Final Gravity

[Lab Cat]

5 minutes ago, Jevan Potgieter said:

Its actually a refractive meter but it does the same i guess

https://www.brewshop.co.nz/refractometer.html?gclid=CjwKCAjw1cX0BRBmEiwAy9tKHjfCDQn9zVjB0HfIbI-jAJtOPFHmLbbB8hlnAg9LhpcNkyaCvMh7BRoCMGEQAvD_BwE

Not quite. See the disclaimer?

Note: This tool is used to measure unfermented wort. Once alcohol is present in the wort, the use of a correction table is advised.

They work on Brix measurements as opposed to Gravity. They are recommended to be calibrated before every use. I'd also question the level of tech you'd get in a $60 product, when some of these things cost hundreds. 

Article below points this and more. I'd go and buy a regular plunger hydrometer.

https://www.brewersfriend.com/2013/04/24/using-your-refractometer-correctly-for-maximum-accuracy-in-home-brewing/

[Jevan Potgieter]

13 minutes ago, Lab Cat said:

Not quite. See the disclaimer?

Note: This tool is used to measure unfermented wort. Once alcohol is present in the wort, the use of a correction table is advised.

They work on Brix measurements as opposed to Gravity. They are recommended to be calibrated before every use. I'd also question the level of tech you'd get in a $60 product, when some of these things cost hundreds. 

Article below points this and more. I'd go and buy a regular plunger hydrometer.

https://www.brewersfriend.com/2013/04/24/using-your-refractometer-correctly-for-maximum-accuracy-in-home-brewing/

Yeah tbh I bought it when i just started brewing kombucha but thought it might work for measuring the beer correctly oh well with lockdown in place nobody is selling any kits i can use and I didn’t want to waste the Lager can by just chucking it i will get a proper kit when the lockdown is over one day

[iBooz2]

So the Lab Rat has now turned into a Lab Cat.

Whats next? a Lab Coat

Cheers - AL

[Titan]

2 hours ago, Jevan Potgieter said:

Its actually a refractive meter but it does the same i guess

https://www.brewshop.co.nz/refractometer.html?gclid=CjwKCAjw1cX0BRBmEiwAy9tKHjfCDQn9zVjB0HfIbI-jAJtOPFHmLbbB8hlnAg9LhpcNkyaCvMh7BRoCMGEQAvD_BwE

Im asuming you didnt apply a correction factor to the last reading you took. With a correction your current sg is 1.017.

[Jevan Potgieter]

No I didn’t apply a correction how did you come to thst FG if I may ask so I can apply the corrections in the future. This also means that my fermentation is complete I can start bottling?

[Titan]

11 minutes ago, Jevan Potgieter said:

No I didn’t apply a correction how did you come to thst FG if I may ask so I can apply the corrections in the future. This also means that my fermentation is complete I can start bottling?

I use beersmith to do the correction but if you dont have this go here and enter your values for fermenting wort. https://www.northernbrewer.com/pages/refractometer-calculator

[Jevan Potgieter]

Okay so I got the temp down on the fermentation to around 20 but I noticed this morning a wax type layer is it something to worry about? Sorry first time brewer of beer here. I added a photo for the waxy type layer and a full shot of the fermentation 

[Jevan Potgieter]

20 hours ago, Titan said:

What's this? Can you share manufacturer and where you bought please.

I did some research and came across this one which seems to be an actual electronic hydrometer/airlock https://plaato.io/products/plaato-airlock-bundle 

[Marty_G]

There is: From all reports they are great. Not sure if they are available inAustralia or need importing.  https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/homebrew-WiFi-hydrometer-iSpindel-Prebuilt-no-Battery/114184281718?hash=item1a95e9de76:g:oecAAOSwAFJduKNQ

 

[iBooz2]

4 hours ago, Jevan Potgieter said:

Okay so I got the temp down on the fermentation to around 20 but I noticed this morning a wax type layer is it something to worry about? Sorry first time brewer of beer here. I added a photo for the waxy type layer and a full shot of the fermentation 

 

@Jevan Potgieter was the FV washed and rinsed properly?  Can you open carefully and get a sample of the waxy stuff say on a sanitised spoon so you can smell and feel it and possibly taste it.  Looks a bit crystalline in that pic.  Not undissolved finings? something from the lid lining?  Also what was the batch recipe? and yeast?

Cheers - AL

[Jevan Potgieter]

27 minutes ago, iBooz2 said:

@Jevan Potgieter was the FV washed and rinsed properly?  Can you open carefully and get a sample of the waxy stuff say on a sanitised spoon so you can smell and feel it and possibly taste it.  Looks a bit crystalline in that pic.  Not undissolved finings? something from the lid lining?  Also what was the batch recipe? and yeast?

Cheers - AL

Yeah it was sanitised before did some research and was consistent to the the below article I read “

Symptoms 
White film or flakes on top of beer is fairly common. It often happens in secondary, or in primary after the krausen falls.

Don't worry - your beer is probably fine!

Causes 
Usually, this is the result of yeast colonies being carried to the top of the beer from the trub or yeast cake by CO2, although in some cases, it can be a sign of a bacterial or wild yeast infection.

Testing 
Take a sample of the beer. Swirl it in a glass and see if it smells funky or infected. If you can't smell anything unusual, give it a taste. Does the beer taste sour?

If not, you just have rogue colonies of yeast on your beer. They may persist until you rack the beer, but should settle upon racking, and will not affect the smell, taste, or appearance of your final carbonated beer.”

 

so i wasn’t to worried and continued to bottle as my beer was at 1.010 FG after correction above mentioned by @Titan and was like this yesterday and today this is also in line with what coopers said FG should be between “

1. Measure the SG at the beginning of your brew - Original Gravity (OG). The typical OG reading for an Original Series Brew Can with recommended fermentable is 1036 – 1038.  
2. Measure the SG upon completion of fermentation – Final Gravity (FG). The typical FG for an Original Series Brew Can with recommended fermentable is in the range 1008 – 1016. “

i did sample it and tasted good didn’t smell bad either had a real good beer smell to it so I bottled it 

 

Will update in the coming weeks here if the batch turned out good or bad. Thanks for everyone’s help so far

 

 

[Journeyman]

27 minutes ago, Jevan Potgieter said:

Will update in the coming weeks here if the batch turned out good or bad. Thanks for everyone’s help so far

It's an adventure and it rapidly becomes a rabbit hole as you learn more, try m ore and find an ever-expanding pool of knowledge to try and make your perfect beer.

[DonPolo]

 

On 4/13/2020 at 3:50 PM, Jevan Potgieter said:

Symptoms 
White film or flakes on top of beer is fairly common. It often happens in secondary, or in primary after the krausen falls.

Don't worry - your beer is probably fine!

I also see some flakes on the surface of the beer. They seem to be going up and down if I watch for long enough. Never seen them before.

I did to a perc soak of the FV and the lid for 24 hours before the brew, ran the perc through the tap then dismantled it, rinsed it and used a no rinse sanitizer on it and the FV before pitching the boiled wort, LDM and yeast so in theory there should have been no infection issues. But I know that sometimes things happen no matter what you do.

Just did a taste test and it seems OK though.

Edited August 7, 2020 by DonPolo

[DonPolo]

Anyone have any  idea what this phenomenon is? There seems to be a second layer of flakes about 1cm below the surface of the wort. It is as if there is a layer of liquid which has a lower density than the rest of the wort and is 'floating' on top.

The OG was around 1.043 which is what Ian H's spreadsheet pretty much predicted. Just did a SG and it is down to 1.015. The spreadsheet predicted that the FG should be about 1.011.

 

 

[iBooz2]

@DonPolo yes I get that effect usually in my lagers.  The yeast and microscopic grain particles (if used in your batch) form little clumps.  They suspend in your beer at a level dependent on their mass and the pressure of the beer.  At the beers surface there is very little pressure other than atmospheric which is 1013 at 25 C at sea level.  There is obviously more pressure in the beer at the bottom of the FV.  These particles have found a natural level in your beer where their mass which is pulling them down equals the pressure force of the beer below them pushing them up.

In fact if a low pressure weather system was to pass over your location the particles would rise up somewhat in the beer and if a high pressure system passes over you location they would sink somewhat.

Do you remember that little cartesian diver experiment some sicence teacher may have showed you back in school? it is explained here.

Your beer is fine by the way - enjoy.

Cheers - AL

[DonPolo]

1 hour ago, iBooz2 said:

Do you remember that little cartesian diver experiment some sicence teacher may have showed you back in school? it is explained here.

Your beer is fine by the way - enjoy.

Cheers - AL

Thanks AL, I should have mentioned that I tasted the SG sample and it seemed OK. And I do remember the Cartesian diver experiment!

I'll be waiting for the SG to hopefully drop down to the predicted 1.011 level in the next couple of days and hope for some cold overnight temperatures. I don't have a brew fridge so if I'm going to try to get the flakes to drop out I'm going to have to do a semi-cold crash on the Canberra balcony. It seemed to work quite well for the last brew.

[Shamus O'Sean]

3 hours ago, DonPolo said:

There seems to be a second layer of flakes about 1cm below the surface of the wort

I have had something similar at times when I have used the krausen collar.  When it is in place some, yeast particles concentrate at the bottom edge.  When you remove it, they tend to hang around in the same spot, especially if the beer is basically finished fermenting when you remove the collar.

[DonPolo]

3 hours ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

I have had something similar at times when I have used the krausen collar.  When it is in place some, yeast particles concentrate at the bottom edge.  When you remove it, they tend to hang around in the same spot, especially if the beer is basically finished fermenting when you remove the collar.

Didn’t use a collar but I know what you mean. It really weird though. 

[DonPolo]

I was wondering if the white flakes floating on the top and in a line about 1 cm below could be wheat malt residue? I did a wheat grain steep which I have not done before. Although I strained the steep water through a cloth and strainer and although it didn't have any flakes noticeably when I pitched it, maybe this is a characteristic.

The other thing I as wondering was if it doesn't drop soon whether it is likely to settle out when bottled? 

[DonPolo]

Not getting much response here but I'll keep trying. So I did another SG test and MAYBE it's down to 1.014 today after 8 days so it looks like it's pretty much finished even though the Ian H spreadsheet predicted 1.012 (originally I thought it was 1.011 but I made a small mistake.

I was wondering the following:

1.  Does altitude have any substantive affect on SG? Where I am in Canberra is about 600-700m above sea level.
2. Obviously Ian H's spreadsheet is only an estimation but up until now it has bee fairly accurate but I was wondering other's experience
3. I did a 30 minute steep of some cracked Voyager Wheat Malt. In the spreadsheet I inserted the Wheat Caramel Malt because the only other option was Wheat Chocolate Malt. There could be some variation depending how well I did the extraction and sparging.
4. Have I made other errors in the spreadsheet below?
5. How accurate are the Coopers hydrometers anyway? I know with mine I have to add 0.05 anyway because it measures water at 0.95.

It's now been 8 days so if tomorrow the the SG is the same as today, I guess I'll be moving towards bottling. But I'd be happier if it was closer to the predicted value so there may be less chance over carbonation and exploding bottles.

[iBooz2]

@DonPolo, I would say it is done and dusted.  No point trying to hit exact numbers as I don't think any of my past batches got to the numbers suggested in recipes or otherwise, always a point or two off for whatever reason.  If you have temp control bump the temp up a few degrees for a couple of days at least.  Leave your last sample in the same temperature environment so you can see if it drops any more.  Otherwise its like trying to wring water out of a dry towel.  If its done its done!  Cold crash for about 1 week after that then bottle.

The clumps although they are annoying now, will dissapear when you pour your beer in a few weeks time.  I had one batch, a steam beer which I thought I would have to filter before bottling because of similar crud but did not and today it is fine in the glass.  Quite surprising actually as when I first tried it at 4 weeks thought would never bother opening a second bottle but now I am quite enjoying it after some 4 months in the bottle. 

Cheers - AL

Edited August 10, 2020 by iBooz2

[DonPolo]

7 minutes ago, iBooz2 said:

@DonPolo, I would say it is done and dusted.  No point trying to hit exact numbers as I don't think any of my past batches got to the numbers suggested in recipes or otherwise, always a point or two off for whatever reason.  If you have temp control bump the temp up a few degrees for a couple of days at least.  Leave your last sample in the same temperature environment so you can see if it drops any more.  Otherwise its like trying to wring water out of a dry towel.  If its done its done!  Cold crash for about 1 week after that then bottle.

The clumps although they are annoying now, will dissapear when you pour your beer in a few weeks time.  I had one batch, a steam beer which I thought I would have to filter before bottling because of similar crud but did not and today it is fine in the glass.  Quite surprising actually as when I first tried it at 4 weeks thought would never bother opening a second bottle but now I am quite enjoying it after some 4 months in the bottle. 

Cheers - AL

Thanks AL,

I don't have temp control so I'll just have to hope for the best. It is at 22C now as it has for most of its time in the FV.  I can however, get it down to -2 or 4 overnight here in Canberra during the next week on my balcony. During the day it will rise to around 15C. I don't know if it is even worth going through the trouble. 

Any opinions?

[Shamus O'Sean]

1 hour ago, DonPolo said:

Any opinions?

You are right.  Given the fluctuation in outside temperatures (4-15°C), it is probably not worth cold crashing in ambient temperatures.  The night time temperatures are good for cooling 20L of water for brewing the next day.  Now I have temperature control, I cold crash with almost all of my beers.  Beforehand, I never bothered.  I reckon a cold crash makes all of my brews clearer. 

That's one of the good things about this hobby, you can make ok beers from day one, good beers from day two, and progress your processes and equipment when it suits your circumstances.

[DonPolo]

19 hours ago, iBooz2 said:

 @IBOOZ2 Leave your last sample in the same temperature environment so you can see if it drops any more. 

 @IBOOZ2 I have had a sample out for an hour or so and will keep an eye on it. It is still showing 1.015. One thing that is interesting is that it continues to effervesce. Small bubbles streaming up the sample tube. Of course I understand that CO2 would be produced in the fermenting process but I naively thought that most if not all would have dispersed before bottling - perhaps not.