Problems Fermenting

[Albioninoz]

This is my first post and being a new member I am new to all this. Hopefully I can get some advise. I have been brewing for a year or so and not being too adventurous I have stuck to commercial beer kits. Being English by birth my favourite beers are Bitter and Ales.
In the past I have bought a Beer kit but bought a sugar mix made up by my local brew shop. Unfortunately the owner (who was a good source of knowledge) sold up and the new guy is nowhere near as good. I therefore thought I would buy a Coopers Real Ale kit and a Coopers Brew Enhancer #2 and use the yeast supplied. After a couple of days fermenting I found the froth and bubbles from the wort had come up through the airlock and the top of my fermenter was under a few mms of liquid and froth. I am afraid it may have pushed all the water out of the airlock and some air allowed in. I have refilled the airlock and it is bubbling away. Temp was approx 28 degrees and liquid level was 23 litres. This has never happened before and I am afraid the brew may be ruined.
Has anyone any ideas? Can I safely bottle when ready? I look forward to reading some replies and participating in the forums in the future. Thanks.

 

[crozdog]

First up welcome.

Second - you're brew will be fine - except you need to bring the temperature down!!! ignore the kit instructions 17-20 is best for an ale. anything over 22 will cause yeast stress, off flavours and higher order alcohols which aren't good. wait till bubbling stops then leave it a few more days (a week won't hurt) to allow the yeast to clean up after themselves & drop out. make sure your specific gravity is the same for 3 days before bottling as you don't want bottle bombs.

Third - Trawl through the kits & extract forum as well as the articles & you will learn heaps about how to improve your brews. Also learn to use the google search as your queries have probably been asked heaps before...

beers

 

[pimpsqueak]

+1 to what Crozdog said.

Cast your eyes over these nuggets of wisdom.
Oh, and welcome aboard.

 

[Albioninoz]

Thanks guys. I have always had trouble with temperature. Here in Melbourne it's either too cold (like now) or too hot! At present its on a heat pad so I suppose I could lift it off a bit so the heat is not so direct. I will certainly check out any links I find. Thanks again.

 

[McFeast]

Thanks guys. I have always had trouble with temperature. Here in Melbourne it's either too cold (like now) or too hot! At present its on a heat pad so I suppose I could lift it off a bit so the heat is not so direct. I will certainly check out any links I find. Thanks again.

G'day mate. plenty of info on here to help. But just one other thing, when i first started brewing I sat the fermenter in the bath full of water. the temperature fluctuation is less in water than in air. Maybe you could try this? Around Melb this time of year you should produce a nice brew at a steady lower temp. the laundry sink also helps if you dont have a bath (or its not possible).

 

[Albioninoz]

Never thought of that. Next time I'll give it a try. Thanks

 

[Hatchy]

If you have krausen escaping through the airlock then I'd loosen the lid a bit. Nothing will get in. I hate having anything sitting on a fermenter lid. Having stuff come out is fine, anything going back in is likely to be bad news.

I imagine Melbourne weather is much the same as Adelaide, I'm happy to ferment ales inside here at ambient temp. I'd prefer to have all of my fermenters in a ferment fridge but 1 fridge & many fermenters doesn't add up. It'll take longer to ferment cold & I've been told that it can cause some problems but I haven't noticed any in my beer.

 

[fcmcg]

This is my first post and being a new member I am new to all this. Hopefully I can get some advise.

Where abouts in Melbourne are you , bloke ?

 

[Albioninoz]

I'm down on the Mornington Peninsula at Rosebud. Only one brew shop here and the next nearest is in Mornington!

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

Have you thought about ordering from a site sponsor?

I daresay you'd probably save the $$ in petrol with the delivery fee.

I reckon the (cheaper) fee I pay is still probably less than driving to the site sponsor closest to me - though sometimes I want to go in for a tipple.

Goomba

 

[Goofinder]

Second - you're brew will be fine - except you need to bring the temperature down!!! ignore the kit instructions 17-20 is best for an ale. anything over 22 will cause yeast stress, off flavours and higher order alcohols which aren't good.

I don't understand why everyone reckons you need to keep it below 20 degrees or your beer will be crap. If you are using a clean ale yeast like US-05/1056 etc. and want to focus on the hops, then sure, keep it low.

If you want to get the fruity esters in English styles, 22 or even up to 24 degrees is fine using the right English ale yeast strain. Have a look at the specs for the yeast. I brew most of my English style beers at around 21-22 degrees and haven't had any complaints.

 

[Nick JD]

I don't understand why everyone reckons you need to keep it below 20 degrees or your beer will be crap. If you are using a clean ale yeast like US-05/1056 etc. and want to focus on the hops, then sure, keep it low.

If you want to get the fruity esters in English styles, 22 or even up to 24 degrees is fine using the right English ale yeast strain. Have a look at the specs for the yeast. I brew most of my English style beers at around 21-22 degrees and haven't had any complaints.

+1

But for those who've learnt what they know about brewing from the little pampllet under the can's lid, 20C being a reliable maximum is good advice, if you want to get K&K to taste half decent.

If you are using a good, healthy, branded yeast ... follow the instructions the yeast company suggests. That said - there are only a handful of yeasts that perform well at 28C.

 

[Albioninoz]

Thanks for all the replies. This is why I signed up. The topic has highlighted another query I have and that is YEAST. When I started the brew shop owner (Adrian @ Magik Brew in McCae, Mornington Peninsula) always gave me a yeast sachet (can't remember name but the sachet was light blue) and advised NOT to use the yeast supplied in the kit. This time I thought I'd go basic and used the yeast supplied with Coopers Real Ale. What is the go regarding yeasts for English style Bitter and Ale?

 

[Nick JD]

Thanks for all the replies. This is why I signed up. The topic has highlighted another query I have and that is YEAST. When I started the brew shop owner (Adrian @ Magik Brew in McCae, Mornington Peninsula) always gave me a yeast sachet (can't remember name but the sachet was light blue) and advised NOT to use the yeast supplied in the kit. This time I thought I'd go basic and used the yeast supplied with Coopers Real Ale. What is the go regarding yeasts for English style Bitter and Ale?

That light blue yeast packet they told you to use was a good idea. Chances are high it is Fermentis S04, which is a Pommy Ale yeast. I'd not let it get above 24C, best around 18-22C if you want a bit of fruityness, but not too much of a hangover.

 

[CosmicBertie]

That light blue yeast packet they told you to use was a good idea. Chances are high it is Fermentis S04, which is a Pommy Ale yeast. I'd not let it get above 24C, best around 18-22C if you want a bit of fruityness, but not too much of a hangover.

I'd heard that the Coopers yeast were generally ok? But yeah, the blue packet will do you good.

If you want to get into decent British Ales (ESB!), then start using grain. I do a weird kind of BIAB and even though Ive only done 4 now, they've all been massively better than Kit brews. Couple that with a nice British beer engine that a friend in the UK sourced for me, and its like living in a pub here

 

[Albioninoz]

I'd heard that the Coopers yeast were generally ok? But yeah, the blue packet will do you good.

If you want to get into decent British Ales (ESB!), then start using grain. I do a weird kind of BIAB and even though Ive only done 4 now, they've all been massively better than Kit brews. Couple that with a nice British beer engine that a friend in the UK sourced for me, and its like living in a pub here

I don't know about getting into grain, I seem to have enough trouble with kits! I'll look into it though as I need to find something to do when I retire. B) My favourite beer is Fullers London Pride with their ESB a close second, but then again I am a Londoner. That's my excuse. I found a kit recipe for Fullers ESB on the Grain and Grape website so that will definitely be my next project.

 

[CosmicBertie]

I don't know about getting into grain, I seem to have enough trouble with kits! I'll look into it though as I need to find something to do when I retire. B) My favourite beer is Fullers London Pride with their ESB a close second, but then again I am a Londoner. That's my excuse. I found a kit recipe for Fullers ESB on the Grain and Grape website so that will definitely be my next project.

Well, its all about how much time you want to spend on it I've just finished doing a brew...and all in, from start to finish, it took about 6 hours. Thats not 6 hours full on...theres the 90 mins mash, where it can be just left alone. Then the 90 mins boil, where you only have to keep a nosey eye on it, and 2 hours wrapped in Glad Wrap cooling in the pool Timothy Taylors Landlord

Im a Northerner..Yorkshire born and bred, and my favourites vary, Black Sheep being near the top, but I've got a nice ESB as a house beer, with all the kit for a Rochefort 8 next!