Airlock stopped bubbling!

[Siborg]

What everyone is talking about is conditioning. I've left a beer (at around 4 degress for weeks - this is called lagering but you should do this for longer for a lager).

Right now, the yeast in your batches will be shutting down and going to sleep because there isn't any more fermentable sugar for them to consume and also because there has been an increase in the amount of alcohol which, surprisingly, yeast don't tolerate too well. But while this is happening the yeast continue to consume certain compounds that cause off-flavours/aromas in your beer.

When I was new to brewing, I was on here asking similar questions and the one thing that the whole forum kept yelling at me was to leave it. So I did and I've never looked back. Each batch was made better due to the advice I slowly started implementing from this board.

So in your case, take a gravity reading. Take another one the next day, and the next day. If all three are the same, then fermentation has finished. After that, try and drop the temperature if you can. You'll find that temperatures will drop a bit because fermenting yeast causes kinetic energy so basically fermentation can bring some heat to the batch. The longer you leave it at colder temperatures, the better and clearer your beer will taste. In this case, I'd aim for 5-7 days if you can wait that long.

Before you plan your next batch, post it up here, get some opinions (most members will agree on basic processes) and then work out what you are going to do differently before you begin. If you can get a decent, controlled fermentation and conditioning, you will make better beer.

 

[Alexpanda]

Okay yes I'll be doing another reading for the today and tomorrow if they are still a stable reading, ill bottle it either Friday night or Saturday! Which will be the 7 day mark. And for next brews I put down I'll let everyone know what cans I buy and what everyone thinks for dextrose etc. thanks for the help everyone

 

[Alexpanda]

Also as much as I would like too keep the temperature down, at the moment I'm not sure how I would do that, my setup is in an old fridge that doesn't work, has thermostats setup with a heatmat and trying too figure out what else I can run into the fridge too cool it down. Such as an aircon but not so big haha

 

[n87]

ice bricks, softdrink containers filled with frozen water.
put as many in the fridge as possible and rotate them as they thore

it would take a while to cool down the fridge... but thats the no extra equipment way

 

[Alexpanda]

Yeah the problem with that is I'm not home during the day. I'll give it a go and see how well it works.

 

[RobboMC]

It's more a case of waiting until the gravity reading stops dropping. If you get the same gravity reading 2-3 days apart ( assuming it's significantly different to the starting point )
then chances are that's as low as the gravity is going to go. Once a brew starts bubbling then the laws of chemistry dictate that it will stop until there are no more sugars for the yeast to devour unless you drop the temperature and put the yeast to sleep. At 21 deg C overnight temp you haven't done that, so chances are it's finished.

Relax and remember that the laws of chemistry are on your side. Live yeast in a barrel with any sort of sugars will equal fermentation - it's inevitable unless you kill the yeast at 40 around deg C or put it to sleep at around 14 deg C ( assuming ale kit yeast )

Assuming you made the Dark Ale to the kit specs the original gravity ( OG ) should have been around 1035 so you will probably be looking for final gravity ( FG ) of something near 1012 to 1014.

3 days of no bubbling for the Cerveza is a concern, especially at 21 deg C. Do you have any more yeast to pitch in? When at the HBS maybe get a sachet of dry yeast. It is possible the yeast that came with the can was dead, it happens more often than we would wish for, and usually to new brewers that rely on the cans when beginning. All it can take is for a truck driver to leave the cans in the sun for a day.

Be careful if you open the barrel to not let in any contamination. One way brews can become infected is opening to add more yeast.
Perhaps even try and trickle the dry yeast in through the air lock hole, I have done that before and it worked.

Some brewers also suggest rehydrating by stirring the dry yeast into TEPID water at about 28 deg C before adding to the barrel. Others deny this helps, so make your own decision.

If you haven't worked out yet, you will soon need a decent thermometer.

 

[RobboMC]

I find it easy to work on the 14 day timing.
If I brew on a Friday night, I should say start fermenting on a Friday night, I will wait two weeks to bottle. Then it's not a school night and I can get on the beers while doing it !


CF

Not a good idea mate. Many brewers have ended up with either flat beer, bottle bombs or infected bottles from making mistakes when drinking while bottling.

I think a better practice is to have a couple of beers AFTER completing the bottling. Makes the washing and rinsing a bit more tolerable.

 

[n87]

Not a good idea mate. Many brewers have ended up with either flat beer, bottle bombs or infected bottles from making mistakes when drinking while bottling.

I think a better practice is to have a couple of beers AFTER completing the bottling. Makes the washing and rinsing a bit more tolerable.

At least make sure the batch is primed and in the bottleing bucket, and all the bottles are steralised before you have one...

 

[RobboMC]

Also as much as I would like too keep the temperature down, at the moment I'm not sure how I would do that, my setup is in an old fridge that doesn't work, has thermostats setup with a heatmat and trying too figure out what else I can run into the fridge too cool it down. Such as an aircon but not so big haha

At least by using an old fridge you are removing a lot of the day/night temp variation. Some brewing writers say this does as much damage to the brew as the actual temp being too high.
In use an old fridge to store my beer, and it gets switched off about April for the whole winter. In Autumn and Spring I run it about 3 hours a day to keep the temp down in the mid-20's.

Look on eBay, you can usually get an old working fridge pretty cheaply. Anyway for your first brews you are doing better than me. Great to hear the Cerveza is at 1010.

One trick I use is to run the fermenter seal under hot tap water at 60 deg C before fitting. Not only does it clean and kill any stray yeast particles, this softens the seal and allows you to screw it down super tight. Can be hard to get off later though.

Remember that a bubbling air lock tells you one thing, that there is gas passing through the air-lock. From this we infer there is fermentation, but as I wrote previously, fermentation is like
a person on water slide, once at the top of the slide you simply MUST slide down.

 

[Siborg]

Yeah the problem with that is I'm not home during the day. I'll give it a go and see how well it works.

I used to use an old, dead fridge. Ice bricks are the way to go, the bigger the bottle, the longer it will last, so chuck a couple in. You'll eventually work out how many to use and how long they'll last.

Keep your eyes peeled for a fridge that will fit a fermenter in it. You'll want a bar-sized fridge that doesn't have a fixed freezer unit. The one I had was just screwed in so I removed it. Now I just hook the fridge up to a temperature controller (plenty of these around if you search) and it regulates the heating belt and fridge to keep the brew at what temp I want.

Start small though. I did a few batches in the dead fridge until I found a decent brew fridge (for free) and, with regular swapping of ice bottles, got some nice brews out of it.

 

[Alexpanda]

Ok guys just did another test on the beer. Cerveza is at 1010 and the dark ale is at 1011. I'll leave it and give it another test tomorrow. Going too try hold out until Saturday which will be 7 days. Temperature is about 21 degrees.

 

[jaypes]

Airlock = $2 piece of shitty plastic
Hydrometer = Scientifically calibrated testing apparatus

 

[CrookedFingers]

Not a good idea mate. Many brewers have ended up with either flat beer, bottle bombs or infected bottles from making mistakes when drinking while bottling.

I think a better practice is to have a couple of beers AFTER completing the bottling. Makes the washing and rinsing a bit more tolerable.

haha let me clarify.
I DO NOT ever condone the over consumption of alcohol !
Also have never had a bottle bomb or bottle infection.

At least make sure the batch is primed and in the bottleing bucket, and all the bottles are steralised before you have one...

This is pretty much exactly when I have a beer. Once I am ready to roll.
Then I can enjoy a couple !

Just one other thing…..how long does it take to bottle a batch at your house ?
It usually takes me an hour, maybe hour and a half. Not really enough time to even get a buzz IMHO. Too busy bottling to drink too much !

Happy bottling yo :beerbang:
CF

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

 

[Alexpanda]

What does kittens mean??

 

[unionrdr]

Usually,when the rapid bubbling slows or stops,only initial fermentation is done. It'll then slowly,uneventfully creep down to a stable FG. Typically 10-14 days if you got the rehydrated yeast or starter to within 10 degrees of the wort temp at the time of pitching. This prevents shocking the yeast & increasing lag time. Then I usually give the beer 3-7 days after FG is reached to clean up any excessive by-products of fermentation & settle out clear or slightly misty before bottling.

 

[Alexpanda]

Okay thanks. Saturday will be 7 days from when yeast was pitched. Planning too bottle on Saturday, gravity reading have been the same for the last two days, will read again this arvo and if stable still, will bottle Saturday like planned

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

What does kittens mean??

Many years ago there was a man named Butters...


And the legend of the kitten was born.

http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/29962-just-made-my-first-brew/?p=415762#entry415762

 

[H0U5ECAT]

Secondary fermentation...

Crap. Wrong thread

 

[Bribie G]

Also as much as I would like too keep the temperature down, at the moment I'm not sure how I would do that, my setup is in an old fridge that doesn't work, has thermostats setup with a heatmat and trying too figure out what else I can run into the fridge too cool it down. Such as an aircon but not so big haha

Using frozen bottles (assuming you have some spare freezing capacity in another fridge or freezer) is a good method and if you are away from home most of the day, is very appropriate. Put bottles in and let them do their thing during the day, then in the evening swap in some fresh frozen ones that have been freezing while you have been absent.