Ginger Beer & Pale Ale Newbie - HELP PLZ

[KylieB1]

Hi all, me and my boyfriend have the brewing fever, I brought him a coppers home brew kit for chistmas & we have bottled one already (present opened early of course, he couldn't wait)

And it is now day 6 of the ginger beer & pale ale brews we are currently doing. We were a little bit worried at the start, we mis read the instructions & took a hydrdometre reading after adding the yeast (a few minutes after...) and our OG was 1.022 - which by all reports is low. My ginger beer was the same.

We followed the ingredients exact, I added a shaving of ginger as I quite like the bite.

So today is day six, the Pale Ale Specific Gravity is at 1.008, fermentation looks like it has completed, (foam gone, beer looks flat etc)

My ginger beer initial reading was 1.002??? I thought it was really low, then i turned around, looked again & it was 1.010... I tapped it & it went back down to 1.002.

Are these normal readings??? Am i reading it wrong. Is there a suggested time/method to reading the hyrometre? Do I need to de-gas the sample first? How long after drawing should i read the sample?

I believe today is the bottling day for the beer...

We have been extremely lucky with this batch, last batch fermented at 26+ degrees and it looked over & done after 3 days, (we bottled on day 6) This time the temp has been a constant cooler 23 degrees. Yay. Hope everyone is well.

Merry Christmas.

Kylie

 

[Muddy Waters]

I hope you boiled the ginger shavings Kylie (to kill any bacteria etc and of course extract more flavour).

 

All sounds good with the Pale Ale - I wouldn't rush to bottle it as I'm a 2 week man myself. Fermentation is usually done and dusted in the first week and then week 2 allows the beer to clear up.

 

Some of you readings sound a bit off but don't worry too much - you'll get used to hydrometers and their various quirks. Just make sure you have stable readings over 2-3 days to be certain fermentation is complete. Don't rush the GB as it sometimes takes a bit longer to finish. GB will finish with a lower reading than regular beer.

 

Not sure if I really answered any of your questions or not - My heads feeling a little fuzzy today [alien]

[AnthonyR1525228508]

Try spinning the hydrometer to make sure it isn't sticking to the side of the tube - (this may not be a problem with the all-new you-beaut Coopers hydrometer). Also dump the very first tube-full and draw a second sample for your reading. Not sure why but maybe the fluid in the tap doesn't get properly mixed and affects the reading, so dump the first sample.

 

Ginger beer plus 1 kg raw sugar would be pretty low so maybe 1022 is about right. I doubt it is right for the Pale Ale though...