Beer Volcano!

[brewbienewbie]

Ok so I just bought a Coopers homebrew kit and started a brew with the ingredients supplied (1 tin of goo marked "Lager", 1 packet of decidedly non-lager yeast, 1kg sugar). After about 48hours at ~23c foam shot out of the airlock and all over the place! The missus has since banished the whole operation to the garage. Unfortunately after this early burst of exuberance the brew seems to be sulking. No more bubbles, nothing. It's been sitting fairly steady between 18-20c in the garage, could lugging it around the place have upset it? And apart from upsetting the missus, is the beer eruption likely to affect the brew?


Cheers

 

[Pennywise]

Firstly, welcome.

Is the gravity dropping? If so it's fermenting.

 

[bum]

The foam (krausen) coming out of the airlock won't ruin your beer. And having moved the fermenter will only cause a problem if you splashed the beer around inside a lot. If it was a reasonably steady move then you'll have no problems because of it. If anything the move is a good thing because you've found out the garage has better brew temps. As HB79 says, if the gravity is sill dropping then it is still fermenting.

Welcome aboard and good luck with it.

 

[brewbienewbie]

Thanks! The SG has been sitting on 1010 since yesterday, I figure if it's hasn't changed by the time I get home this evening I'll bottle it. It's our first batch so as long as it's got bubbles and booze in it we'll be happy!

 

[chappo1970]

Thanks! The SG has been sitting on 1010 since yesterday, I figure if it's hasn't changed by the time I get home this evening I'll bottle it. It's our first batch so as long as it's got bubbles and booze in it we'll be happy!

That's the spirit BB!

Brew will be fine and welcome to AHB.

 

[Pennywise]

If you have the same reading 3 days in a row it's done, 1010 sounds like it's there but 1008 seems more the norm with those ingredients. If it's still at 1010 tomorrow I say botlle her.

 

[bum]

1010 sounds spot on to me. Leaving it in the fermenter a little longer will clean it up a tad and will help the beer over all - but as a new brewer myself I know very well you're not going to wanna wait for that and it should be good to bottle. It should be noted however that 3 consecutive stable readings is more reliable than 2.

Enjoy it, bloke.

 

[brewbienewbie]

All right then you've convinced me... 3 readings in a row it is. One more day can't hurt! Cheers everyone.

 

[Adamt]

Just a warning, don't expect anything too miraculous in flavour straight away! You'll have beer though, that's for sure.

Welcome, and keep reading.

 

[Wasabi]

And having moved the fermenter will only cause a problem if you splashed the beer around inside a lot. If it was a reasonably steady move then you'll have no problems because of it.

Bum,

Can you expand on that?

I'm confused as to why splashing cool wort/beer is bad? What damage do you believe extra aeration (even though most of the headspace is CO2) will do?

 

[Pennywise]

The only problem I see with moving/splashing a fermented beer is the crud stuck on the fermenter left over from the krausen, possibly that's what bum is getting at?

 

[bum]

Adding oxygen once primary fermentation has begun can increase diacetyl (amongst other undesirable by-products, I am led to believe). Also lifting a full fermenter usually causes the airlock to suck back and vigorous movement may (maybe) disturb your CO2 bed (combine these two and your chances of infection are greatly increased).

Don't worry about these points, brewbienewbie, if you've been as careful as you can I don't think they'll be issues for you.

 

[Pennywise]

IMO the airlock sucking back in wont cause you any problems unless you haven't put a sanitised solution (no-rinse of course) in it and the water actually sucks back it. I have it happen to me every time and never an infection from it. Off course as you say, splashing the crap out of it while moving it is not good practice at all.

:icon_offtopic: I saw the best bum screen shot but have no idea how to post it up. Beer volcano by bum. Well I though it was funny anyway

 

[buttersd70]

even the most minimal amount of oxygen after pitching = ruined beer.

would love to know where this little gem originated. I notice that it gets a lot of PR on septic sites and literature......

I think they'd sh!t themselves if they ever saw how a yorkie square operates. Or it's southern-fairy counterpart, the double-drop. :lol:

 

[bum]

would love to know where this little gem originated.

I picked it up in How to Brew.

 

[buttersd70]

OK.
Ummm....I'll be kind, here, in order (to at least try) to avoid an all out flame war.....

Let's just say that certain literature overstates certain issues, and with some issues takes a very blinkered approach to brewing, approaching it solely from the perspective of a nationality that likes their beer to taste of only one of four essential ingredients. h34r:

 

[Wasabi]

Buttersd/Bum,

I just wanted to get that clarified as I hate this perpetual homebrew myth about oxygen in wort, but I was just wondering if Bum had other concerns.

The extra oxygen just switches the yeast back to aerobic metabolisation (it's preference because it's lazy). This just makes more yeasties which may even go a step toward reducing diacetyl, especially, being home brewers, most of us underpitch by 5-10 fold.

There is a problem with perpetual aeration though! I did an apparent attentuation limit in a constant shaker and the scientist in me couldn't resist tasting it......


Sorry guys, didn't mean to raise any hackles....