First extract brew questions

[rmp]

First go at extract brewing, and a few questions. I did the brew ten days ago (brewuk.com Landlord extract kit). The first day after, the fermenting vessel was really bubbling away, but after that it really quietened down, to the point the last few days it has not bubbled at all. The instructions say leave for 14 days until FG is 1.009. The gravity today is 1.012. The beer is also really cloudy and didn’t taste great. I have not got the temperature wrong this time as it kept it at a pretty constant 20-21C – no higher.

Is it time to transfer to the barrel or should I wait until Friday (14 days) or have I waited too long? Unlike the St. Peter’s kit I did before, there is very little froth this time. Any thoughts on any of that?!

Cheers

Richard

[orlando]

It is possible that it has finished but I wouldn't be tempted to package it just yet. I would measure the gravity over the next two days and if by the 2nd measurement it hasn't budged then you can be reasonably sure it has finished. It is always worth those extra days at FG as this may be the end of fermentation but not the end of the yeasts work. This is the point when the yeast goes about "clearing up" the off flavours and byproducts of fermentation, so be patient. You say it is still cloudy which suggests there are still a lot of yeast cells still in suspension so it may still have a way to go yet. If it is finished then you have some decisions to make before packaging. If you want to clear the beer as much as possible before packaging you can do a number of things. The simplest method is to cool the brew down to as close to 2 c as you can, any yeast cells will then begin to go dormant and fall to the bottom of the fermenter. If you can't do this then you can rack off to a secondary vessel containing finings which will do the same job. Whichever way you choose the brew will clear quicker in the packaging this way. If you have more patience than most you can just package as is (priming first of course) and then leave the beer till it falls clear naturally. That can take a long while though.

[DaveyT]

Hello
Orlando's given you excellent advice there. One of the first things I had to learn was to leave things to do what they need to. I leave my beers in the FV for two weeks no matter what. If they stop fermenting before then there isn't much harm to be done, as far as I know. I have found the last week can get the FG to creep down those last few points so it's worth the patience.
Esp if you're bottle conditioning; you might be keeping residual sugars that could increase your carbonation rate. When you then add your calculated priming sugar on top of that, the over-carbonation could lead to bottles exploding. Leaving things that bit longer could get shot of the last bits of sugar.
I live in quite a hot climate and my beer fridge packed in last year while I was away. I had a porter I had bottled early and fermentation started up again. Many bottles broke (thankfully contained in the fridge) and those that didn't have high esther levels and aren't as nice as they were. It was over 30 C for nigh-on three weeks, though.
Hope this helps.

Cheers
David

[orlando]

It was over 30 C for nigh-on three weeks, though.
Hope this helps

I quite warmed to you, up to that point

[DaveyT]

It was over 30 C for nigh-on three weeks, though.
Hope this helps

I quite warmed to you, up to that point

I can whinge about it, mind!

[rmp]

Thanks for the advice. I left it a bit longer as you said (16 days total in the FV) and moved it to a barrel today (decided against bottling this in the end as want to read up a bit more on that). However, the FG has not changed since my initial post and it still looks very cloudy. Hopefully a couple of weeks in the barrel will help it to clear.

[orlando]

Will you just let nature take its course then and not do any of the other things suggested?

[DaveyT]

I'd be happy with 1.012, esp after 16 days.

[Jocky]

Generally I've found that extract recipes (I only vouch for dry extract) will generally finish a few points above the FG that is stated in brewing software used to calculate recipes. 1.012 is done fermenting.

Now that you've transferred to barrel just leave it for a week (or possibly two). As long as you don't shake it up the beer will clear eventually.

Some yeasts take longer than others - what yeast did you use?