Yeast Sitting On Top Of Foam In Barrel

[Cannon]

Hello
First post. Not really a confident brewer. Just made a coopers lager.
Now when I added the water it was from the outside tap and it created a lot of foam. I spread the yeast on top of the foam.
It's been two days and no bubbling. I opened the barrel and still found yeast flecks sitting on the foam. What should I do?​

 

[going down a hill]

Close the lid and don't open it up again. Give the fermenter a gentile swirl. Relax.


BTW
Did you take a reading of the gravity? Is it the same now? If it has become less, it is fermenting.

 

[Fodder]

is the foam still white like when you first filled it, or has it changed colour and gone more yellow/orange/brown?

Also, what temperature is it at?

 

[iralosavic]

For anyone who knows, is the yeast included in Coopers Lager a lager yeast?

Cannon: What temperature are you fermenting at? If it's a lager yeast, you'll want to ferment a lot lower than ales (between 8 and 15c depending on the yeast strand). Fermenting colder takes longer.

I like the above advice concerning "relaxing". This is a good suggestion. However, I'd establish that you've got it fermenting at the right temperature first, then come back in 10-14 days and take a SG reading.

When I first started brewing, the advice I got was to monitor airlock activity for bubbling to determine if a brew is active or finished. While this may be usful to a mild extent, my advice from personal experience is that it's worthwhile getting into the habbit of using a hydrometer instead.

 

[Cannon]

Hey. Cheers for the fast replies
So how do you read the gravity?
And the foam was still whitish

Thanks for helping a newbie!

Also the temp is about 22c
Having hot and cold days here is Hobart

 

[Fodder]

For anyone who knows, is the yeast included in Coopers Lager a lager yeast?

Cannon: What temperature are you fermenting at? If it's a lager yeast, you'll want to ferment a lot lower than ales (between 8 and 15c depending on the yeast strand). Fermenting colder takes longer.

I like the above advice concerning "relaxing". This is a good suggestion. However, I'd establish that you've got it fermenting at the right temperature first, then come back in 10-14 days and take a SG reading.

When I first started brewing, the advice I got was to monitor airlock activity for bubbling to determine if a brew is active or finished. While this may be usful to a mild extent, my advice from personal experience is that it's worthwhile getting into the habbit of using a hydrometer instead.

I believe its an ale yeast so you'd want it around 20-25

 

[Fodder]

I'd follow GDAH's advice and basically just mix in the yeast so that its in the wort and not floating on the foam. Although I generally find the yeast to dissipate the foam itself anyway, but obviously not the case here.

Dont really want to be opening it up as you'll run the risk of introducing other nasties into your brew. So a gentle swirl to drop the foam and get the yeast in the liquid is a good idea.

22 is perfect temp for this so thats fine. Keep it at that temp for the whole fermentation and you'll be laughing.

I've had yeast take a few days before taking off as well, so I wouldnt stress to much about it. It may be worth checking that your lid is on right, and that your airlock is fitted good, otherwise the gas could be escaping out and you'll not hear/see it go through the airlock.

And a little tip for next time: Once filled from the tap (the foam is a good thing by the way, it aerates your wort fantastically when filling like that), if you havent already, get yourself a hyrdometer and take a reading. Then sprinkle on your yeast, and give it a bit of a mix into the wort with the big plastic brew spoon. Dont have to thrash it, just get it wet and in the liquid.

Hope that helps and welcome to the club. :icon_cheers:

 

[going down a hill]

Ok, did you get the coopers homebrew kit? If so, you use the hydrometer by filling the tube 3/4 full of wort (unfermented beer) and put the hydrometer in it. It will floats at different heights depending on how much sugars are in the water, the yeast eats up the sugar and the gravity drops. If its a simple kit and be1 or be2 it should drop to around 1.006 1.012 all depending what you put in the wort. If the foam has been there for a few days its probably fermenting, thats what yeast does. If the foam has yellow brown scunge on the top its the yeast having a party.

 

[iralosavic]

Hey. Cheers for the fast replies
So how do you read the gravity?
And the foam was still whitish

Thanks for helping a newbie!

Also the temp is about 22c
Having hot and cold days here is Hobart

Most brewery starter kits will come with a hydrometer and sample jar, if not they are widely available from home brew supply shops, aquarium supply shops, ebay, etc The hydrometer will read zero in plain water and above zero when sugars are present. You take a reading before you add yeast and then again after fermentation is complte and enter the ata into a calculator, like the one in the "brew calcs" link above, which will calculate the resultant alcohol level based on the amount of sugars consumed by the yeast.

In terms of measuring the pogress of fermentation. An experienced brewer may know exactly what gravity reading they can expect from a certain recipe when it is complete, but most people will take a few readings a day apart and if the reading remains th same, you can assume it has finished fermenting. Most kit beers will finish between 1.008 and 1.012. So if you're in the ball park, start taking daily readings.

 

[iralosavic]

Just want to add; temperature control is critical to getting good results. You mentioned having hot and cold days. You want to figure out a way to keep the temperature as stable as possible in the range that suits that yeast strand. I personally have a fridge that I've wired up a to a temperature controller, which flicks between a heat lamp and the fridge, which is what a lot of people eventually end up with. However, I have a friend who puts his fermenter in a cupboard indoors with an oil heater set at the right temperature sitting in the room. In winter, he adds an electric blanket ontop, which he mucks arund with to get th right temp. You can get as ghetto and creative as you want and it won't matter much if the end result is the same.

 

[Yob]

Most brewery starter kits will come with a hydrometer and sample jar, if not they are widely available from home brew supply shops, aquarium supply shops, ebay, etc The hydrometer will read zero in plain water

Im sure what he means to say is it 'should' read 1.000 in water at 20'c <_<

 

[iralosavic]

Im sure what he means to say is it 'should' read 1.000 in water at 20'c <_<

haha yes. I'm sleep deprived. It's worth adding at this point that if the temperature of the wort/beer is outside of what the hydrometer is calibrated to when the reading is taken (usually 15-20c, then you will need to put the reading through a temperature compensation calculator to get the true gravity reading. There's also one of those in the brew calcs above. Considering you can happily pitch yeast at 30c, if you took the OG reading just before doing so, after the temperature compensation was used the actual gravity would read something like 3 or 4 points higher.