First Brew looking good but..

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Gledison

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Hey Guys, I'm on the 3rd day of my fermenting Simcoe IPA. after a strong fermentation on the first day (nothingham Danstar) and a stagnated bubbling on the 3rd, I decided to measure the specific gravity. Original was 1.055 and 3rd day 1.010. It seems that is almost finished if not finished.
My plan is to wait 3 days and measure it again. If constant I will add the dry hops and let them for 7 days on the primary(I'm not thinking of using a secondary).
After the 3rd day the beer looks quite clear and I've checked for Diacetyl smell (which I believe I couldn't feel , maybe inexperience) (I was worried due to high temp 25C during 1 day of fermentation).
I've read so many threads about how long a beer should ferment, etc.. I believe that if its finished fermenting, I should move on. It would be in total 1 week fermentation, 1 week dry hopps and 1 week priming.
Any thoughts? I don't want to rush the process but also don't want to do unnecessary waiting...(you know is difficult for the first brew)
thanks
 
you can add the hops now if its that low, its better to add hops when pressure is still pushing out oxygen, waiting too long is actually a bad idea
 
I have generally been adding any dry hopping around day 5 for 5 days,racking off to a secondary for another 4/5 days.Seems to work ok for me.:)
 
As Oz said, best to add dry hops before ferment is completely finished .
I leave beer sit for around 14 days , the ferment only takes a few days but the yeast then clean up any by products and then I get temp to near freezing to drop out any particulate
 
Mark D Pirate said:
As Oz said, best to add dry hops before ferment is completely finished .
I leave beer sit for around 14 days , the ferment only takes a few days but the yeast then clean up any by products and then I get temp to near freezing to drop out any particulate
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I've just added the hopps and will let it for 10 days, it will be Also 14 days. Lets ser how it Goes. I have the same raw materials ready for a 2nd batch, which I might try to rack to a 2nd ferm. Just to compare it :)
Thanks
 
Gledison said:
I've just added the hopps and will let it for 10 days, it will be Also 14 days. Lets ser how it Goes. I have the same raw materials ready for a 2nd batch, which I might try to rack to a 2nd ferm. Just to compare it :)
Thanks
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Funnily enough,i have just racked a batch off the dry hops into a secondary which i will leave for another 4 days before i bottle.
I know there is a lot of thought and doubts about racking.All i can say is it works for my small batches(5-10 litr brews) and i have never yet encountered any infection or any other problems.
 
chub1 said:
Funnily enough,i have just racked a batch off the dry hops into a secondary which i will leave for another 4 days before i bottle.
I know there is a lot of thought and doubts about racking.All i can say is it works for my small batches(5-10 litr brews) and i have never yet encountered any infection or any other problems.
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Sounds good! to be honest, ihave no clue. I´m just trying to run my first brew as simple as it gets. :)
next one, i will do the racking and compare them. The Problem i see is that are so many other Parameters that can influence both beers that only a very systematic Experiment would help. I´ve read a post of a guy that racked half of the Batch and compared both beers in the end. In his tests, People prefered the one only on Primary Fermenter.
Cheers
 
Gledison said:
Sounds good! to be honest, ihave no clue. I´m just trying to run my first brew as simple as it gets. :)
next one, i will do the racking and compare them. The Problem i see is that are so many other Parameters that can influence both beers that only a very systematic Experiment would help. I´ve read a post of a guy that racked half of the Batch and compared both beers in the end. In his tests, People prefered the one only on Primary Fermenter.
Cheers
Click to expand...
Yup
horses for courses i guess:)
 
so.. 4 days after first measurent (2,5`P) I got a 2,0`P. which gives me a 6,2% ABV. The dry hopping is going on for 4 days (10g Cascade, 15g Simcoe) and I don't have yet a hoppy aroma and taste. Its quite bitter thou. Fermentation is basically done after 1 week.
What I find weird is that my refrigerator (where the rest hops are) has a incredible smell, but the beer not even close...:(
My plan is to leave the hops for a total of 7 days, so another 3 days to go. Shall I let it a little bit more? I've added the hops in a tea bag which I hopped would be ok to release the aromas as well for easy handling.
any tips? highly welcome.
cheers
 
All I can say is that the beer will taste different once it's carbonated and cold. Not necessarily better, but different

The tea bag is a great idea, makes it easier to transfer the beer and not the sediment and such.
Some have said that the beer will eventually get a grassy flavor from the hops being in there after awhile. I don't dry hop that often, so I can't really comment directly on that part
 
jmcnamara said:
All I can say is that the beer will taste different once it's carbonated and cold. Not necessarily better, but different

The tea bag is a great idea, makes it easier to transfer the beer and not the sediment and such.
Some have said that the beer will eventually get a grassy flavor from the hops being in there after awhile. I don't dry hop that often, so I can't really comment directly on that part
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yeah, well, I was reading other threads on developing aromas and some folks believe that its better to add the dry hopps, in these case pellets, directly to the beer, they said the beer cant really extract the oils from the hops. what I found weird is that just by having them on a closed plastic bag on my fridge at 4 deg C , all fridge smells like heaven :).
Other folks also say that its not a good idea to add the dry hops while still fermenting, others say that is a good idea..hmm, I guess I have to find out myself...
I believe that every beer seems to have its own way to goodness..so many degrees of feedom that can lead to completely different results..love it!
 
Ive done both but havnt brewed a lit if hoppy beers. Remember your yeast can cover some hop aroma flavours. Pic a clean fermenting yeast.
 
I don't dry hop longer than 4 days. I wouldn't go past 7.
 
Gledison said:
yeah, well, I was reading other threads on developing aromas and some folks believe that its better to add the dry hopps, in these case pellets, directly to the beer, they said the beer cant really extract the oils from the hops. what I found weird is that just by having them on a closed plastic bag on my fridge at 4 deg C , all fridge smells like heaven :).
Other folks also say that its not a good idea to add the dry hops while still fermenting, others say that is a good idea..hmm, I guess I have to find out myself...
I believe that every beer seems to have its own way to goodness..so many degrees of feedom that can lead to completely different results..love it!
Click to expand...
There's a lot of beer lore out there and you're right, a beer has its own route. My advice on conflicting info: Find something with some science behind it, even if it's just a Brulosophy experiment. And the louder someone proclaims theirs is the only way to brew, the less you should listen to them. We've been doing this for thousands of years. The yeast knows its work. Beer is not hard. No need to make it that way.
 
so, after 6 days of dry hopping and finished fermentation, 2`P, I was ready to bottle it. at this point is tasting surprisingly good.
I managed to fill 4 bottles with a quite clear beer. than, started to come some particles and finally a very turbid beer.
I need your help here:
Is seems that I overestimate the trub loss. My batch was a small one, 5 L. I measured everything beforehand, boiling, loss, grain absorption but of course not the trub los (first brew). I started thinking that could be 10% of my total volume, so I planned for 5,5L in the fermenter.
I had a 2L debri (which was not decantating easily). Is this the Trub? I thought that will be more like a very solid and dense material. Is this normal or somehow it didn't precipitate as it should.?
I have some pictures in attachment.
Would be possible to get 2L of a very liquid trub in a 5,5L batch?
thanks for any help.
IMG_20170619_191737[527] (2).jpg
IMG_20170619_191642[528] (2).jpg
 
Yep totally normal especially for an all grain brew. I am not to concerned with trub in the brew house and let everything flow from kettle to fermentor. I usually get a good two inches of trub in my FV. Now if you can get the Fermentor into the fridge and cold crash that brew down to near freezing I've found it really compacts your trub down. I'm not sure if you tried this but it really helps sort out the particulate matter;).

Your doing good mate keep on brewing:).
 
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