Prior to opening up the ferementer tonight I did notice some activity in the
airlock but I'd say 3-4 minutes passsed between 'burps' so there is a wee
bit of hungry yeast left.

Intial gravity before I pitched the yeast was 1.040. Today it is at 1.017.
I'm going to take another reading in the morning and then again tomorrow
night. If there is no movement from 1.017 I guess it is time to bottle.
When I pulled the lid off the fermenter I noticed a subtle film of oil. Is
this from the hop pellets? Should I be overly concerned?

Otherwise the beer has retreated from the hops and left them clinging to the
sides of the fermenter. During transfer to my bottling vessel I should be
extra careful not to get hops in there, right?

The beer smells sweet, malty and boozy. I'm pretty excited. I damned near
drank my sample for the hydrometer, but given that I dunno how clean the
hydrometer is, I thought it best just to throw out the sample when I was
done.

"Joe Murphy" <SPAMTHIS@SPAMTHIS.com> wrote in message
news:41426029$0$6917$61fed72c@news.rcn.com...[color=blue]
> Prior to opening up the ferementer tonight I did notice some activity in[/color]
the[color=blue]
> airlock but I'd say 3-4 minutes passsed between 'burps' so there is a wee
> bit of hungry yeast left.
>
> Intial gravity before I pitched the yeast was 1.040. Today it is at 1.017.
> I'm going to take another reading in the morning and then again tomorrow
> night. If there is no movement from 1.017 I guess it is time to bottle.[/color]

Sounds good. Sounds like the yeast is almost finished doing its job.
[color=blue]
> When I pulled the lid off the fermenter I noticed a subtle film of oil. Is
> this from the hop pellets? Should I be overly concerned?[/color]

It's probably the hops, but could be that your fermenter was not clean. If
it's a cleanliness problem, you might not get as nice a head on your beer as
you might like... but it's not a real big deal. If it's the hops, it's
nothing to worry about.
[color=blue]
> Otherwise the beer has retreated from the hops and left them clinging to[/color]
the[color=blue]
> sides of the fermenter. During transfer to my bottling vessel I should be
> extra careful not to get hops in there, right?[/color]

It won't hurt anything, but it's nice to leave most of the slime behind so
you don't end up with a half inch of crud in the bottoms of all your
bottles.
[color=blue]
> The beer smells sweet, malty and boozy. I'm pretty excited. I damned near
> drank my sample for the hydrometer, but given that I dunno how clean the
> hydrometer is, I thought it best just to throw out the sample when I was
> done.[/color]

I usually drink a sample, there's no harm in it. It's flat and not fully
developed yet, but it gives you a rough idea of how your beer is going to
turn out.

--
Dave
"Just a drink, a little drink, and I'll be feeling GOOooOOooOOooD!" --
Genesis, 1973-ish

Thanks for the input so far, Dave.

I soaked and then scrubbed the hell out of my fermenter with simple
diswashing soap. Rinsed and let dry. Right before brewing I put C-Brite in
there and scrubbed and sloshed it around. I then placed the fermenter in
front of a fan to dry it out more quickly and examined the interior for any
soil. So I think it may be the hop pellets. At least I hope so.

I'm rinsing out the hydrometer really well so that I can taste tomorrow's
sample.

Thanks again,
Joe


"David M. Taylor" <dmtaylor@SPAM.geocities.SUCKS.com> wrote in message
news:10k4uhifje62a27@corp.supernews.com...[color=blue]
> "Joe Murphy" <SPAMTHIS@SPAMTHIS.com> wrote in message
> news:41426029$0$6917$61fed72c@news.rcn.com...[color=green]
> > Prior to opening up the ferementer tonight I did notice some activity in[/color]
> the[color=green]
> > airlock but I'd say 3-4 minutes passsed between 'burps' so there is a[/color][/color]
wee[color=blue][color=green]
> > bit of hungry yeast left.
> >
> > Intial gravity before I pitched the yeast was 1.040. Today it is at[/color][/color]
1.017.[color=blue][color=green]
> > I'm going to take another reading in the morning and then again tomorrow
> > night. If there is no movement from 1.017 I guess it is time to bottle.[/color]
>
> Sounds good. Sounds like the yeast is almost finished doing its job.
>[color=green]
> > When I pulled the lid off the fermenter I noticed a subtle film of oil.[/color][/color]
Is[color=blue][color=green]
> > this from the hop pellets? Should I be overly concerned?[/color]
>
> It's probably the hops, but could be that your fermenter was not clean.[/color]
If[color=blue]
> it's a cleanliness problem, you might not get as nice a head on your beer[/color]
as[color=blue]
> you might like... but it's not a real big deal. If it's the hops, it's
> nothing to worry about.
>[color=green]
> > Otherwise the beer has retreated from the hops and left them clinging to[/color]
> the[color=green]
> > sides of the fermenter. During transfer to my bottling vessel I should[/color][/color]
be[color=blue][color=green]
> > extra careful not to get hops in there, right?[/color]
>
> It won't hurt anything, but it's nice to leave most of the slime behind so
> you don't end up with a half inch of crud in the bottoms of all your
> bottles.
>[color=green]
> > The beer smells sweet, malty and boozy. I'm pretty excited. I damned[/color][/color]
near[color=blue][color=green]
> > drank my sample for the hydrometer, but given that I dunno how clean the
> > hydrometer is, I thought it best just to throw out the sample when I was
> > done.[/color]
>
> I usually drink a sample, there's no harm in it. It's flat and not fully
> developed yet, but it gives you a rough idea of how your beer is going to
> turn out.
>
> --
> Dave
> "Just a drink, a little drink, and I'll be feeling GOOooOOooOOooD!" --
> Genesis, 1973-ish
>
>[/color]

On Sat, 11 Sep 2004 00:32:42 -0400, "Joe Murphy"
<jmurpSPAMTHIS@rcn.com> wrote:
[color=blue]
>Thanks for the input so far, Dave.
>
>I soaked and then scrubbed the hell out of my fermenter with simple
>diswashing soap. Rinsed and let dry. Right before brewing I put C-Brite in
>there and scrubbed and sloshed it around. I then placed the fermenter in
>front of a fan to dry it out more quickly and examined the interior for any
>soil. So I think it may be the hop pellets. At least I hope so.
>
>I'm rinsing out the hydrometer really well so that I can taste tomorrow's
>sample.
>
>Thanks again,
>Joe[/color]

When you take a sample with your hydrometer the first go around, you
usually sanitize it anyways. As for the fermentor, after cleaning
it, you can usually let it air dry over night unless you are planning
on making a new batch instantly. The reason why I say that is, it's
standard practice to sanitize when you start each new batch... so
unless you're just wanting to put away the fermentor quicker, using a
fan doesn't do much else. Heck. even wiping it out with a clean dry
towel is probably faster than a fan. :)


There's lots of cleaners and sanitizers on the market. I usually go
through Northern Brewer (or Morebeer.com for my stuff). They have a
nice selection of sanitizers/cleaners (I use Star San.. great foamy
goodness, One Step for smaller sanitizing sessions like a hydrometer,
and I just picked up PBW to aid in cleaning:

[url]http://www.northernbrewer.com/sanitizers.html[/url]