Did my krausen fall too early?

Yeast & Fermentation
1

Howdy folks. This is my first post concerning my first home brew. I brewed the irish red on Saturday and it’s now Monday evening and it appears that the krausen has fallen. From what I can find that this isn’t uncommon but am unsure due to inexperience.
For the first 24-36 hours there was some vigorous action going on. The air lock was burping every few seconds but is now ever 30 seconds or so. It’s in a room that’s at about 70-71 degrees but the gauge on the carboy was reading 74 at one point but is now at 70.
I do not have a kit to measure gravity. That purchase will be for a later time.
So, I’m just trying to figure out what I should do from here. My hunch is to let it go for at least 7 days in the primary.
Thanks,
~Mobius~

2

[quote=“Mobius71”]Howdy folks. This is my first post concerning my first home brew. I brewed the irish red on Saturday and it’s now Monday evening and it appears that the krausen has fallen. From what I can find that this isn’t uncommon but am unsure due to inexperience.
For the first 24-36 hours there was some vigorous action going on. The air lock was burping every few seconds but is now ever 30 seconds or so. It’s in a room that’s at about 70-71 degrees but the gauge on the carboy was reading 74 at one point but is now at 70.
I do not have a kit to measure gravity. That purchase will be for a later time.
So, I’m just trying to figure out what I should do from here. My hunch is to let it go for at least 7 days in the primary.
Thanks,
~Mobius~[/quote]
Let it sit for 2-3 weeks before bottling. The yeast is still working. In the meantime read up on controlling fermentation temperatures. You fermented a bit warm but you made beer!

3

Thanks.
I didn’t take fermentation temp into consideration for this first go-around. I’ll be sure to work something out for the future. I’ll just let it go for a couple weeks before moving the goods into the secondary.

4

Hi.
Sorry to barge in on the thread, but I seem to be in exactly the same situation. I’m glad to see that it’s not the end of the world.

Is there any benefit in moving the fermenter to a cooler location, or is it too late for that? I have it in a closet that’s running about 70F-72F according to the thermometer sticker, but I could move it to the garage, which tends to be around 60F.

I have the deluxe kit, so I was planning to do the secondary fermentation step. Is that still an option, or should I just leave it in the primary longer?

Thanks!