Do i trust the instructions on a mash kit?

Jona4186

Jona4186

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Hi people

Im new to home brewing and did my first all grain brew 3 days ago. I did a brupacks london bitter mash kit as it came with my package.

Everything went fine and its been in the fermenter for 3 days now and is showing signs of activity. However the "instructions" that came with the kit say that i should now rack to secondary and "wait till clear"?
It is still very cloudy and from what i have read it seems like a very short time in the primary. Most of the forum recipes dont even use a secondary so i am wondering if i should wait longer? Or leave in primary? Or just stick to the manufacturers instructions.

I'd appreciate any help on this as i really want this beer to be a success. Cheers!
 
Wait.
Give it at least week, then check the gravity and see if it's done. Don't transfer to secondary until it's completed fermenting.
 
Don't ever go by anyone else's calendar. Your temperatures, pitch, wort fermentability, any number of variables make it impossible to predict when a beer will be done. As mentioned, trust your hydrometer. You want your primary fermentation more or less done before you rack. The job of secondary is to clean up after the yeast and let most of the remaining yeast drop out of the beer. Racking early leads to off flavors, not enough yeast to clean up so wait until primary is done, then rack, if at all.
 
Cheers mate, i thought somthing was off with the instructions, glad i asked!
 
Thanks Brian, that is a good read!

One more thing, i have the beer sitting at 18-20 c and activity seems to have ceased. And the airlock isnt bubbling anymore. I dont wanna start poking around taking hydrometer readings and risking infection as its only on day four, but activity wise! It aint doing much.
Ill post a pic and if anyone could offer their thoughts that would be much appreciated.

All im wondering is if it has stalled how long can i leave it before i need to re pitch. If at all?
 
Pic
 

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wait at least 7 days and your good, the yeast might still be in suspension and need to clean up "eat each other" or drop to the bottom
 
One more thing. I dont know where i went wrong but i was supposed to end up with 23 litres but only got 16.5

If this happens should you add more water to the primary before pitching or just cut your losses?
 
it depends on what the gravity is, should be close to the beginning gravity, if its over add more water but sanitize and stir good. if gravity is correct leave it, if its under leave it
 
Jona4186 said:
One more thing. I dont know where i went wrong but i was supposed to end up with 23 litres but only got 16.5

If this happens should you add more water to the primary before pitching or just cut your losses?
Click to expand...
Depends(TM)...
What was your OG? 30% higher OG could mean that you needed to pitch a bit accordingly to compensate.
 
The mash kit instructions didnt supply an og but i dont think it was to high. It was at 1050 bt was a little higher than 15 degrees c at time of reading so was probably more like 1048
 
Jona4186 said:
The mash kit instructions didnt supply an og but i dont think it was to high. It was at 1050 bt was a little higher than 15 degrees c at time of reading so was probably more like 1048
Click to expand...
Yeah, that is fine for a packet of healthy yeast.
Have to agree with the others, RDWHAHB and wait a few more days. :)
 
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