1st brew

[batkins]

I started my first brew last Wednesday. The next morning, I had a steady streams of small bubbles coming up the sides of the carboy. As of this morning(Tues), those bubbles are getting down to a minimum. Is this too early for the bubbles to quit? I had foam fill up to the top of the carboy, but never had any "burping", that I was aware of, at least. The temp. did get up to 70 one day, but it is now down to 66. Am I ok? Should I do anything different? Should I get outta that room and leave the damn thing alone? First brew, what do I know?
Thanks,
Bill Atkins:confused:

[Tweek]

It may have just slowed down because 66 is pretty cool. However at 65 ale yeast can go dormant. if the activity stops you might want to try shaking the container to resuspend the yeast and move it to a warmer spot.

You do have an airlock on your container dont you? you had mentioned that it kicked up a head of foam but didnt burp, burping is just air moving through the airlock, which if you have an airtight container you should be getting that. Not only does an airlock protect you against contamination but it is also how you can judge the progress of your fermentation.

good luck. Let us know how it comes out.

[batkins]

Yes, I have an airlock. I did see the level in it move, and saw some gas bubbles in the fluid. Never saw a burp, though. When I checked for the yeast I used, it said 64-72. I'll up the temp in the room a couple of degrees. Is it going to mess anything up to shake the carboy a bit?

[Moboy]

There is probably enough CO2 in the carboy that you won't really have to worry about oxidation. Also, you may want to slash a wire hanger (sanitized of course) a few times in the carboy to get some air to the little yeasties.

[YamahaXS]

1 week is too soon for fermentation to be finished, especially at those temperatures.

Just let it be for another week and keep it warm enough. 70-75 would be ideal.

[paul84043]

You're doing fine, warm it up a bit, just 4 degrees or so, and give it a twist to resuspend the yeast like suggested. If your beer was kicking up a head, but your airlock wasn't burping, then you have a leak, or your yeast went dormant in a big hurry...recheck for a tight seal and wipe everything down with sanitized water when done screwing around.
If you see bubbles trailing up through the carboy, you're doing fine, that's one big advantage to using glass, I use a conical fermentor that is opaque, so I have only the airlock to judge my progress.
When it warms up, It'll start going again!

Keep us posted and if you have any questions, please ask!! I'm learning too!

[batkins]

OK, so things are looking a little better here. I stirred it a bit with my beer thief and tipped/swirled it just a little. I also tried to "reseat" my airlock and cork. My foam has gone down to a pretty thin layer. I am getting bubbles through my airlock now. About every 8-12 seconds it burps. So, I think things are looking up. Oh yeah, I also upped the temp to about 68. I don't see as much bubbling as I did initially, but it is burping on a steady basis. What do you think.......

[paul84043]

How active does it "look"?
Typically mine will start up within 15 hours at 10 to 20 seconds between burps, then within a day or so, it's going at 1 to 2 burps a second for 2 to 3 days. Then it tapers off as the yeast runs out of stuff to eat..
The room I keep mine in stays around 70 to 72 with spikes up to 74 (then I open a window to cool the room off) and never drops below 68. Obviously the warmer the more active the yeast, but they say that a fermentation on the bottom end of the spectrum is better. I would try to keep it between 68 and 70 ideally.

I have had trouble seating my cap and had low bubble rates which stressed me out until I figured out what was happening, when I reseated the cap, things really took off in the airlock.

You've probably had fermentation going on the whole time at a lower level, so I wouldn't expect to see the big spike of activity that you would typically see. Your specific gravity reading will really tell you what's happening. If your SG has dropped and leveled out in the 1.01 to 1.02 (raw readings at about 70 degrees) range for 2 to 3 consecutive readings, you're there and ready to bottle, or go to your secondary.

[toneyc]

Tell me about this conical fermenter thingie. What advantage does it have over the common cylindrical model?

:) Toney.

[batkins]

conical fermenter?....nevermind....now I see it....doh..:rolleyes:

[danno]

Conicals are an extremely cool, if expensive beer toy... Couple of main advantages: You can dump the trub from the bottom and reuse yeast. You can rack your beer off trub easily. Northern Brewer has some pics if you want to see what a stainless steel model looks like: NB Conical (http://www.northernbrewer.com/conical.html)

There are also plastic conicals available, but I'd think they're more susceptible to scratching...

another very cool fermenter from Sabco is here... (http://www.kegs.com/fermenters.html)

If I was buying something other than carboys, I'd go with the converted keg....

[bmingee]

What are you guys thinking? You could have very easily missed seeing the fermentation. I assume you took the Original Gravity reading. Take a sample and measure the gravity. If it is 1.020 or below, your wort is now beer. If you aerated well and pitched a high cell count, fermentation could begin within 3 hours and slow down to less than aerobic fermentation by morning.

[Moboy]

To tell if your primary fermentation is complete, you need to make sure that the yeast has consumed at least 65% of the fermentable sugars in the wort. Take a hydrometer reading and see if it is 65% lower than your original gravity. You really should ckeck the website of the yeast company and check the attenuation percentage that is expected of the yeast and go by that.

[paul84043]

As stated here, the hydrometer readings are really the bottom line...if they're in an acceptable range and stay stable for several days, it's BEER!!

The conicals are very cool, I went with the plastic because of the cost effectiveness, I really didn't spend any more for a startup kit than if I had purchased the multi stage setup because there are quite a few peices that you don't have to buy..
It's easy enough to avoid scraching plastic, simply don't put anything inside of it that will scratch, use plastic spoons to stir, a gentle scrubby pad to clean. I scrub it out, wash it with a detergent, then a bleach solution which I let soak for an hour or so splashing it around inside ocasionally, then sanitize it with Star San. This leaves it smelling llike brand new.

I have very limited space to work in, so the conical is perfect for my needs.

The ability to drain the trub off as it accumulates is very cool, no transfers, no risk of infection, no aeration of the fermented beer, it's so easy it's almost wrong...

I have even ordered a plastic capsule that is used on a model of conical called the "V-Vessel" , the capsule sits below the valve on the bottom and captures the trub. You close the valve, empty the capsue, clean it out, reattach it and reopen the valve.

I used the oxygenation system for the first time this weekend, I don't really know how to tell if it helped, but I can tell you that my current batch started fermenting within 6 hours and has been absolutely going bananas for the past day. I can't even count the burps per second, it's basically a steady stream.

I also caved in a tasted my first batch, an Amber ale. I bottled it a weekand a half ago, it should sit for another three weeks, but I couldn't stand it....

It was AWESOME!!!! It had more flavor then the real "Mississippi Mud" that we had bought a few days before. I was VERY HAPPY with the finished beer, and it's not even done yet!! I am STOKED!!! I can't wait to try my Black and Tan that we bottled on Saturday, it smells SOOOOOO GOODDD!!!

One more thing, Grolsch bottles RULE!!! They are SO COOL and easy to use!

[batkins]

Wed. will be 14 days. I'm going to check the sg today....then again tomorrow. The airlock started working great....when I got it seated correctly. Still a bubble or two a minute. From what I have read, some slow bubbles (more than 1 a minute) doesn't matter, as long as the sg is in range. Is this correct?
I'm hoping to keg Wednesday!! :)

[paul84043]

You're correct, my first two batches never slowed below a bubble or so a minute. I think the real boundary is the one every 15 to 30 second range. Considering that when it's going full bore, it's at several a second.

As long as you have yeast trapped at the bottom, you're probably going to continue to have some C02 production.