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Hey,

I'm brewing my second batch of festa brew. First one was a Red, and was decent, especially once it was about 3 months old. Unfortunately, I only let a few bottles get that old.

This batch is the Double Oatmeal Stout. The Magnotta/Festa Brew website says OG should be 1.0545 – 1.0550, but I found mine to be a bit lower than that--maybe 1.051-1.052. Question 1: Has anyone else found the Starting gravity to be low with this kit?

I left it in the primary fermenter for 3.5 weeks, and just measured the gravity. It was 1.022 or so, which is a bit high according to the recommended final range (1.0196 – 1.0211). I realize these are small variations, but decided to let it sit for a while longer (I moved it to a carboy) to see if I can get any more attenuation. Question 2: Should it be ok to sit in a carboy for a while? Is there any chance this will harm the taste of the beer? I assume the bulk aging should improve the taste, not harm it, but am wondering if there is anything I'm forgetting.

Another reason for my decision to keep the beer in a secondary at this point, rather than bottle, is that it was still mildly carbonated. To me this suggests ongoing fermentation, but the gravity has been pretty stable for a while (I tested it a few weeks ago and it was similar--maybe 1.023). Question 3: Is 'mildly carbonated' a normal state prior to bottling, or should the carbonation be gone before bottling?


Thanks!

What temperature did you take the SG at? There is a temperature corrector calculator on brewcalcs.com.

It did finish a bit high but I wouldn't worry too much about it.

Those were temp corrected gravities.

1) Unfortunately I do not have any specific info on this kit, so I can't help you there.

2) It should be just fine to move to secondary and leave it a while, but I don't think it will do much at this point. For all practical purposes, 1.022 (or 1.023) is the same as 1.021 (rounded to three decimals from your numbers). As you have racked off the grand majority of the yeast, I would not expect much change in the gravity or character. Especially after 3.5 weeks in primary, with little to no change for the last week. One thing to note, you want to minimize the possibility of oxidization, which can be a factor with oxygen exposure after the yeast had stopped working, so hopefully there wasn't a lot of splashing while transferring.

3) A bit of carbonation before bottling is not unheard of, and should be fine. You may want to reduce the amount of priming sugar you add to the beer, though it's tough to say by how much.

My thoughts: I think your numbers are even closer to expected than you think. 1.0211 (expected) and 1.022 (or 1.023) (actual) are within one (or two) "point(s)", and most brewers on here would be very happy to be within that range.

Of course, most important, how does it taste? Did you drink the beer used to make the measurement (assuming you used some in a cylinder for a hydrometer)? Any airlock activity while in the carboy?

Another thing to be aware of is hydrometer calibration. If you haven't already calibrated your hydrometer you could check into that. I think there are some post on here that talk about that.

Question 3: If you leave it for a while after fermentation is complete at a constant temperature the gas concentration should equilibrate to that temp and any excess carbonation will off-gas. Then you can use a priming calculator that takes into account for the dissolved gas per given temperature and not overcarbonate your beer.

I would be happy with that kind of accuracy!!

chalmers wrote:
2) It should be just fine to move to secondary and leave it a while, but I don't think it will do much at this point. For all practical purposes, 1.022 (or 1.023) is the same as 1.021 (rounded to three decimals from your numbers). As you have racked off the grand majority of the yeast, I would not expect much change in the gravity or character. Especially after 3.5 weeks in primary, with little to no change for the last week. One thing to note, you want to minimize the possibility of oxidization, which can be a factor with oxygen exposure after the yeast had stopped working, so hopefully there wasn't a lot of splashing while transferring.

Ok, this is useful. It didn't splash much while transferring.

chalmers wrote:
My thoughts: I think your numbers are even closer to expected than you think. 1.0211 (expected) and 1.022 (or 1.023) (actual) are within one (or two) "point(s)", and most brewers on here would be very happy to be within that range.

Of course, most important, how does it taste? Did you drink the beer used to make the measurement (assuming you used some in a cylinder for a hydrometer)? Any airlock activity while in the carboy?

Yes, I've wondered how precise my hydrometer is. Perhaps the beer is where should be in terms of attenuation.

I did taste it, and was pretty happy with it. I think it should be pretty darn good once I let it sit in the bottles for a while.

There has been a decent amount of airlock activity since I moved the beer to the carboy. I haven't watched for long (it is in a closet), but I think it had greater than 1 bubble/minute for a few days after transfer. I assume that stirring it up the way I did by transferring it probably causes some of the C02 to be released, so expect airlock activity even without more fermentation in a somewhat-carbonated beer. I guess I can post back at next gravity reading to let people know whether it has changed at all.

Thanks for the input, folks!