A little help please...

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Bananaman

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Hi there guys and gals, another complete newbie here, so please be forgiving of anything that illustrates my obvious ignorance.

I’m onto what’s only my second ever brew and not sure what’s going on with it. It’s a ruby red ale from a kit and it’s been in a 5 gallon carboy for 2 weeks now. Following the pitching of the yeast, it had about 24 hours of very visible activity but didn’t produce any krausen during that time and then quietened down considerably and the only evidence of anything happening was the gentle rising of bubbles for the next few days. Unfortunately, on brew day my hydrometer rolled off the table and onto the floor where it broke, so I was unable to get an SG. I managed to buy another one and took a reading at 10 days and it was 1.012. I took another reading at 14 days and it didn’t seem to have changed much (see image).

https://pasteboard.co/JgraQBc.jpg
It’s clearly not in the desired “yellow zone”, so what might be going on? Is it stuck and, if not, is the gravity too high for bottling and am I risking bombs if I do so?

It tastes okay, if there's anything to be gleaned from that - just flat, as would be expected.

Thanks a lot in anticipation of your responses.
 
Sounds fine to me - I'd say crack on and bottle it. I recently bottled a bitter that was at 1014 for 4 days - it's lovely. If you want to be cautious, go for the lower end of the CO2 volumes (I would do anyway given the type of beer). If you don't already use it, I suggest a priming calculator such as Brewer's Friend (link at the top of the forum) to give you an idea of how much priming sugar to use.
 
Hi @Bananaman, without knowing the OG it's difficult to advise whether it's stuck or just finished. Do you know what the instructions said that OG would be? is it a single can kit and you added sugar/dextrose? is it a 2 can kit? please advise us of any extras you added and as much detail as possible.
 
Do you know what your original gravity was? Kits usually tell you the OG (or a range at least) and if you made the kit up with the right quantity of water you shouldn't be far off that.

1.012 is a reasonable point to think about bottling. If the gravity hasn't changed over 3 days at that gravity, it's as good as done. Get bottling.
 
I would say that it's definitely done being stable for 4 day's. I'd assume if its a kit for Ruby red it has come with either Gervin, Nottingham or S04 which would leave your FG in range.
What percentage did the kit estimate as it was probably 4.5% - 5.0%.
 
If it's a St Peter's Ruby Red without any additions (as Banbeer has asked) you can expect it to finish around 1012.

Ignore the hydrometer instructions. Muntons says less than 1014!

Most important is that it has become steady.

The OG is to some extent irrelevant.

I don't think I have ever had a beer kit go much under 1010. If it has nearly reached the black, it should be done.

It looks quite clear too. Nice.

I would be bottling that.

😀
 
Hi guys, yes, it's a St. Peter's Ruby Red but I wanted the alcohol content to be a little higher, so on the advice of a friend who brews I added an extra 1kg of powdered malt extract. Not sure if this was bad advice and I've a serious rookie mistake or how exactly that effects the situation now. Or is that stable hydrometer reading all that's important at this point?
 
Stable at a little over 1010 is the important thing.

Assuming your hydrometer is reading correctly, get the bottles out.

I would never criticise someone for 'pimping' a kit, but maybe a little early in the new hobby?

I haven't yet tried all the kits on the market after a decade (and I impose a rule that every other purchase has to be a new one). Getting close though. 😊

But hey, it's a hobby, a bit of fun too. Whatever route you go down, do it your way and enjoy.

Fwiw, I didn't get on with the high alcohol Young's kits. American IPA, was one, I think. I'd have to look at my notes. Too much alcohol. Doesn't always work for me.

Have fun!
 
Thanks everybody who took the time to reply. I'm going to get this brew bottled sharpish .

And yes, Chris-S, "pimping a kit" with such little knowledge was probably a bit of a maverick move but, what the hell, life's short and sometimes the best way to learn is to experiment (as long as doing so doesn't result in bottle bombs! :D).

Cheers
 
Thanks everybody who took the time to reply. I'm going to get this brew bottled sharpish .

And yes, Chris-S, "pimping a kit" with such little knowledge was probably a bit of a maverick move but, what the hell, life's short and sometimes the best way to learn is to experiment (as long as doing so doesn't result in bottle bombs! :D).

Cheers
If you have never made up a kit before its best, in my view, to make it up to pretty much how it came, at least until you know what you are doing with 'extras', so you can then decide if and how it may need modding if you decide to do it again. And premium kits (like yours) are usually sold with the intention that you make them up up as they come since all you need is in the box, which is why they cost more. If you want to play about modding kits buy a one can which will provide a good platform to add extra hops, malt, steeping grains etc etc
But in your case adding an extra kilo of DME to produce something with alcohol content 'a little higher' will have added about 1.5% to a beer of about 3.8% which will produce something that may taste different from the original (which may be good or bad) but will also mean your FG is likely to be higher than had you brewed it as it comes, since the yeast will attenuate about the same.
 
Thanks for the tips terrym. All duly noted.

I guess when I think about it, it's a little disrespectful to the kit creator to suggest that the ale isn't everything that it should be in its undoctored state. I've always favoured stronger brews - not for the intoxicating effects because I only ever drink a single bottle at a time, but more for the taste - and prior to this I'd done a St. Peter's IPA and really enjoyed it. I liked the quality of the kit and wanted to go for something else of a similar strength by the same manufacturer but with the high demand for homebrew supplies right now, it was a struggle to find something. Hence why I opted to "pimp" this one.

Next time I'll either just wait until I can get something that will produce the desired strength without additions or just buy a cheaper kit and modify accordingly. All part of the learning process.
 
All the premium kits I have tried are of a good quality. Many are made by Muntons, eg Woodfordes, St Peters, Courage.

I agree with Terry, at least you have a baseline (created by an expert) if you do the kit as standard the first time.

I know what you mean about depleted stocks lately but here are some to look out for as they catch up.

I mentioned the Youngs, quality is fine, just the ones I tried were too alcoholic for the style. But that is just my opinion, you may well disagree.

The Bulldog Triple Tykes 5.4% is excellent.

Slightly lower alcohol, Festival Pride of London Porter 5.2% or Old Suffolk Ale 5.0% were both excellent too.

I'm sure others would add more suggestions if you want them.
 
Thanks for the tips terrym. All duly noted.

I guess when I think about it, it's a little disrespectful to the kit creator to suggest that the ale isn't everything that it should be in its undoctored state. I've always favoured stronger brews - not for the intoxicating effects because I only ever drink a single bottle at a time, but more for the taste - and prior to this I'd done a St. Peter's IPA and really enjoyed it. I liked the quality of the kit and wanted to go for something else of a similar strength by the same manufacturer but with the high demand for homebrew supplies right now, it was a struggle to find something. Hence why I opted to "pimp" this one.

Next time I'll either just wait until I can get something that will produce the desired strength without additions or just buy a cheaper kit and modify accordingly. All part of the learning process.
As I understand it all the St Peters kits come with 3 kg LME so should all produce a beer of more or less identical ABV. It can't be anything else, unless you brew to a different volume or the FG is markedly different.
If you want to calculate the OG and estimated ABV based on a projected FG of a kit beer use this (using 'extract' in the drop down)
https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/calculatorAnd for what its worth priming suagr adds a nominal 0.2% to the ABV.
 
Thanks for everyone's help on this and for the kit recommendations.

Brew is now bottled and I'm looking forward to sampling my (pimped) ruby ale.
 

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