Strangely slow but active Wherry

[periolus]

Hi!

I have had a Wherry in my FV for 11 days now with a heat belt on and I think it is still going!! I broke my hydrometer the night I brewed it (from kit) and get a new one today. Basically, to test it I have been pushing the lid down gently on FV to release the bulging head of CO2 a little, so that I can see if it puffs up again, which it is still doing today. Why does this still appear to be going strong after 11 days with heat?! I guess once I get the hydrometer, I can be certain.

 

[Kyral210]

if it is still producing CO2 be happy :) You have to worry when it stops producing CO2 (stops fermenting) and has a gravity which is too high!

Also, its worth using a converter for the hyrdometer which uses the temperature of the wort as well. Your hydrometer is probably calibrated at 20°C, so anything from 2°C above or below will effect your reading. I recommend buying beer Smith, great software for everything

 

[periolus]

Thanks for the email - I am not too worried about it, but just wish it would hurry up! It had a weird start with an OG of 1016 :shock: I had to slosh it about very violently two or three times to get it started and mixed properly!

I have Beer Alchemy (just bought it yesterday!) which I am just getting to grips with. Beer Smith sounds really good, but I have a mac so it won't work unfortunately.

HOPEFULLY - I have some spraymalt arriving today or tomorrow and then I can condition it nicely. Should leave it to clear in the keg for a few days first though really. We'll get there!

 

[Kyral210]

I strongly recommend buying a good home brewing book. I personally like How To Brew by John Palmer, but I know others on this forum have their own favourites. Just get a good book and learn about the science and the art of brewing. Oh, avoid J. J. Berry!

 

[periolus]

13 days, 1 hour & 16 minutes. And the bugger is still fermenting! With a heat belt on it! In a warm enough room anyway! I just want to keg it! :evil:

:lol:

 

[Kyral210]

still fermenting is good, have patients. Weird flavours come from fast fermentation.

 

[periolus]

And weird flavours I could do without. I will be patient :)

 

[Aleman]

Of course it could just be CO2 coming out of the saturated solution . . . the only way to be sure is to take gravity readings!

 

[periolus]

Indeed it could. Well my hydrometer arrived today so I can start checking. At least it will have had a clearing period if it has finished before now. I tell you what, when I do squash the lid down and gas is released, it smells absolutely gorgeous :

 

[periolus]

YAY! And I have my light spraymalt too! Wahoo! Well, if the first reading is similar to the final gravity of the last batch, then I think I will probably keg it tonight. I'll let it clear in the keg in a nice cool place. Planning on leaving until the end of Feb before opening.

 

[periolus]

Okay - I have taken a reading with my hydrometer after what is now 2 weeks of apparent fermenting and it came out at 1.016. It is absolutely clear as daylight too.

Something is different though. Last time it finished at 1.012 and was clear in the FV. This time, it has what looks like small bits of bark floating on top - just clumps of spent yeast. When I took a ladle full for the trial jar, there was a fair bit of this in with it. Anyhow, it smells GORGEOUS!! Which is a good sign.

This batch has been weird, as 1.016 was also the SG I got when I started! I had to swirl it round lots to get 1.025 and then swirl it like hell again, at which i point I broke my original hydrometer, so I just don't know what the official OG was at all. It should all get fermented out anyway.

Any comments? I am guessing that at 1.016 it hasn't stuck, it just isn't as low as it is capable of going.

 

[Aleman]

Any comments? I am guessing that at 1.016 it hasn't stuck, it just isn't as low as it is capable of going.

I'm betting it's finished. Ray Ashworth the founder of Woodfordes likes his beers to finish a couple of points higher than normal (1.010 to 1.012) as he likes that touch of sweetness in the beer. What does your hydrometer read in water? if its reading higher then subtract that from your gravity reading to determine the correct value.

The floating bits is just yeast and break proteins . . . rack to another FV on top of your priming syrup and then keg or bottle . . . you'll loose the majority of it.

 

[periolus]

My reading in water is 1.002, so I actually finished with a respectable gravity in the end

Another valuable lesson learned - good stuff :thumb:

I will rack it to another vessel tomorrow before kegging. I am using light spraymalt (my first outing with the stuff) - do you just make a syrup as you would with granulated sugar? So I put the syrup in the racking vessel first, not into the keg with cleaned up beer?

At last - my wherry is ready! All I have to do next is make Wurzel's Orange Wine on Sunday!

Cheers for your help.

 

[periolus]

Okay - after a bit of a mission-filled day it's now sorted. Went to sort out a keg I got on freecycle to find the bloody seal had split! The big brew shop I normally use in Bristol was out of kegs, seals and a lot else besides, so tracked another down in Keynsham.

Anyway - I digress. Syphoned off into another FV as recommended by Aleman to get rid of the floating debris. Ended up clean as a whistle. Made my spraymalt syrup and added that to 200ml of wort in the keg, followed by the rest of the stuff. I did have a hose-length problem, so it was splashing in there, providing lots of foam (and therefore oxygen!) - not supposed to be a great idea, but hey-ho.

I think it will be just fine I have the heat-belt round it to keep it nice and cosy for 3 or 4 days and then I will whack it in the garage, keeping an eye on the weather forecast of course! I'll let you know how it goes! Seeing as I have another keg of bitter and 19 bottles of TC also conditioning, the Wherry will probably be opened towards the end of February some time. I'll let you know what happens!