Temerature

[Peter Dear]

Hey, i'm very new to home brewing, and have my first one on now.
i'm struggling to keep the temperature above about 15c. i understand that 18-30c is recommended.
any tips/hints?

thanks
pete

[Peter Dear]

thanks very much.
if the hydrometer was to read above 1.008, what are the chances of it bursting the PET bottles i have? all the literature that came with y kit said it need to be below that figure?
what figure do you guys go by?
also, how do i work out, the % of alcohol in my beer?

[JoKing]

The final gravity changes from brew to brew depending on a few different factors. The best and only thing to do is get 3 exact readings over 3 or 6 days. This way, you never bottle too early - ever. Unless of course you are using Ale yeast at 10 degrees C and your hydromoter reading is 1.022... then, you wouldn't bottle.

But, if you have 1.010 on Monday, Wednesday ad Friday and your beer is at 20 degrees... it is pretty much ready to bottle.

[HerrSchnapps]

Not very high, as long as your gravity readings haven't changed over 2-3 days then you're fine. As for what figure to go by, well, it all depends really. There's several factors, such as yeast-style and for all-grain brewing, mash temp.

[vdog]

To work out % alcohol you need to know the original gravity (ie before you added the yeast). The formula is (OG-FG)*131, and then add 0.2% alc for the effect the priming sugar you will use to carbonate it.

As an example, my latest: ((1.047-1.008)*131)+0.2 = 5.3%abv

[JR]

Put your fermentor in a tub of water and get a cheap fish tank heater and put that in the tub of water.
+/- 1 degree temp control for $20.

[Tony]

BTW, don't put the hydrometer beer back in, it might be contaminated. Check the temperature, take a reading, taste it and give the rest back to the beer gods. Once you have pitched your yeast, everything that goes into it must be sanitised.

[Peter Dear]

just a quick update, the airlock has slowed in its bubbling.
yesterday it was bubbling once a second, now its slowed to around once every 2 seconds.

i'm going to test the s.g. on sunday, how much beer do i need to draw off?

[Tony]

Just enough to make the hydrometer float. Remember, your hydrometer is calibrated to a certain temperature. It will be written on the side of the hydrometer or on the packaging it came with. That means, it will read true at that temperature (usually 20 deg, but it does vary). So pour some beer into the hydrometer tube until the hydrometer floats. Take a temp reading (if it's within 1-2 deg. of your hydrometer calibration, it won't matter), give the hydrometer a spin to release it from any surrounding bubbles (they tend to congregate around the hydrometer and give you a false reading), then take your reading.

If you need to adjust the reading because of the beer temp. send the reading and your temp here and I will give you a corrected reading. Feel free to ask questions, if you are unsure about anything.

[JR]

also

if your beer is still bubbling then dont bother taking a hydrometer reading it wont be done yet. Wait till the bubbles stop.

[Reviled]

Thats not true! Sometimes CO2 can be coming out of solution even after fermentation has finished causing bubbles.. For example you can ferment a beer out in say 4/5 days with S-05 but it will still bubble occassionally for ages! Best way to know for sure is by taking a hydrometer reading

[denimglen]

Reviled speaks the truth.

I've said it before and I'll say it again -

The airlock is not a fermentation indication device.

It merely shows there's a difference in pressure between inside the fermenter and the outside atmosphere.

If your beer is at say 5C it will absorb and hold more CO2 than at 20C. So you take your fermenter out of the fridge at 5C and the beer starts raising to room temp, the SG will be constant but it the airlock will start bubbling again as all that extra CO2 comes out of solution.

[Christian]

Here's a question for you - does yeast in suspension affect FG readings?