Fermentation

[CNCLUMP]

I am new to the world of homebrewing and have a question? How long should I see bubbling in air lock on the primary fermenter. It started within 24 hours of pitching the yeast but stopped in about 2 days. Is this normal? I was scared that I did something wrong with the wort. A friend that has been brewing for a while now told me to shake the fermenter to mix it all up again to make sure the fermentaion is complete. Should I do this? Help, I don't want my first try at home brewing to be a failure. Oh the kit that I am brewing is Brewers Best Classic English Pale Ale. Thanks

[Vienna Lager]

What temperature are you at?

[bruin_ale]

Hi CNCLUMP, welcome! 2 days is reasonable, but if you want to be sure - try taking a hydrometer sample. If your reading is somewhere between 1.01 (or lower) and 1.02, your primary fermentation is pretty much done.

If the hydrometer sample is above that (or you don't have a hydrometer), you could try stirring it up some as your friend suggests.

[CNCLUMP]

The primary fermenter temperature has been between 68-70 deg. A day and a half after pitching the yeast, the temperature increased to 73 degrees. Now it is back down to 68-70 deg. I guess that rise in temp was caused by the heavy fermentation.

[wortchillergoal]

If you do shake /stir it up, make sure that you don't splash too much. The extra oxygen would not be good for the beer.Trying to get the yeast off the bottom and back inot the beer is called rousing the yeast. If you need to do it, stir gently with a sanitized spoon or ladle.

I gently swril my fermenter if I want to rouse the yeast.

[CNCLUMP]

Thank you for your help. I roused the yeast yesterday by swriling the fermenter with the air lock on. I got some action from the swirling but not much. I looked at this morning and there where no bubbles in sight. I will let it settle and Sunday I plan to take a hydro reading then transfer to the sencondary. I was scared to open the fementer because of contamination. Sunday will be the 7th day in the primary fermenter. I guess I will leave it in the secondary for 2 weeks (following the 1,2,3 rule). Thanks again. I can't wait to make the next batch so that I can enjoy my home brew during the process(that's what all these damn books have been telling me anyway).

[HogieWan]

It's pretty hard to screw up a batch. It is quite possible to do, but I tend to be pretty lazy about it and my beer is GREAT! Could it be better if I were more anal about it - probably, but I'm happy with what I've got.

[bruin_ale]

The action you got after swirling may have just been CO2 coming out of suspension. It sounds like your fermentation is complete. Don't be surprised if it never bubbles after going into secondary (or possibly just a few bubbles right after racking and that's it).

[Kyle_Draven]

I have only used the brewers best kits. If you rehydrating the yeast you had a large amount of yeast cells which would decrease the amount of time for primary. Sounds like you are on the right track for this batch.

[HogieWan]

I went back to dry yeast for my last batch and had great results.

After reading the first link (second question) on this post (http://www.realbeer.com/discussions/showthread.php?s=&threadid=8534#post104581), I now realize the how and why for proper dry yeast rehydration. I think it helped big time. The main fermentation was done in less than two days.

[MARK123]

Your fine. Let it sit for a week, transfer to second and it will start again.

[justcurious]

CNCLUMP, I have never used that brand of kit, but I regularly see my fermentation go exactly as yours has.

I use Nottingham dry yeast and actually expect to see those results every time.

[CNCLUMP]

This morning I racked the beer from the primary to the secondary fermenter. The secondary fermenter is a 5 gallon carboy. When I racked the beer it did not fill the carboy all the way. Probably because I left about 1/2 to 3/4 of a gallon in the bottom of the primary because it was nasty. I read something in the book about filling 1-2 inches from the top. Should I add water or will the extra space be okay? If I need to add water can I use room temp bottled water?

[BrewDog]

I wouldn't add any more water. That will just dilute the beer.
It'll be fine with the extra space in the secondary. It's still producing some CO2, and that'll blanket the beer keeping the air away.

Next time, you want to aim for about 5 1/2 gals going into your primary fermenter. Then, when you rack to secondary, you'll be able to leave all the trub (pronounced 'troob' and that's the gunk left over on the bottom) behind but still ending up with 5 in the secondary.

This is a learning process for all of us. Every brewer's equipment setup is slightly different, and so we all adjust our techniques to them.

Now, on to the next batch!!!