Youngs Amber Ale

Hi folks,

Got this on as my first brew, it's been fermenting for a week now and after a fairly vigorous initial fermentation the airlock has died down and gravity seems stable. I'm going to take another gravity reading today and see if it it has changed at all and if not, add the hops for three days.

I have the Brewferm Deluxe equipment kit which includes a secondary FV, I am considering racking and priming the beer in this prior to bottling. This was recommended in the instructions and I've seen a few folk say it's the best idea to avoid hop residue in the bottles. My question is, should I leave it for another week or so in the secondary? I've done a fair amount of reading and most seems to suggest the longer the better. Also, is it better to do this than to bottle condition? Any advice would be appreciated :thumb:

Sorry, title should read "Youngs American Amber Ale"

I have this kit conditioning now, I would say leave it in the primary for at least 2 weeks, one of which you could dry hop, depends how hoppy you like but would say 3 days is the minimum. then pop into the secondary to bottle from and batch prime, you will definitely reduce the sediment you get.

sdt7618 said:

I have this kit conditioning now, I would say leave it in the primary for at least 2 weeks, one of which you could dry hop, depends how hoppy you like but would say 3 days is the minimum. then pop into the secondary to bottle from and batch prime, you will definitely reduce the sediment you get.

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Cheers for that, I'll maybe dry hop today and leave for another week then. Should I just bottle straight away after priming in the secondary?

tomyumgose said:

Cheers for that, I'll maybe dry hop today and leave for another week then. Should I just bottle straight away after priming in the secondary?

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There is no rush. :thumb:
So, leave your beer alone for another week, then add your hops, and leave for another 4 days, more if you like hoppy tasting beer. By then you should have almost clear beer which you can package.
If you want to stop hops going forward from your FV you will need to either keep them in a nylon or muslin bag for the dry hop, or use a nylon mesh 'sock' over the FV end of the siphon tube (assuming you use one). Sometimes crash cooling (storing the beer at near freezing temperatures) for a day or two before packaging will help the hops to settle. More here
A Newbies Guide to Dry Hopping Your Beer - The HomeBrew Forum

I started using muslin bags to contain the hops after my first brew with them.

WierdFish said:

I started using muslin bags to contain the hops after my first brew with them.

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I have found that nylon mesh bags are better than muslin. They don't wet and so you don't get a soggy non draining lump of material in the bottom of the FV when the beer has been taken out.

Went to transfer this to a bottling bucket today and have had a bit of a panic. I added the priming sugar to the bucket and mixed it thoroughly but I realised that the bottles I had planned to use have accidentally been chucked out. I’ve ordered some new ones but they’ll take a couple of days to get here, will I need to add a bit of priming sugar to the bottles in order to get a decent carbonation? I’d imagine after leaving the beer in the bottling bucket with the sugar for a few days it won’t have the intended carbonation level when bottled.

tomyumgose said:

Went to transfer this to a bottling bucket today and have had a bit of a panic. I added the priming sugar to the bucket and mixed it thoroughly but I realised that the bottles I had planned to use have accidentally been chucked out. I’ve ordered some new ones but they’ll take a couple of days to get here, will I need to add a bit of priming sugar to the bottles in order to get a decent carbonation? I’d imagine after leaving the beer in the bottling bucket with the sugar for a few days it won’t have the intended carbonation level when bottled.

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If you now leave your bucket for a few days in the warm most if not all of the priming sugar should be consumed so you should be able to reprime to the full quantity. My guess is that you should be able to start again after about 6/7 days. If your bucket is sealed it shouldn't do it your beer any harm, in a way it's only like racking off to a second FV, which I and others carry out.

terrym said:

If you now leave your bucket for a few days in the warm most if not all of the priming sugar should be consumed so you should be able to reprime to the full quantity. My guess is that you should be able to start again after about 6/7 days. If your bucket is sealed it shouldn't do it your beer any harm, in a way it's only like racking off to a second FV, which I and others carry out.

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Ok that sounds good. Should I wait 6/7 days then prime the bottles with some sugar before bottling? If so, how much sugar in the bottles? Cheers for the help!

If you have 500ml bottles a good 0.5 tsp table sugar will be OK, but no less. Prorate for other bottle sizes.