Is my brew ready???

[chillibeer]

G'day brewers, can someone please advise if my brew would be right to keg?

It has been in the fermentor for 2weeks at laundry floor temp. In perth we have been in the low 20c by day and lower at night.

Generally I would crash chill the fermentor for 24hrs and then straight into kegs, carbonate and RTD next day with happy drinking results.

I am asking now because i have never used the gravity meter and always had success until last brew. I had alot of sediment on the bottom of my kegs after racking which had a very young/fresh taste to the beer. To rectify I shortened a spare pick up tube by an inch so it couldn't reach the thick layer of sludge on the bottom and the beer tasted a lot better. Could the problem have been because i stopped fermentation too early?

The brew I want to rack into kegs now is still bubbling @ 20min intervals. Should I be leaving it till bubbling through airlock has stopped completely or would it be right to chill and rack.

Whats Your thoughts?

[Bum]

Whats Your thoughts?

My thoughts are that anyone who is going to answer you question without a hydrometer reading supplied can safely be ignored.

Take a reading or take the risk.

[chillibeer]

I don't own one and can't buy one for atleast a week, the last 2 broke. If i had some advice I will risk it but if no advice I will risk it and report back later.

Any thoughts on the sediment on the bottom of my previous brew?

[Bum]

Without any details apart from more "sludge"? No.

You might like to look into filtering your beer. That'll definitely help with out that, for sure.

Some general advice though: gravity readings are honestly the only way to tell for sure if primary is done (although a stable reading doesn't always mean it is done but that is beside the point at the moment); if you're unsure if it is done, more time will not hurt - in fact, it can only help unless you leave it on the yeast cake so long that autolosys occurs; since you are kegging the "risk" is much lower than if you were bottling - if you keg it make sure it is always kept at serving temp and you won't have an issue (except that it may be under-attenuated but if it tastes good then that is no issue at all).

I hope that helps in some way.

[chillibeer]

Sure does help.

Out of 15 brews the last one was the only time I have ever seen the sludge and had the weird taste, Everybody else loved it but i couldn't wait till it was gone.

Thanks for the replies, looks like i will leave a few more days and invest in another hydrometer

[Bum]

I gotta admit that I felt like it was a bit pointless taking samples at first (although I did because everyone told me they were important), so I do understand not wanting to but it really, really is a vital step. Sounds like it might have saved you from that batch you didn't enjoy so much. That is probably reason enough to be a bit more vigilant in future.

As for the extra time, most people say that 4 weeks is around when you need to start worrying about getting beer off the yeast cake to avoid developing off flavours (assuming ale yeast and reasonable temps). I've never gone quite that long so I couldn't say one way or the other but you rarely come across anyone trying to trick another brewer into making bad beer so I'm happy to accept some things without proof.

[chillibeer]

Well I have learnt a few things of you now.

Would I be right in saying that the "yeast cake" is what is on the bottom of the fermenter?

[bullfrog]

Well I have learnt a few things of you now.

Would I be right in saying that the "yeast cake" is what is on the bottom of the fermenter?

All the crud at the bottom of the fermenter is generally referred to as trub (pr: troob) and consists of everything that flocculates out of the brew. This includes but isn't limited to hop debris, certain proteins and yeast cells, both alive and dead.

Most people interchange the term 'trub' with 'yeast cake,' whilst others get a bit more specific about their use of the latter.

If planning to reuse yeast from one batch into another, it is ideal to remove the components of the trub that aren't viable yeast cells through a process called yeast washing. Purists will use the term 'yeast cake' to denote the resultant quantity of viable yeast cells that remain after washing.

That's probably all clear as mud (or trub, as the case may be,) but hope it helps.

[Bum]

Yeah, I was being a bit loose in my terminology there. Trub is definitely the more correct word to be using so if you see that one being used, chillbeer, you'll know what it means.

You're right though, chillibeer, I'm talking about the, um, not-beer sitting at the bottom of the fermenter. Can introduce some bad flavours if you leave the beer on it for too long (or too warm, or both). You needn't worry about this now though, you're far away from that point at the moment.

[chillibeer]

Cool, that is awesome. Thank you both very much for the information.

Joined this forum a while ago but till now didn't think i was going to use it. BLOODY LEGENDS! I will be here more often.