OK Another newbie question. Maybe I'm just getting impatient to try this stuff but heres the background before the question.
My first ever 1 gallon batch was started March 09 2008. I used 3 pounds of honey. One orange and 25 raisins. I did not heat anything except honey for easy pouring. At the time I did not even own a Hydrometer so I did not get a OG read. I used Flieshmans bread yeast cuz hey it was my first ever batch.
It started off with a balloon over the bottle because owned no airlocks. I could see tons of bubbles for at least 15 days. On 24 March the baloon seems to be getting softer so since I owned some supplies now I racked it to a one gallon carboy and added a "S" air lock. Bubbles were very slow at this point maybe one every couple minutes. so on 28 March I tried to kickstart it with about 4 ounces of honey. It started bubbling again within an hour and went for about 24 hours. By 30 March I wasn't seeing any bubbles so I racked it again. Now maybe I see a bubble every ten minutes or so. On April 5th I decided since I own a hydrometer now I would take a reading. 1.020
So here is my question. What next? It hasn't cleared enough to read through but it is a nice gold color and I can just see the shadow of my hand through the bottle. I would like it to clear and get it bottled for storage so I can free up the carboy. I've been watching it for the last few days and it doesn't seem to be clearing anymore. Should I refrigerate for a week? Also someone said flieshmans yeast is hard to kill. Even though I hardly ever see a bubble now should I add 1/4 teaspoon of potasium sorbate I have that now as well? Maybe I just need more patience but if its ok to try to push this along I would like to. I just don't want to bottle it until I get it clear. That is the right thing to do correct?
My first ever 1 gallon batch was started March 09 2008. I used 3 pounds of honey. One orange and 25 raisins. I did not heat anything except honey for easy pouring. At the time I did not even own a Hydrometer so I did not get a OG read. I used Flieshmans bread yeast cuz hey it was my first ever batch.
It started off with a balloon over the bottle because owned no airlocks. I could see tons of bubbles for at least 15 days. On 24 March the baloon seems to be getting softer so since I owned some supplies now I racked it to a one gallon carboy and added a "S" air lock. Bubbles were very slow at this point maybe one every couple minutes. so on 28 March I tried to kickstart it with about 4 ounces of honey. It started bubbling again within an hour and went for about 24 hours. By 30 March I wasn't seeing any bubbles so I racked it again. Now maybe I see a bubble every ten minutes or so. On April 5th I decided since I own a hydrometer now I would take a reading. 1.020
So here is my question. What next? It hasn't cleared enough to read through but it is a nice gold color and I can just see the shadow of my hand through the bottle. I would like it to clear and get it bottled for storage so I can free up the carboy. I've been watching it for the last few days and it doesn't seem to be clearing anymore. Should I refrigerate for a week? Also someone said flieshmans yeast is hard to kill. Even though I hardly ever see a bubble now should I add 1/4 teaspoon of potasium sorbate I have that now as well? Maybe I just need more patience but if its ok to try to push this along I would like to. I just don't want to bottle it until I get it clear. That is the right thing to do correct?
pretty potent. Had a fizz to it and warmed the throat. Tasted pretty good but I want to see how much better after it is bottled for 6 months. If anyone wants to send me a message with some directions on how to use that calculator I would appreciate it.
