warmstorage
03-21-2005, 05:54 PM
on Friday (3/18) we brewed an extract batch of IPA. i've brewed before, but not in a long time, and my brother is brand new to it. more importantly, i've never been the "lead" brewer. hence, this might be about newbie nervousness. (i'm already having plenty to drink, so i'm covered there.)
we used a starter kit from the LHBS, and the (included) pre-made kit for an IPA: 6# pale malt, specialty flavoring grains, columbus bittering, cascade finishing, irish moss, and dry (rehydrated by us ~30 min early with warm water and a dash of dextrose) california ale yeast. unknown how long it had been sitting on the shelf, with the dry yeast in the package with the other stuff (so unrefridgerated.)
initial fermentation was hampered, because the guy who sold us the carboy (the PET Better Bottle) didn't give us the right size rubber cork for the airlock. so, for the first 20 or so hours, it had a ziploc bag taped tightly on. we also didn't have a correct cap, so we had to hold a (sanitized) piece of rubber over the top for the initial aeration after adding yeast, wort, and water to the carboy.
the brew itself is a dark brown, perhaps a little dense and dark due to the fact that we dropped the carboy while aerating it, and lost a good amount of volume (~1/2 gal?). so it's maybe 3.5 gallons of volume in the 5 gal carboy. i didn't want to introduce new water to it without boiling & cooling, and we didn't have any more bottled water, so we just went with the lesser volume.
initial fermentation action (~2 hours later) was quite vigorous, from looking at the brew itself: chunks were flying up and down the sides, and the ziploc got a good amount of air (CO2?) in it. this lasted until we went out to the bar, so i saw an hour at least of solid action. on return home, so ~5 hours later, no more action visible.
i got the correct cork the next day, and put it on that night, with the cheap airlock provided in our kit.
now, there is zero action, and i mean zero. nothing moving in the liquid, no activity out of the airlock. (with one exception: when i slightly moved the carboy this afternoon to check the brew and heat the towels, see next paragraph, i got ~5 minutes of bubbling out of the airlock, every 8-10 seconds!) but then it stopped completely.
possible issues: it's cold in the house, and hard to warm it up (even with the heater on all night, the thermometer on the carboy is around 65 degrees.) we have tried insulating it, and i have started putting the towels and bathmat we are using to insulate it in the dryer for 20 minutes, then replacing them. this seems to be helping some with temperature, but only to ~67-68 degrees.
second: i think the airlock is suspect: the water volume in it seems to be dropping/disappearing (ack!). today it had less then 1/4 water, when we'd started with at least 2/3 water (about 1/2 inch below the blow-spout.) so today i pulled it off, (re-sanitized it), and re-filled it with cheap vodka. my suspicions were confirmed about there being an apparent leak when some of the vodka promptly dropped into the brew (ack! ack!). it's the econo-style, 3-piece airlock with a beaker, and smaller beaker placed into it. unfortunately, it didn't come with the third piece, the cap, but seemed to form a good seal with the smaller, upside down beaker and the water.
i'm open to any and all suggestions.
i am thinking about repitching new, rehydrated yeast, and/or re-agitating the carboy a bit, but have few other ideas. i can buy another airlock, i guess.
unfortunately, the only LHBS isn't very helpful, or very close (a 45 minute drive each way without traffic, as much as an hour and a half with traffic.) they are a little surly and disinterested, and not very interested in helping out with troubleshooting.
thanks!
we used a starter kit from the LHBS, and the (included) pre-made kit for an IPA: 6# pale malt, specialty flavoring grains, columbus bittering, cascade finishing, irish moss, and dry (rehydrated by us ~30 min early with warm water and a dash of dextrose) california ale yeast. unknown how long it had been sitting on the shelf, with the dry yeast in the package with the other stuff (so unrefridgerated.)
initial fermentation was hampered, because the guy who sold us the carboy (the PET Better Bottle) didn't give us the right size rubber cork for the airlock. so, for the first 20 or so hours, it had a ziploc bag taped tightly on. we also didn't have a correct cap, so we had to hold a (sanitized) piece of rubber over the top for the initial aeration after adding yeast, wort, and water to the carboy.
the brew itself is a dark brown, perhaps a little dense and dark due to the fact that we dropped the carboy while aerating it, and lost a good amount of volume (~1/2 gal?). so it's maybe 3.5 gallons of volume in the 5 gal carboy. i didn't want to introduce new water to it without boiling & cooling, and we didn't have any more bottled water, so we just went with the lesser volume.
initial fermentation action (~2 hours later) was quite vigorous, from looking at the brew itself: chunks were flying up and down the sides, and the ziploc got a good amount of air (CO2?) in it. this lasted until we went out to the bar, so i saw an hour at least of solid action. on return home, so ~5 hours later, no more action visible.
i got the correct cork the next day, and put it on that night, with the cheap airlock provided in our kit.
now, there is zero action, and i mean zero. nothing moving in the liquid, no activity out of the airlock. (with one exception: when i slightly moved the carboy this afternoon to check the brew and heat the towels, see next paragraph, i got ~5 minutes of bubbling out of the airlock, every 8-10 seconds!) but then it stopped completely.
possible issues: it's cold in the house, and hard to warm it up (even with the heater on all night, the thermometer on the carboy is around 65 degrees.) we have tried insulating it, and i have started putting the towels and bathmat we are using to insulate it in the dryer for 20 minutes, then replacing them. this seems to be helping some with temperature, but only to ~67-68 degrees.
second: i think the airlock is suspect: the water volume in it seems to be dropping/disappearing (ack!). today it had less then 1/4 water, when we'd started with at least 2/3 water (about 1/2 inch below the blow-spout.) so today i pulled it off, (re-sanitized it), and re-filled it with cheap vodka. my suspicions were confirmed about there being an apparent leak when some of the vodka promptly dropped into the brew (ack! ack!). it's the econo-style, 3-piece airlock with a beaker, and smaller beaker placed into it. unfortunately, it didn't come with the third piece, the cap, but seemed to form a good seal with the smaller, upside down beaker and the water.
i'm open to any and all suggestions.
i am thinking about repitching new, rehydrated yeast, and/or re-agitating the carboy a bit, but have few other ideas. i can buy another airlock, i guess.
unfortunately, the only LHBS isn't very helpful, or very close (a 45 minute drive each way without traffic, as much as an hour and a half with traffic.) they are a little surly and disinterested, and not very interested in helping out with troubleshooting.
thanks!