Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Day 7 (10-18-06)(70F)
- 11:30am
- I gently moved the carboy from the closet to the kitchen counter. I did not disturbe or churn the wort at all.
- I had the Secondary (5 gal) carboy ready on the floor.
- The siphon hose was full of water so that it was primed for the wort move. I placed the siphon in the Primary and the other end in a pan to catch the water run-out until the tube was full of wort.
- Once the tube was full of wort, I closed it with the supplied valve clamp and put the end in the secondary carboy. The tube was resting flat on the bottom. That way it would not aerate th wort comming out by spashing around.
- I opened the hose and the wort began to flow.
- The siphon stopped while there was still about 1.5 inches left at the bottom. This was the fluid just above the yeast cake at the bottom. The siphon did not get that because air got in the hose. I tried to get the siphon going once but it wouldn't work. The wort got mixed a little when I was trying to get it going again, so I just considered it a loss. After all, the reason for moving to a secondary is to get the wort away from the gunk at the bottom.
- I calculated that it was around 1/2 gallon if not a little more.
- There was 4 inches of head room in the secondary fermenter. I was a little worried about this but the advice I got from www.realbeer.com was that the CO2 that is released during the move would push the oxygen out of the space and it would be okay.
- Next time I will put a wedge or something to keep the carboy tilted. That way I will be able to get more.
- I took a hydrometer reading. Gravity = 1.006 (but I had to adjust for temp. to 1.007 @ 70F because the hydrometer is calabrated for 60F). My OG = 1.033.
- According to some charts I have, that puts my current alcohol content at around 3.5%.
- (Difference between 2 reading) X (131)=Alcohol by volume percent
- (1.033 - 1.007) X 131 = 3.406% ABV
- That is not too bad. I am hoping to get a tiny bit more out of it after the next 2 week conditioning phase.
- (Difference between 2 reading) X (131)=Alcohol by volume percent
- Snuck a small sample to see how the taste was. Yup. Just as I suspected. It tasted like beer, Ale style actually (since, afterall it is an Ale). I was rather impressed with myself.
- I filled the airlock with a sterile (chlorox/water) solution. Since I didn't pre-boil any water like I did with the Primary, I read that that was best.
- I put on the plug and airlock and stuck it back in the closet (in the dark). And there is shall stay for the next 2 weeks.
- Then it will go in bottles and I will wait another 3 weeks.
Moving to Secondary Fermenter - I gently moved the carboy from the closet to the kitchen counter. I did not disturbe or churn the wort at all.
- 11:59pm:
- The airlock (the floating piece) is floating. That's a good sign. It means the air has been pushed out of the space and replaced with CO2.
- There are particles floating just beneath the surface. The wort looks to be clearing about an inch beneath the surface. The particles are floating on this second layer where it is still not clear.
- The airlock (the floating piece) is floating. That's a good sign. It means the air has been pushed out of the space and replaced with CO2.
Note:
Unfortunately there is a large amount of headroom in the secondary. I'd say it is missing about 1 gallon in the secondary.
I figure this comes from two reasons.
- Not being able to siphon off the 1.5 inches (around 1/2 gallong)from the primary.
- And perhaps not having enough liquid initially in the original brew (mostly due to evaporation).
Comments:
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How do you take your hydrometer readings? Do you pour wort into a vessel of some sort?
# posted by 
: 4:15 PM, October 23, 2006
: 4:15 PM, October 23, 2006
You asked me how I take my readings... Actually, if you notice the picture with the hydrometer, there is a black band at the top. Well, that is duct tape. I taped a piece of sewing thread to the very tip of the hydrometer and then suspend it down into the carboy.
I have pre-sanitized the hydrometer and the tape is high enough that it never touches the wort.
I did not want to take the chance that I would churn the wort up by pooring the test sample back into the secondary carboy.
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I have pre-sanitized the hydrometer and the tape is high enough that it never touches the wort.
I did not want to take the chance that I would churn the wort up by pooring the test sample back into the secondary carboy.
# posted by : 11:35 PM, October 23, 2006
: 11:35 PM, October 23, 2006<< Home
