I must be the worst at this..

[gardenallyear]

I'm attempting to make my third batch right after two failed attempts due to poor sanitaztion or early bottling or both. Everything was going great, I really went overbaord on sanitizing and am using one-step in place of c-brite. I expected to see a lot of activity this morning based on my first batches but nothing was happening. The water level in the 3 pc. airlock was lower than the holes on that inside cup pc. I added more water and after a few hours it had went down again. I guess I must have cracked the airlock at some point and it is leaking. It doesn' drip but the water level definetly drops over time. I have one of the curved bubblers, but it doesn't fit in the rubber grommet on my bucket lid. I put some scotch tape around it to thicken it up and it fits somewhat snug in the grommet now.

Anybody think this will work? I hate to keep messing around with the lid, I am paranoid about contamination after having two sour batches.

On this new batch I used a liquid yeast from California Labs. Will it take a little longer to get started? My wort was down to 70°F before pitching.

Thanks

[BenP78]

I just brewed my first batch using a liquid yeast and was quite worried for a while. It took over 24 hours to start fermenting. But everything seems to be going well now. Using dry packets I was always up and bubbling within 6 hours. Be patient, everything should work out. Relax and have a homebrew!

Ben

[Tweek]

Did you oxygenate your wort in any way? If not that could lead to a large lag time.

If your beer doesnt work out this time, try a diferent source for your ingredients. It is possible to get bad ingredients that can ruin your beer.

[YamahaXS]

don't worry, it will work out!

Probably what happened was that as your wort continued to cool down, the air pressure inside your fermenter decreased, thus sucking your airlock liquid back into the fermenter. Just keep an eye on it, and keep liquid in it (some people use liquor to keep things sterile).

Now, concerning the yeast. Assuming your wort was in the tolerable temperature range for hte yeast (should say on the package) you will see activity sooner or later. If you are worried that your wort might of been too hot and killed the yeast, you can just add some more yeast. Make sure you follow the directions for the yeast. If you didn't kill the yeast, adding more yeast won't hurt anything.

Cheers and beers, don't bottle this batch too soon! :)

oh, and you will be a pro at this before you know it!

[paul84043]

You can always take a peek at your wort, if you see foam on top of it, then you're fermenting.
The airlock is a good tool and good for peice of mind, but there are those that actually ferment open and they make good beer too, you just have to be that much more careful.

I cooked up a batch last night and was surprised to see no activity this morning. I put it in the empty bathtub and the tub cooled off the wort too much, it was about 62 degrees. I'm trying to warm it up and wake up the yeast....

[gardenallyear]

I posted too soon, its bubbling along pretty good now. Its pretty much a continuous stream of bubbles now.

Ben - I think the dry yeast I used on my first two batches did seem to start faster as yours did. I would make the wort and pitch the yeast about 10:00 pm and wake up the next morning to a bubbling airlock.

Tweek - The only thing I do to oxygenate is to try and splash in the water and agitate it some after all 5 gallons are in the bucket. I did buy these ingredients from a new source, midwestsupplies, they have a nice website and the free video was neat.

Yamaha - I better take another look at that airlock, you're probably right about it being fine. What do you use to measure the gravity of your beer? Do you fill up the plastic tube that came with your hydrometer? I have a hard time keeping the hydrometer vertical in that tube to get a good reading. When I try to right it - its hard to keep from raising or lowering it and skewing the reading.

I ordered a 6.5 gallon glass carboy, carboy brush, carboy handle, stopper, another airlock, bottle washer, re-useable nylon grain/hop bag, and a blow-off hose today. I want to be able to watch my next batch, and the wife is out of town all week so she won't see that big box the UPS man brings.

Thanks for the replys!

[paul84043]

I purchased a special tube with a wide foot and a larger diameter tube for my hydrometer, only another 3$, and much easier to use. I also bought a "thief" to take my samples, it basically eliminates the risk of infection when testing.

I have my wort warmed up to 68 now, and I have seen a couple of bubbles in the past hour....guess I had it too cold and it had to wake up and start from scratch....

I was told only to use the 6.5 gal carboy for primary fermentation, there's too much airspace to want to use it for secondary, a 5 gallon practically eliminates the airspace on the secondary.

[YamahaXS]

Glad to hear your beer has taken off. Thanks for the update!


You will like the carboy, and I am really glad to hear you got a handle for it. Those things are heavy when they are full!

You can buy a special cylinder for taking gravity readings. I use the plastic tube that the gravometer came in. Its not very reliable, but I don't rely on gravity readings to know when to bottle. (i let my beer set around in the carboy for a relatively long time).

You will have to be patient with this batch, don't rush it. Also, I recommend that you get another batch going before you bottle this batch. Each batch will give you about 2 cases, which isn't much if the beer is good, and your friends find out. :D

[paul84043]

Well, my lager batch woke up last night and blew the arilock off the carboy....
I guess I thought that since it was a lager yeast that it wouldn't be quite as active as an ale yeast.....wrong....
I wish I had the foresight to rig up a blowoff tube last night, but luckily I had everything I needed to make one in a big hurry this morning...
It's a pain to claen things off with the foam bubbling out the top of the carboy...
At least I laid towels around it just in case.

I moved it into the basement to cool it down to about 62, then tomorrow, or maybe even this evening, I will move it into the refrigerator and set it at about 53 degrees.

Isn't this great? I have three batches going now and plan on getting a fourth in a few days.

My friends have discovered how good homemade beer really is, and my first four batches are nearly gone.
I think I may have even made several converts in the past few weeks!

Hmmm, a beer missionary!! That's cool!

[gardenallyear]

Paul - I'll have to get one of those better hydrometer tubes on my next spending spree or maybe find something around the house to use. When I ordered my 6.5 carboy I ordered some tubing for a blow off hose - sounds like thats the way to go! Mine third batch has slowed down to about a bubble every 6 seconds.

Yamaha - I figured a handle would be necessary, I though I might put it in a milk carton to carry around but I'm not sure it will fit. I should have ordered another ingredient kit to get another batch started. I'll just have to hoard the stuff - then again they may be a little cautious after the beer sours that I made the first time.

Do you guys buy kits or buy stuff separate? I want to try and make a lager next time but I know the wait would kill me.

Oh Paul - if you need my address to send me some of that stuff just let me know! A good missionary is very giving.

Later

[YamahaXS]

You can find your own recipes fairly easily. CAts Meow (http://brewery.org/brewery/cm3/recs/00contents.html) is a good on-line source.

I posted a Pale Ale recipe here (i thinks its on the next page of threads.) that i sort of adopted.

Roll out the barrel! *Lifts Glass*

[paul84043]

I haven't graduated to building my own recipes from separate ingredients yet, there are still about three hundred different kits that I want to try first!

The special hydrometer tube is good because it minimizes the amount of beer you need to draw to take a reading as compared to say, a glass.
I am thinking about buying a refractometer, it's about 60$ but you only use a couple of drops and I am a terminal gadget freak...

I highly recommend a "thief" as well. It makes drawing a sample and returning it incredibly easy.

I don't think you'd need a blow off tube with a 6.5 gallon carboy, but it pays big time to be prepared! I'm definitely stepping up to a 6.5 for my primary.

My last batch is a lager, I got it into the fridge last night, I have an old fridge with a temp controller on it. It works extremely well. My beer is at 50 degrees and happily ticking away.....now the hard part....doing nothing for a few weeks!!

I have a Belgian Dubbel that has me somewhat stumped....it's gone on for over two weeks and is still burping once every 25 seconds. It's been at that rate for more than its fair share of days. I am going to take a hydrometer reading tonight and on Friday, if they are the same, it's getting bottled.

[gardenallyear]

Yamaha - I found your pictures - looks like you did a nice job on that kitchen. I actually have my bottles in an old dynamite box. I'll have to try that recipe once I get a few more batches under my belt.

Paul - I had a chance for a free fridge about two weeks before I started in this homebrew stuff. I wish I would have jumped on that. I wish I could tell you why you have that everlasting fermentation, but I don't know. Maybe wild yeast are in there fermenting everything in sight.

I ordered my stuff from midwestsupplies on Sunday and I still haven't received a notice that its been shipped. Thats too slow for me, my internet business ships everything within 24 hours without any problems.

I'm bubbling about every 30 seconds and everything looks good so far.

[danno]

Originally posted by paul84043
I highly recommend a "thief" as well. It makes drawing a sample and returning it incredibly easy.

Maybe it's just me being an anal sanitation freak, but I wouldn't return anything to your fermenter once it's taken out. Plus, why not drink it and see how your beer is coming along?

[paul84043]

I checked the gravity of my Dubbel tonight, it's 1.014, compared to a 1.016 three days ago, and an original of 1.064. (that's uncorrected....)
I will check it again on Friday and if it's 1.014 again, it's getting bottled. I think it's done. The only reason I can think of for the never ending fermentation is that the high alcohol content is slowing the yeast down.

I have ordered two kits from annapolishomebrew.com who have absolutely top notch kits by the way.....if your kit asks for 7.3 pounds of malt, then that's what you get...they measure everything specially for your kit, no pre weighed packages off the shelf.
And I have ordered one kit from northernbrewer.com, both have taken a full week to arrive. They don't even offer you the option of paying for faster shipping....

Oh well, it's awesome beer.

I'm sitting here contemplating the last of my Black and Tan, and the last few swallows in the bottom of my glass, thinking how strange it is that just a month and a half or so-ago I had no idea how good beer could be. This stuff is fantastic, and the warmer it gets, the better it gets.
Every one that I have made is great, and I haven't even scratched the surface yet. my friends are simply dumbfounded at the quality of the beer, I remember getting crap from them for even considering this little venture....guess the last laugh is all mine.

I'll tell you what, I will never settle for macro swill again.
I'm buying my fourth fermentor tomorrow and planning on starting to keg here pretty soon.

Cheers.....

PS...I thought about drinking my sample...
returning it has not been a problem, the theif is sanitized, the hydrometer is sanitized. If some of these guys can get away with cooling thier wort with plain ice cubes, then I don't see a problem with putting my sanitized smaple back!!

I think I will taste it next time..:D

[gardenallyear]

I finally received my notice on my next shipment of goodies, its scheduled to be delivered tomorrow - 4 days after order is not bad for UPS Ground. Its a good thing cause the wife will fly back in on Friday. Now I just have to convince her that the big glass jar has always been here.

annapolishomebrew.com looks like a nice site, I'll give them a try next time. Their kits look like the midwest kits - packed in their own containers and labels. That seems to show they don't just buy pre-packed stuff from a distributor and resell it. Anyone can do that.

I still only have macro to enjoy but I think this third batch is going to be the begining of the end of the macro regime in my house.

The guy on the video from midwest uses a thief and returns it to the bucket. If everything is sanitary I don't see how it could hurt. I think I would drink it though - on my first two failed attempts I drank some before I bottled and that the was the best it ever tasted.