# US 05 yeast action / bubble rate



## trustyrusty (18/5/20)

Hi There, I have had yeast in for 24 hours, 'bubble rate' is about 1 per minute maybe less, but put it this way much less than normal kit yeast I have used. Is the action / fermentation rate less in this yeast or do I have a problem. Set at 20 degrees in fermenting fridge.

Thanks


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## Vini2ton (18/5/20)

Have a quick peek. You'll know if it's happening or not. The smell, the krausen, and condensation on the lid are a dead give away it's rolling. The old maxim," a watched kettle boils the slowest." You'll be right. Plus fermenters can sometimes have a slight leak.


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## philrob (18/5/20)

My brews haven't bubbled for about 9 years now. They turn out just fine.
I don't even own one of those bubbly thingos any longer.
2 layers of clingwrap held in place with the rubber seal from the lid, and I'm set.
Don't worry about bubble rate, it's meaningless. Measure fermentation with a hydrometer if you are really concerned, but I wouldn't bother myself. It seems it's underway, so let it do it's thing.


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## trustyrusty (18/5/20)

Yep thanks - think I am going to try bubble wrap, you can see what is happening, does the wrap rise up under pressure or just slowing escape. I have a stainless steel tank that has clips, I have have old plastic tank I could use if it has rubber seal in it? Yep is bubbling ok, so I will leave it,


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## Coalminer (19/5/20)

Rusty you don't necessarily need the rubber ring if you don;t have one
Just use some elastic ( dressmakers elastic ). it works fine


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## Nullnvoid (19/5/20)

You can use the rubber ring that's in the lid of the fermenter if it has one. I don't think the newer Coopers style fermenters do but all mine have a rubber seal.

Otherwise just a big rubber band or as Coalminer said, some elastic.


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## trustyrusty (19/5/20)

I found an old rubber seal, but it won’t fit around stainless steel tank...well it might but have really pull it.. dunno


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## Vini2ton (19/5/20)

My dad used a plastic rubbish bin with a towel draped over it. All cleaned and as sanitary as possible. I don't remember him ever tipping brew out or complaining of infected beer. Times was simpler back then.


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## BobbyBoucher (19/5/20)

I don't think the yeast is the problem. I just used this yeast for the first time recently and I went from OG to expected FG in 5 days without much action in the airlock.


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## trustyrusty (19/5/20)

It’s going well and steady, not like coopers yeast I have used before...a lot of action...


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## trustyrusty (19/5/20)

Vini2ton said:


> My dad used a plastic rubbish bin with a towel draped over it. All cleaned and as sanitary as possible. I don't remember him ever tipping brew out or complaining of infected beer. Times was simpler back then.


 well 200 years ago they made great beer


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## S.E (19/5/20)

Vini2ton said:


> My dad used a plastic rubbish bin with a towel draped over it. All cleaned and as sanitary as possible. I don't remember him ever tipping brew out or complaining of infected beer. Times was simpler back then.


Sealing or covering the fermenter is a relatively new idea. 20 years or so ago open fermenting (with no cover) was the norm. Air locks were only used by wine makers. Beer was mostly, fermented, racked, packaged and consumed before their wine was ready for bottling. 

These days pressure fermenting beer in primary is all the rage whatever the hell that is all about??


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## trustyrusty (19/5/20)

So what happened when the bubbles finished and wort open to air, surely it got infection? Or had the chance to get one? I have been semi pressure fermenting for a while, couple of days before end I put in the keg and finish off .. then in the fridge to cold crash ... everything drops down , fine...


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## S.E (19/5/20)

trustyrusty said:


> well 200 years ago they made great beer


They did indeed, that’s why modern brewers still try to replicate the styles that developed back then.


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## S.E (19/5/20)

trustyrusty said:


> So what happened when the bubbles finished and wort open to air, surely it got infection? Or had the chance to get one? I have been semi pressure fermenting for a while, couple of days before end I put in the keg and finish off .. then in the fridge to cold crash ... everything drops down , fine...


A lot of basic brewing and cellaring skills have been lost or ignored by modern homebrewers these days. It’s easier to just ferment in primary and keg. You’re an IBU club member aren’t you? Have you attended a brew day or RAF? If not do so and all will become clear.


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## MHB (19/5/20)

S.E said:


> Sealing or covering the fermenter is a relatively new idea. 20 years or so ago open fermenting (with no cover) was the norm. Air locks were only used by wine makers. Beer was mostly, fermented, racked, packaged and consumed before their wine was ready for bottling.
> 
> These days pressure fermenting beer in primary is all the rage whatever the hell that is all about??



Sort of
The only vessels available until recently were open fermenters, go back much over a hundred years and wood was about the only option.
Open fermenting without a cover was pretty much limited to what were called "Fermentation Cellars" these rooms were kept scrupulously clean, a world away from a bathroom, laundry or garage.


trustyrusty said:


> So what happened when the bubbles finished and wort open to air, surely it got infection? Or had the chance to get one? I have been semi pressure fermenting for a while, couple of days before end I put in the keg and finish off .. then in the fridge to cold crash ... everything drops down , fine...



Most (probably all) beers pre Pasteur were infected, its funny if you research the change in brewing that came with the introduction of pure yeast - there were complaints that all the flavour (mostly Lacto and Brett) was being taken out of the beer.
As for people trying to replicate old styles, that's largely a fantasy, we may look at old styles for ideas, but most of us wouldn't want to drink the beers of yore, we drink better beer (well we have that option) than at any time in history.
Its funny but breweries abandon open fermentation and wooden equipment as soon as they had any other option, a couple of small craft breweries are open fermenting but I suspect that's more of a "look at me - look at me" type of marketing spin than any serious attempt at replocating historic beers.
Mark


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## S.E (19/5/20)

[/QUOTE]


MHB said:


> Sort of
> The only vessels available until recently were open fermenters, go back much over a hundred years and wood was about the only option.
> Open fermenting without a cover was pretty much limited to what were called "Fermentation Cellars" these rooms were kept scrupulously clean, a world away from a bathroom, laundry or garage.
> 
> ...


Not sure what point your making on this one Mark?

As I said, a lot of basic brewing and cellarmen ship skills have been lost (especialy celermanship). No one is suggesting you should be anything but scrupulously clean in brewing. That was always a given.

If you are sugesting that fermenting beer under pressure in closed containers is the best or only way then you’re wrong. Sure it easier and often the modern way but have you ever tried older methods?

As for beer of yore, I remember beer in my youth being just as good as now but my Grandfather always said beer was better in his youth so who knows.


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## trustyrusty (20/5/20)

S.E said:


> A lot of basic brewing and cellaring skills have been lost or ignored by modern homebrewers these days. It’s easier to just ferment in primary and keg. You’re an IBU club member aren’t you? Have you attended a brew day or RAF? If not do so and all will become clear.


Yes I am, I should do.. I’m an amateur compared to those guys


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## Coalminer (20/5/20)

Not sure what point your making on this one Mark?

As I said, a lot of basic brewing and cellarmen ship skills have been lost (especialy celermanship). No one is suggesting you should be anything but scrupulously clean in brewing. That was always a given.

If you are sugesting that fermenting beer under pressure in closed containers is the best or only way then you’re wrong. Sure it easier and often the modern way but have you ever tried older methods?

As for beer of yore, I remember beer in my youth being just as good as now but my Grandfather always said beer was better in his youth so who knows.
[/QUOTE]

Hmm, I don't think Mark was advocating pressure fermenting at all


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## S.E (20/5/20)

Coalminer said:


> Hmm, I don't think Mark was advocating pressure fermenting at all


Perhaps not. I’m not sure what exactly he was suggesting. I was talking about home brew fermenters 20 years ago not commercial brewing. We did have covered fermenters with seals and airlocks back then but they were mostly used for wine making. They were sold side by side with beer fermenters basically a bucket that just had a tight fitting lid with a small hole in it.

Homebrew books I read at the time suggested removing the lid during fermentation and just using it near the end. Then either racking off the yeast to a closed container before bottling or to a pressure barrel keg.

Mark does have a point about beers of yore though. 200 years ago was a bit before good beer was brewed.


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## Vini2ton (20/5/20)

I reckon it must of been mid to early 70s that those black fermenters came on the scene. I met a bloke who had one of them split in half, spewing his brew out of his garage, down his driveway and into the gutter. Where they brigalow brand? Anyway I think we all agree that there are many ways of brewing our favorite beverage and air-locks should never be used as a measure of final gravity.


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## pharmaboy (20/5/20)

Vini2ton said:


> My dad used a plastic rubbish bin with a towel draped over it. All cleaned and as sanitary as possible. I don't remember him ever tipping brew out or complaining of infected beer. Times was simpler back then.



I love this so much! My dad used to do the same for a couple of days then rack into 2 x 20l vinegar cubes with a bung and an airlock - back then, not designed for brewing.

Extract was used and iso hops for bittering (mum didnt really appreciate boiling hops in the kitchen in the seventies) - kits made the thing a whole lot simpler by the 80's.

The beer however, while beer, was cheap


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## pharmaboy (20/5/20)

Vini2ton said:


> I reckon it must of been mid to early 70s that those black fermenters came on the scene. I met a bloke who had one of them split in half, spewing his brew out of his garage, down his driveway and into the gutter. Where they brigalow brand? Anyway I think we all agree that there are many ways of brewing our favorite beverage and air-locks should never be used as a measure of final gravity.


If you have to use a hydrometer every time, and sometimes it says dont bottle - respectfully, perhaps thats a sign of no patience? I think last time round I probably brewed for 5 years without ever taking the hydrometer out of its package (well, maybe the first time).

If things have gone awfully awry you can tell by taste pretty quickly if a brew has stalled (which youll suspect because of what you have seen). if you have doubt, leave it a day - that will almost always take care of the situation 

;D

@MHB - my dad worked in an open fermenter brewery in 52 or thereabouts for a year - i should have paid more attention to the details i think....


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## Hops are tops (20/5/20)

philrob said:


> My brews haven't bubbled for about 9 years now. They turn out just fine.
> I don't even own one of those bubbly thingos any longer.
> 2 layers of clingwrap held in place with the rubber seal from the lid, and I'm set.
> Don't worry about bubble rate, it's meaningless. Measure fermentation with a hydrometer if you are really concerned, but I wouldn't bother myself. It seems it's underway, so let it do it's thing.


I brew in a bucket with a tea towel over it .


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## Vini2ton (21/5/20)

pharmaboy said:


> If you have to use a hydrometer every time, and sometimes it says dont bottle - respectfully, perhaps thats a sign of no patience? I think last time round I probably brewed for 5 years without ever taking the hydrometer out of its package (well, maybe the first time).
> 
> If things have gone awfully awry you can tell by taste pretty quickly if a brew has stalled (which youll suspect because of what you have seen). if you have doubt, leave it a day - that will almost always take care of the situation
> 
> ...


I really only take 2 hydro readings. At the start, (which is sanitary and returned to ferment) and once the krausen has dropped, after several days, I do another which I taste. I wouldn't want to waste beer with unnecessary hydro readings! I also make wine, of which patience is an integral ingredient.


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## trustyrusty (21/5/20)

Vini2ton said:


> I also make wine, of which patience is an integral ingredient.


Is that pretty much same as beer? Do you buy grape juice or is there a concentrate version too. I looked into ..looked much the same as beer process.


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## pharmaboy (21/5/20)

Vini2ton said:


> I really only take 2 hydro readings. At the start, (which is sanitary and returned to ferment) and once the krausen has dropped, after several days, I do another which I taste. I wouldn't want to waste beer with unnecessary hydro readings! I also make wine, of which patience is an integral ingredient.



The truth comes out now! Youre just drinking from the fermenter and claiming science! ;D


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## Vini2ton (21/5/20)

trustyrusty said:


> Is that pretty much same as beer? Do you buy grape juice or is there a concentrate version too. I looked into ..looked much the same as beer process.


I've got 4 vines (mucat gordo blanco) which produce varying amounts of fruit from season to season. I'm sort of glad I only go through the process once a year. I've got a love/hate relationship with backyard wine-making. Sorry. Off topic.


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## trustyrusty (27/5/20)

Hi I just using harvest yeast, and first cling wrap cover ... this is been in for few hours(found this rubber band from Bunnings ) perfect... what happens to co2? Just it just push past band...looks like a bit of action... ?


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## Vini2ton (27/5/20)

It'll find it way out. Or... it will explode and destroy all life on earth.


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## trustyrusty (28/5/20)

Hi got a nice seal on this.. pushing up so I assume sealed... full cover on top. Love this, can see what is happening.. I think these are Live Photo’s so maybe issue, but you get the idea. thanks


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## trustyrusty (28/5/20)

Pressure fermentation


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## philrob (28/5/20)

To be crude, your bum is tighter than a rubber band, and your raspberries find a way out too.
Don't sweat the unimportant details. It will find its way out. Works for me (both of them).


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## Vini2ton (28/5/20)

The old walrus was happy when he found a tight seal.


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## trustyrusty (3/6/20)

Poured into keg yesterday, interesting add a very slight mini head on it, I assume because the CO2 was not escaping.. bit different to what I normally see...anyway think it worked all. The taste of the beer was good too, perhaps because slight carbonated.


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## MaggieO (6/6/20)

Whether you drive a Ford Focus or a Bentley, both will get you where you where you want to go in the same amount of time for the most part.

High dollar brewing equipment doesn't necessarily mean better beer. It does mean more expensive beer.


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