Longer Than Expected Fermentation.

[Hinji]

Hi guys,
Thought it was time for me to lose my AHB virginity. Have been flicking through all the different forum topics and am really glad there is lots of help out there. I layed down my first kit brew 17 days ago which was;

1.5Kg Black Rock East India Pale Ale
500g DME
500g Dextrose
Safale S-04 yeast

Was bubbling away very nicely for the first week and then settled down to bubble every 30sec-1.5mins. The past few days it had stopped bubbling and yesterday the hydro reading was 1014 (Unfortunately I was stupid and didn't take an OG reading). I was almost ready to bottle this morning when low and behold bubbles appeared again. Have taken another reading and its down to 1012. I guess i'll just have to wait!




TLC

 

[bignath]

Hi guys,
Thought it was time for me to lose my AHB virginity. Have been flicking through all the different forum topics and am really glad there is lots of help out there. I layed down my first kit brew 17 days ago which was;

1.5Kg Black Rock East India Pale Ale
500g DME
500g Dextrose
Safale S-04 yeast

Was bubbling away very nicely for the first week and then settled down to bubble every 30sec-1.5mins. The past few days it had stopped bubbling and yesterday the hydro reading was 1014 (Unfortunately I was stupid and didn't take an OG reading). I was almost ready to bottle this morning when low and behold bubbles appeared again. Have taken another reading and its down to 1012. I guess i'll just have to wait!

Yep. But it will be worth it mate!

It's good to see a "newcomer" trusting their hydrometer. Lots of people leave posts like this all the time looking for an answer. Good to see you already know the answer. Let us know how your first turns out!

Welcome to the addiction!

 

[Brewlord]

Hi guys,
Thought it was time for me to lose my AHB virginity. Have been flicking through all the different forum topics and am really glad there is lots of help out there. I layed down my first kit brew 17 days ago which was;

1.5Kg Black Rock East India Pale Ale
500g DME
500g Dextrose
Safale S-04 yeast

Was bubbling away very nicely for the first week and then settled down to bubble every 30sec-1.5mins. The past few days it had stopped bubbling and yesterday the hydro reading was 1014 (Unfortunately I was stupid and didn't take an OG reading). I was almost ready to bottle this morning when low and behold bubbles appeared again. Have taken another reading and its down to 1012. I guess i'll just have to wait!


View attachment 42194

TLC

Hey Johnnyh_18, welcome to the forum. Longer, cooler and slower is the best approach. I have been brewing for a few years and almost stuffed up too early myself only a few days ago. All the good advice in the world + my experience and patience got the better of me. As Big Nath says, trust that hydrometer everytime, those yeast are probably still working hard. Bottle too early and you'll be like me, last night cracking the caps on my just botted batch to release pressure in order to avoid bombs. Bit scary really. Good Luck - take your time and enjoy.

 

[earle]

Hi Johnny,

Bubbles can also be caused by changes in temperature causing CO2 to come out of solution. Trust your hydrometer. Why not update your location so we can see where you are but by the photo it looks like somewhere cool, 20C on the thermometer looks good with a cozy blanket wrapped around your fermenter. If its been quite a bit colder the yeast may have gone drowsy and have now woken up with increased temps.

 

[Bubba]

All good advice...don't be afraid of waiting.
I leave every brew I do for 2 weeks in the fermenter with a specialty yeast, and I have heard of guys doing longer as long as it is sealed, cooler temps and not disturbed.
Make sure you tell us how it turns out!

 

[Hinji]

Thanks guys. In Adelaide so temperatures are reasonably warm, the brew has been sitting fairly consistently around 20 and has not dropped below 18. The electric blanket helped over the cool nights. Thanks earle, this may have been the case as I took the blanket (and an foam
insulation box I have) off of the brew just as I was getting ready to bottle. I will check the hydro tomorrow to see if it has stayed the same. So far it is not showing any more signs of fermentation since the bubbles this morning. On the plus side the beer tasted pretty good from the hydro sample, for a flat beer anyways.
Cheers
Johnny

 

[earle]

Thanks guys. In Adelaide so temperatures are reasonably warm, the brew has been sitting fairly consistently around 20 and has not dropped below 18. The electric blanket helped over the cool nights. Thanks earle, this may have been the case as I took the blanket (and an foam
insulation box I have) off of the brew just as I was getting ready to bottle. I will check the hydro tomorrow to see if it has stayed the same. So far it is not showing any more signs of fermentation since the bubbles this morning. On the plus side the beer tasted pretty good from the hydro sample, for a flat beer anyways.
Cheers
Johnny

Not having a go Johnny but that made me chuckle. 'Reasonably warm' but used a electric blanket, blanket and insulated box to keep the brew at 20C. That sounds like the dead cold of winter up here. I need a fridge up here all year round to keep brews fermenting at that temp.

 

[Hinji]

Not having a go Johnny but that made me chuckle. 'Reasonably warm' but used a electric blanket, blanket and insulated box to keep the brew at 20C. That sounds like the dead cold of winter up here. I need a fridge up here all year round to keep brews fermenting at that temp.

Haha yeah fair call, I guess I am wishing it was that warm but in reality its dropping to around 8-10 overnight and overcast during the day. Where's my damn sunshine?! <_<

 

[kelbygreen]

leave it be dont take a sample tomorrow Id take one thursday as you need 3 consecutive days so i think its stupid to check every day. if you check every 2 days and its the same thats 3 days the same and half the liquid gold you waste lol

 

[JestersDarts]

aww look at her all tucked up!

 

[Yob]

Patience is a skill developed (grudgingly) by all who HB...

I put in a brew on the 31 October and the bloody thing stalled at 1020, (I failed to proof the yeastUS-05)... I racked it to secondary hoping to invigorate it a little... nada.. put in new yeasties (Nottingham).. and some hop pellets a few days later and BOOM, seemed to explode when I put in the hops and now I have a goodly sized Krausen, but damn.. 3 weeks and counting, will be about 4 weeks before I get to Cold Condition and 5 weeks before I bottle...

thats a loooong bloody time for a "simple kit"

In Hydrometer we trust...

 

[Hinji]

Hi everyone,
Much appreciation for all your advice! I took a reading again today and it was steady at 1012. Against some of your wishes, and a seemingly golden rule (as this was only 2 days at 1012) I decided to bottle it today. They are now all tucked away safely in a cupboard in the garage. I would like to have left it one more day and bottle tomorrow but will not have any time over the next few days. I understand that bombs are a possibility here (used glass bottles which have quite a thick neck) but I will have to bite the bullet and hope that doesn't happen. If it does I will have to lift the chin up and start from the start. Next time I will be leaving it for 3 days!

What are everyone's thoughts on conditioning? Should they be left at around 22-24? And for how many days as I have heard anywhere between 4 and 10.

Thanks again.
Johnny

 

[Brewme]

Hi everyone,
Much appreciation for all your advice! I took a reading again today and it was steady at 1012. Against some of your wishes, and a seemingly golden rule (as this was only 2 days at 1012) I decided to bottle it today. They are now all tucked away safely in a cupboard in the garage. I would like to have left it one more day and bottle tomorrow but will not have any time over the next few days. I understand that bombs are a possibility here (used glass bottles which have quite a thick neck) but I will have to bite the bullet and hope that doesn't happen. If it does I will have to lift the chin up and start from the start. Next time I will be leaving it for 3 days!

What are everyone's thoughts on conditioning? Should they be left at around 22-24? And for how many days as I have heard anywhere between 4 and 10.

Thanks again.
Johnny

Hi,

Looks like patience has paid off.

22-24C is pretty close to ideal. Keep them in the dark for a minimum 2 weeks. They will taste better after 4 weeks. After 8 weeks (if they last that long) they will taste great. A little longer and they will taste superb.

The 4-10 days you refer to may be the fermenting time on the can's instructions.

I've got some 'forgotten' beers under the house that I bottled in 2001. Tried a couple not too long ago. Apart from the cap being a bit rusty on the outside, the beer was still gassy and tasted OK for one of my first homebrews. A commercial beer after about 12 months in similar circumstances could only be used as a concrete driveway cleaner.

Cheers

 

[Hinji]

Hi guys,

Thought I'd put an update on the final product. It has been roughly four weeks since I bottled the brew, and most of the beer is already gone! I'll be saving a few longnecks for a few more weeks to see if there is any improvement. Have to say I'm pretty impressed with how it turned out. Has plenty of carbonation and retains its head quite well, however there is definately room for improvement for next time. I feel as though hop additions should be something to consider to try and improve the flavour for next time. Does anyone have any suggestions for this type of kit?
Thanks again for everyones help.

Cheers!

 

[fergyle]

hey guys,

so i put down my first kit IPA on the weekend, and right before i got the OG i dropped my hydrometer and smashed it. unfortunately i'm really busy this week and wont have time to pick one up before the weekend.

any advice on what i should do? and would it be bad to leave it in the fermenter for longer than a week?

 

[mwd]

Don't worry about it you can live without knowing the OG the FG is the important one. A decent IPA will probably take longer than a week to ferment out so no need to rush trying to get a new hydrometer. Good beer takes time.

 

[fergyle]

thanks mate. will let you know how i go!

 

[fergyle]

another question - the brew is sitting at about 24deg. is that too high?

 

[Pennywise]

Depending on what yeast you used, in most cases yes, it's a little high but not really in start shitting yourself territory

 

[fcmcg]

another question - the brew is sitting at about 24deg. is that too high?

Mate,
IT is a little high...what yeast did you use ? The pkt yeast with the kit ?
The best temp for an ale is 18-20 degrees....
Mot of your flavour compounds are made in the first 72 hours too....
BTW , i always leave my beers for 2 weeks , to allow the yeast to clean up after themselves ( get rid of some of the nasties from fermentation) before i take a hydro reading and keg or bottle...
Cheers
Ferg
( As in Fergus...not Fergi or your good self , Fergyle !)