So, this batch has been a thorn in my side and cause of much anxious anxiety. Not only has it been a slow fermentation, but it has had a krausen layer that seems to be like an unwanted house guest.
The gravity finally hit where I wanted it for FG and I bottled underneath the krausen suspension. What I finally ended up with was a nice pink/reddish brew which I capped with some red caps I had on hand and thus far nothing bad has happened since going into the bottle.
What can we learn from this? Well foremost is that while a 1 week primary 1 week secondary will normally do the trick, sometimes its best to take gravity readings for a few reasons. Foremost is to check how close to bottling you are, without that sometimes you might be wondering whats going on in that magical bucket. Secondly its a reassurance that something is indeed happening in there. I have read that a lot of home brewers do not take gravity readings anymore. While i agree with this there are some times when going to the hydrometer is a good idea. We are not making production food or drink here and like home cooking sometimes we gotta do this by feeling alone to make it come out. Happy brewing to everyone and here is a picture of my spoils (note i store for the first week in my spare shower in case of bombs… never happened to me before but you never know) 😉
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