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Newbie with a few questions...
Hi all. This is my first post, and I am in the process of fermenting my first batch. I have already gathered some great info from this site, so thanks. I have a couple questions though.
1) After an overnight soak of my primary fermenter (I have read the posts that many brewers don't use the secondary, but for now I am using one) in B-Brite cleanser, I rinsed it out and sprayed it down with star san. The 6.5 gallon fermenter (Brewers Best kit bucket) appears very clean, but it still distinctly smells like the beer, an IPA. Is this odor retention going to affect my next batch, or should I use a different cleanser?
2) This is a kit recipe with a listed SG of 1.063 and FG of 1.016. My SG was 1.068, and after 8 days in primary it was at 1.017, at which point I transferred it to secondary. I plan to leave the beer in secondary for 2 weeks to clean it up and help reinforce my need for patience. However, based on the numbers, is the beer ready for bottling? What is the proper way to determine if the beer is ready, assuming I don't have the exact SG listed in the recipe? In this case, since my SG is .005 higher than listed, does that mean the beer is ready for bottling at 1.021, instead of the listed 1.016 on the recipe?
3) I plan to use oxiclean to remove labels from used bottles. What is a good amount per gallon to use for a soak?
Thanks for all your help,
Braden
the smell in the bucket won't hurt anything.
the best way to tell if your beer is ready to be bottled is to take a hydrometer reading and then take another reading a day or 2 later. if the readings are the same, it's done.
Welcome to the board Tucson.
1. Buckets will almost always have a "beer" smell.
2. For the most part once you have consistent gravity readings over several days the beer is done fermenting. But even after hitting your final gravity its best to let the beer sit for at least another week. During this time the beer will continue to clear and the yeast will clean up any by-products produced during fermentation (ie: diacetyl and acetyldehyde)
3. Oxyclean is great at removing labels. I always eyeball it but I usually use a scoop or two for anywhere btween 5-10 gallons of water.
As far as the oxiclean goes I use about 1 T per gal. If the lables are still not coming off I'll add some more. Hot water seems to work better also. hope that helps
ID
Thanks for the responses. I won't worry too much about the smell then. I intend to get one or two of the better bottle carboys in the near future, and I hear they are supposed to be a little better about not retaining the smell.
Thanks again,
Braden
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