteridge]

: I made this beer at the end of April. I barreled it for 2 weeks then bottled.

Tried some last night, and I thought it was ok, very clear but a little too bitter for my taste, but I can live with that :drink:

 

[richard]

Hello everybody

Since yesterday ive done a fair bit of sampling on this ruby red :grin: and the keg is not so full, at different temperatures that is, ive also tried tapping from the barrel at different speed rates, its tastey now.

Cheers for the advice

Rich