New to home brewing and a little confused

[TonyF]

Dropped it back down to 18C by throwing ice in the bath again and bubbling has (as far as i can tell sitting there for a few minutes) stopped. So must've been the higher 20+C temps. Maybe this yeast is tropical and is afraid of the cold

Ok... I lied.. It's bubbling really slowly!

 

[Yob]

What's the gravity reading, pay no attention to the bubbling, it bears little to no indication of fermentation at this point

 

[Rocker1986]

I would imagine the reason they recommend those higher temps on the kit cans is because most newbies like yourself don't have decent temp control (or even know anything about it), and it's easier for them to maintain. Unfortunately it doesn't really help the beer. Keeping it around 18-20 like you have is much better.

+1 pay no attention to the bubbling, but also don't necessarily expect that it will be finished in 5 days; at 18-20C it probably won't be anyway. Personally I don't take any gravity readings until day 7 or 8.

I still have one of those airlock style fermenters myself, except in place of the airlock is a piece of gaffa tape covering the hole. The lid itself is not airtight, so it works basically the same way as the new Coopers design. One less thing to clean and sanitise. :lol:

 

[contrarian]

A yeast can easily chomp through beer in as little as 2-3 days but a different yeast could take 3 or more weeks to finish off. As yob said there is only one way to tell where it is up to and that is take a gravity reading.

 

[TonyF]

This batch seems truly weird.. Slows down/stops during the day... And ramps up again at night time! I'm sitting here listening to it gurgle every 4 or 5s when today during the day it either crawled along or did long periods with seemingly no bubbling.... *confused*

I guess we'll just see how things go come Thursday evening...

 

[TonyF]

Ok.. looks like we might be nearing the end point of fermentation (i can start to see the actual liquid from the foam dissipating and the airlock liquid is even on both sides meaning pressure outside and inside the fermenter shoudl be about even).

I'm going to start checking it tomorrow morning and then again each morning after until I get steady gravity reading.

One thing I wanted to ask was, the instructions say to throw the first quarter of a cup of liquid out before taking gravity readings. Do you guys do this? Do you do it every reading or just the first one since fermentation slowed/stopped?

Thanks again for all the help and suggestions folks!

 

[evoo4u]

One thing I wanted to ask was, the instructions say to throw the first quarter of a cup of liquid out before taking gravity readings. Do you guys do this? Do you do it every reading or just the first one since fermentation slowed/stopped?

Re the discarding of some before you take an SG reading, it's because the tap near the bottom of the FV gets filled with trub and other assorted crap, so I just 'blip' the tap for half a second, the test tube gets half full with rubbishy gunk which I discard, then the next lot is pretty clean 'pure' wort. And yeah, I only do it for the first reading. Not much additional gunk tends to come through into the test tube with successive readings.

You're pretty excited by this brew, aren't you . I usually leave my brews in the FV for at least 10 days. Won't hurt - lets the brew clear a bit. And for lagers, quite a bit longer again, as they're fermented at lower temps than ales, and just take longer. Then add in some 'cold crashing' if you have a fridge, and the duration extends out even further.

But it's a wonderful journey you've embarked upon... :beerbang:

 

[TonyF]

Excited?... I'm gonna wet my pants waiting for this thing to be drinkable!

I'm already thinking of getting a fridge/chest freezer with a temp controller and a kegging system.... Just gotta find some way to do this without the wife finding out hahaha!

As soon as this ones bottled and my friend is well enough to drive again the wheat one is going into the fermentation bucket!

 

[TonyF]

OK... have taken the first of the post fermentation readings 111 hours (roughly) after adding the yeast and got a reading of 1016. So with my original gravity of 1047 that would be roughly 4.1% ABV?

Attached is a pic of how the fermentation bucket looked at the end and the gravity reading I took this morning. Will take another one tomorrow morning to compare.

 

[evoo4u]

OK... have taken the first of the post fermentation readings 111 hours (roughly) after adding the yeast and got a reading of 1016.

Geez Tony, ya gunna have to be a bit more precise - this is an exacting science ya know!

Anyway - how'd it taste? (And of course, don't put the sample back into the FV - it'd present another avenue for infection of the whole brew.)

Edit: And there's still a fair way to go from 1.016 I'd guess.

 

[Diesel80]

Tony F stop stalking your beer mate. You are being a helicopter homebrewer

 

[superstock]

Leave it alone @ 18-20c for 168 hours and then take a gravity reading.

 

[TonyF]

Geez Tony, ya gunna have to be a bit more precise - this is an exacting science ya know!

Anyway - how'd it taste? (And of course, don't put the sample back into the FV - it'd present another avenue for infection of the whole brew.)

Edit: And there's still a fair way to go from 1.016 I'd guess.

Everything seems to have kind of stopped though... no more foam, no more air lock activity... I guess tomorrows gravity reading will tell.
It smelt like beer... and it kind of tasted like beer but not quite right (if you know what I mean)... and had a fair amount of bubbles in it especially considering I thought they are flat post fermentation.

You really think it'll go further from 1.016 for a kit Morgan's Lager?

 

[TonyF]

Tony F stop stalking your beer mate. You are being a helicopter homebrewer

I can't help it! I guess that's where the restraining order came from then

Excuse my ignorance but what is a helicopter homebrewer???

 

[TonyF]

Leave it alone @ 18-20c for 168 hours and then take a gravity reading.

So no gravity reading for tomorrow?

I'll defer to your greater level of experience and leave it till Saturday evening then

PS Looks like the cold water bottles are going back in the freezer hehehe

 

[evoo4u]

Excuse my ignorance but what is a helicopter homebrewer???

Helicopters hover!

 

[spog]

So no gravity reading for tomorrow?

I'll defer to your greater level of experience and leave it till Saturday evening then

PS Looks like the cold water bottles are going back in the freezer hehehe

Take a reading today and Saturday to be sure.

 

[TonyF]

Ok.. took a reading today and it seems about the same at 1016. Definitely smells like beer and seems to have a fairly bitter finish... though that may be cause it's "warm" and I don't usually give my beers time to get to that temperature normally

On a side note, I saw a video where it said to plunge the hydrometer up and down in the tube to remove as much carbonation as possible... do you guys normally do this?

 

[Seaquebrew]

Spinning the hydrometer will get rid of any bubbles that stick to it

Cheers

 

[evoo4u]

After drawing off a sample I wait a while for the foam on the surface to subside. Also I spin the hydrometer in the tube to spin off any bubbles which might be attached to the hydrometer, which would cause it to float higher.

Still think 1.016 is too high, but that depends on what unfermentable sugars you might have added.

As for bubbling through the airlock, as others have said, it's not a good way to assess fermentation occurring, as expansion and contraction with different temperatures can cause bubbles. So you're on the right track with SG readings. Just don't be too hasty - bottle bombs are scary!