Dry Stout Fermentation

[msjulian]

So I brewed my first Dry Stout Sunday. 10 gallons, 1.048 OG in to the fermenter. In the fermentation refrigerator and pitched White Labs 1004 Irish Ale yeast from a 3L starter at 65 deg. Kicked off really good by Monday morning. Really nice krausen. Now it is Wednesday night and things have already started to slow. One bubble every 10-15 sec. Does a 7 day fermentation sound right??

[Don]

#1: always check SG for several day.

It can be finshed in 3 to 5 days.. but refer to #1

I never get in a hurry to take a big beer off the yeast, 1 to 3 weeks is just fine. But dont forget #1

[john mills]

Does a 7 day fermentation sound right??

Shouldn't be any problems. It's the long ferments I have worries about.
I think you pitched the correct amount of yeast for a "normal" 1.050 and below beer. Unless your needing the fermentation vessel, just let it go and check the gravity in a couple of weeks.

[msjulian]

I usually wait 8-10 days then start checking but this one seemed to slow a faster then other brews I have done. I would assume that checking with a refractometer would be fine. All I am looking for is no change in the numbers. Is that safe to assume?

[john mills]

While the reflectometer doesn't give you quite an accurate reading after fermentation has begun, it will still inicate if there is fermentation activity with successive daily measurements. There is an excel spreadsheet on morebeer.com to do the calculations converting refractometer readings after fermentation has begun to specific gravity. I've found that this spreadsheet is usually 2-3 pts lower than what I actually measure...close enough for me. I really don't care if FG is 1.006 or 1.009. It's just how it tastes. If I want it drier, then the next brew I'll change.

[msjulian]

All I would be looking for is stable numbers for a few days so I would not need to be concerned with the actual conversion from brix to SG after fermentation. Once I see stable numbers on the refractometer for a couple of days then rack off to a keg. At that point if I can pull a SG reading to get a good FG for my records.

Does this sound right? This is the first time I am using the refractometer to check fermentation. I really like only having to pull a very small sample each time as opposed to a full hydrometer check.

[john mills]

You've got it, but puting in your refract reading into the program let's you know if you're close to FG. A stuck fermentation will read no changes in gravity, but not that you've reached terminal gravity.

[msjulian]

Good point.. I knew there was a reason I asked the experts...

[Michael Erwin]

While the reflectometer doesn't give you quite an accurate reading after fermentation has begun, it will still inicate if there is fermentation activity with successive daily measurements. There is an excel spreadsheet on morebeer.com to do the calculations converting refractometer readings after fermentation has begun to specific gravity. I've found that this spreadsheet is usually 2-3 pts lower than what I actually measure...close enough for me. I really don't care if FG is 1.006 or 1.009. It's just how it tastes. If I want it drier, then the next brew I'll change.

There was a guy featured on Basic Brewing Radio a few shows back that thinks he has better math for this than the traditional formulas. He's asking for people to send in data to corroborate his results...

The guy is Sean Terrill, who also happens to have a spot on Two-Hearted Ale recipe... here's his website: http://seanterrill.com/2010/06/11/refra ... l-gravity/

And here is the BBR show... http://media.libsyn.com/media/basicbrew ... efract.mp3