Hi all,
Being a complete newbie to home brew, I'd appreciate any advice from someone who knows better.
Since pitching my first brew, a can of "Australian Draught" supplied with my home brew starter kit, the weather has cooled substantially. The air temperature has been around 16-18 degrees for the first week of fermentation. There wasn't any activity in the airlock for the first 2-3 days, when I realised I hadn't tightened the fermeter lid (d'oh).
After tightening, saw a bubble approx 1 every 10 seconds or so. This rate continued for a couple of days, and since then has stopped completely. I started taking hydrometer readings to see how everything was going.
After one week, sample tasted quite nice, a bit like a shandy. SG was 1.014. Now it's been two weeks, SG seems stable at about 1.007 - 1.008. Still smells sweet but with a strong presence of alcohol. Also tastes funny, tangy, a bit bitter / sour, not something I'd like to drink. The colour looks like a murky orange, almost brown. Also I've noticed the last sample is a lot less fizzy than the earlier ones.
So my questions:
Is it infected - what would infected beer taste like?
What should the beer taste like at this stage?
Is it fully fermented / ready to bottle - or has fermentation stuck & I need to add more yeast, etc. From what I've read and SG of 1.008 is too high.
I might not be able to get to botting until the next weekend - will it be ok to leave in the fermenter for another 6-7 days?
Any tips on the best/easiest way to wash / sanitise recycled bottles?
Being my first attempt I really don't know what to expect, so I'm willing to take any advice on board!