i am a brewer

[mailman]

today was my birthday as a brewer.i made my first batch of alpine amber ale.i can't believe how good it smelled while cooking it up.as far as i can tell everything went just fine,now i just have to wait for the bubbles to start.i was wondering if 58 to 60 degress is too cold for fermentation.my basement and den seem to be a little too cold so i just keeped the bucket in my dinning room, its about 68 to 70 degress in there.if it taste anything like it smells i should be good to go.

[beerking]

58 to 60 will probably slow your fermentation a little and increase lag time, unless you are using lager yeast. I would put the bucket in your dining room until you get the first bubbles in the airlock, then move it to the 58-60 environment.

Once fermentation has kicked in, the cool environment will help produce a very clean tasting beer (minimal esters and fruity character).

Welcome to the team!

[chazwicke]

Happy Birthday!

[mailman]

the air lock started bubbleing last night. only a couple of bubbles every 5 to 10 seconds.hopefully it will pick up some.one question though won't the cooler temps cause the process to slow down too much?seeing this my first time i;m not really sure how much activity i should be seeing.

[Indytom]

Mailman,

Happy birthday, and what a cool present.

I gotta tell you, take beerking's advice. I wish I had back in the fall. I brewed a really nice porter recipe with another forum member as my first all-grain brew. I knew my fermentation temperatures were too high, but I convinced myself that it wouldn't matter "that" much and just let the fermentation go. When it was all done and I opened the first bottle of this new brew. it was very estery and fruity. I made good beer, but it is not nearly as good as it could have been if I just done whatever was necessary to cool the fermentation down. This is a lesson that I am reminded of every time I drink one of these, and there are lots of them left.

Tom

[beerking]

Mailman,


There are very few flaws caused by slow ferment, as long as it is active.

I am guessing by now you are starting to see a small layer of foam on top of the batch, which is good and means all is well. There is nothing wrong with a batch going at a couple of bubbles every 5 seconds. Little slow, but ok. So long as it keeps this up for a few days, you should be fine.

Keep it in that 58-60 environment and let her go. Relax and have a little patience. Brewing is not a hurry up process.

:D

[mailman]

as of 30hours in the fermenter i'm getting a bubble every 3 seconds.so maybe tomorrow i will move it to my den where it is a little cooler.i just hpoe i did everything right.

[beerking]

Originally posted by mailman
as of 30hours in the fermenter i'm getting a bubble every 3 seconds.so maybe tomorrow i will move it to my den where it is a little cooler.i just hpoe i did everything right.

Everything sounds fine. You are really dealing with the finer details here. A new brewer that keeps his ferment within 10 degrees of recommended is doing great, and a step ahead of things.

Take a look at the recommended temperature range for the yeast you are using (assuming you are using liquid yeast, if it is the generic dried yeast that comes with the can of extract, you will never know), and keep it in the middle if you can. If you can't control temp that precisely, keep it close.

[mailman]

beerking thanks for all the advice.i usednottinghambrew yeast 11grams it was dry but i rehydrated it.thanks again.

[ontap78]

Nottingham is a great yeast for cooler fermentation. You should have a nice clean beer at those temps.

[mailman]

the fermentation has really slowed quite a bit .i'm getting about 2 bubbles a minute,do you think this is enough activity?maybe i'm just a paranoid first timer.what do think?

[Mill Rat]

My turn, I guess. Bubble-counting is an easy way to get a vague idea of how your beer is progressing, but it's not something on which to rely. Use a hydrometer or refractometer to accurately determine what's happening with your beer. Matter of fact, I'd be more accurate in judging what's happening to my beer by tasting it than by watching an airlock.

[beerking]

It will naturally slow down before it is complete. Usually, high kruasen only last 2-3 days at most. After that, you will still have active fermentation, but much slower.

When you get to less than 1 bubble a minute, it is time to start thinking it is done. The books will tell you check the gravity and when it doesn't change over 24 hours it is time to bottle, but that can lead to a lot sampling, which increases potential for contamination. Instead, I recommend waiting until about 2 days after you get to less than 1 bubble per minute. After that, it should be fine to bottle.

[mailman]

beerking. i know i'm being a pain in the butt but i thought i was supposed to keep the beer in the fermentor for at least 2 weeks.it's only been in for about 4 days.i'm in no hurry to screw it up.

[corkybstewart]

Originally posted by ontap78
Nottingham is a great yeast for cooler fermentation. You should have a nice clean beer at those temps.
I hope you're right. I made a batch of Happy Wife with Safale 04 and Nottingham. They started at 60F, but we went out of town for the weekend and when I came back my beerroom is at 50F. Both buckets are fermenting and smell wonderful, so I'll let them ride as is.

[corkybstewart]

Originally posted by beerking
It will naturally slow down before it is complete. Usually, high kruasen only last 2-3 days at most. After that, you will still have active fermentation, but much slower.

When you get to less than 1 bubble a minute, it is time to start thinking it is done. The books will tell you check the gravity and when it doesn't change over 24 hours it is time to bottle, but that can lead to a lot sampling, which increases potential for contamination. Instead, I recommend waiting until about 2 days after you get to less than 1 bubble per minute. After that, it should be fine to bottle.
Beerking, I have a lot of respect for you, but I've had several beers stop bubbling after a week or so, but they were barely halfway fermented. My brewing partner and I brewed a batch of Belgian quad. He took his 5 gallons home and bottled when it quit bubbling 10 days later. I checked mine with the hydrometer and it was stuck. I warmed it up, swirled it a bit and got mine down to reasonable FG. He ended up pouring his super sweet swill out, one bottle at a time. I've installed spigots on all my buckets to make it easier to check gravity and I've never in 14 years of brewing infected a batch.

[darylM]

Originally posted by mailman
the fermentation has really slowed quite a bit .i'm getting about 2 bubbles a minute,do you think this is enough activity?maybe i'm just a paranoid first timer.what do think?

I have an approach that has not failed me yet. It is based off time, bubble-watching and a hydrometer. I set a time that I will let the batch ferment after making sure that the yeast are doing their thing. if the bubbling is still happening after the time set, i let go another week. Normally, I let a beer ferment for three weeks before bottling and I have never had a bubble. Then I check will a hydrometer. I wait a day and take another sample. If both samples' SG match and are close to the FG. Its time to bottle. I NEVER return the samples to the fermentor. I taste them to see how the beer is coming along.

I had a batch that I HAD to sample several times in one day to make sure it was "OK". I decided it was time to bottle that batch.

[beerking]

Originally posted by corkybstewart
I checked mine with the hydrometer and it was stuck. I warmed it up, swirled it a bit and got mine down to reasonable FG. He ended up pouring his super sweet swill out, one bottle at a time. I've installed spigots on all my buckets to make it easier to check gravity and I've never in 14 years of brewing infected a batch.

You're right, Corky I did not take stuck ferment into account. (Then again, I have never had one, after 24 years brewing, but I do know it can happen.)

As far as infection, I always take the "better safe than sorry" approach. I figure the less I mess with the beer, the better.

I brewed at Starr Hill today, and Matt was spraying isopropyl on everything that touched the beer after chilling. He even sprayed the sampling spigot when he let me sample a previous batch from the fermenter. Probably smart!

(OBTW, I ferment in galss, so no spigot)

[corkybstewart]

Originally posted by beerking
You're right, Corky I did not take stuck ferment into account. (Then again, I have never had one, after 24 years brewing, but I do know it can happen.)
I brew a lot of Belgians, they seem to stick more often than other beers.
I keep a spray bottle of StarSan beside my kegerator, after every evening of drinking I give each faucet a good spray or 3 inside the spout. It may not really help, but it won't hurt.