Brew 2# . Any Tips ?

[KennyB]

I'm about to spend this rainy day here in Calgary brewing my second batch, Still waiting for the first one (Brown Ale) to see if it turned out. Would you guys have any tips on todays brew? (Golden Ale).   
  Where on the recipe do you find the numbers I should be testing before fermenting and weeks after?

Thanks. All tips are appreciated.

[Oginme]

In your recipe on the 'session' tab are the measured values you should be looking to measure and enter.  These are identifiable as the yellow boxes.

As with any brew, the things to watch are sanitation, collect the information you need, and, above all, don't sweat no hitting the numbers exactly!  It generally takes 4 to 6 brews for me to hone in on a process when I have made drastic changes.  The more accurate your measurements, the faster this will happen.

Also, have fun!  This is supposed to be a hobby after all is said and done.

[KennyB]

Thanks, I am having fun. I'm trying to improve my brewing setup in my garage at the moment. Made a few mistakes that I learned from on my first brew. I'm just going to keep plugging away and learning.
  How often do I test the beer after I've put it away to ferment? And I'll try to improve how I read recipes on here. 

[dtapke]

Get a notebook. any time you think of something you'd want to do different, write it down.

for me sometimes thats as simple as "i want a hose dedicated to this one particular process" sometimes more complex.

test the beer as often or infrequent as you want after fermentation. the more frequently you test, the better you'll have an idea if there's any issues. If you see a lag of 24 hours, perhaps you under-pitched or under-aerated. The only downside is that depending on how you're sampling you may be introducing a contaminate. I sample out of my conical on a dedicated sample port, so it doesn't introduce any risks.

[Oginme]

When you do pull samples, drink them and make tasting notes.  Generally, unless it is a brand new yeast strain I have not used before, I will test after 6 or 7 days.  Again a coulle of days later.  When I see consistent results, I will move to cold crashing for a few days.  Once I know how a strain behaves, I plan future brews based on that schedule.

[KennyB]

Cold Crashing?

[dtapke]

cooling the beer to help settle the yeast-etc out.

[Oginme]

Cold Crashing?

I bring the carboy temperature down slowly over the course of two days to just above freezing.  This causes most of the yeast to go into hibernation mode and settle to the bottom of the carboy.  When it warms back up just before bottling, there is usually just enough yeast in solution to do bottle fermenting and leave just a very thin layer of yeast on the bottom of the bottles.  It is very effective in clearing the beer.

[KennyB]

Thanks for your help guys, I'll have to give that a try. Learning more with each brew.

[KennyB]

Just tested and still trying to figure out the numbers and what I'm looking for. Wonder if these numbers make sense to you

1st Test right after I put in Carboy - 1.55 - 7% - brix 13 (May 6th)
2nd Text and tasted today.           - 1.10 - 2.5% - brix 2.5 (May 18)

Tasted it, wasn't bad and tasted like a Brown Ale but it was a bit cloudy.

So what do the numbers mean and what do you do about the cloudiness.

  Sorry about all the questions.

[Oginme]

I am guessing that you left out a zero after the decimal point.

OG = 1.055
FG - 1.010

This gives an apparent attenuation of (55-10)/55 = 81% which is on the high end for most yeasts on an all-malt grist.  You have about a 5.9% ABV.  If you used an American Ale yeast, you are pretty much in the ballpark.

As for the cloudy appearance, the thing that fixes that is time.  If you put it in a refrigerator for a couple of days to get the yeast to flock out, it will clear some.  If you are bottling, then transfer the wort off the trub into a bottling bucket.  After bottling and giving the bottles a couple of weeks to carbonate, it should be much clearer.  I try a few bottles and then stick the rest down in my sauna for storage and aging.  I find a couple of weeks does wonders for the clarity and flavor.

[KennyB]

Thank you. I guess I did leave out a zero. (still learning on to read it and might want to buy something better to read them after awhile).
   Seems high right? I like the way you put it. (55-10)/55.  So I'm guessing you always divide by the FG?   ( I did use a American Ale Yeast).

  Thanks for all the information. I want to start my second one this week and see if I can't improve on the first one.

[Oginme]

To get apparent attenuation, you take the digits of the hydrometer reading after the decimal point so 1.055 becomes 55 and 1.010 becomes 10.  Now subtract the final gravity points from the original gravity points and then divide the result by the original gravity points.  You can also do this with the BeerSmith 'Alcohol and Attenuation tool' from the 'tool' drop down menu.

[dtapke]

HOLD ON

There's some oddities in your measurements. you give Hydrometer and brix readings, what are you using to measure? a refractometer or a hydrometer? if you're using a refractometer, 13 brix would be 1.051 sg and a fermented reading of 2.5 brix would be .986

SOMETHING IS WRONG.

can you specify your readings better? by your readings i'm assuming you're using a triple scale hydrometer? in which case it would be 1.055 and 1.010 which is far more likely. You MUST make sure you're correcting for temperatures when doing this. Although at the temperatures you're fermenting at it's likely you're only off 1-2 points, but if your initial reading was done at say 90F and your second reading was done at say 45F you could be off as much as 5 points.

For clarity, you have a few things you can do. Cold crash as oginme stated, or you can use a fining agent, most folks use gelatin. here's a link about how to clear with gelatin. http://brulosophy.com/2015/01/05/the-gelatin-effect-exbeeriment-results/