Fermentation Concerns (First time Brewing)

[onelunglewis]

Hey guys! Just got my Basic Kit in the mail and finished brewing my first batch. I’m afraid something has happened to my fermentation process. It is only the third day of fermentation and the head of thick foam is completely gone, there have been zero bubbles for a full 24 hours, and there is a bad smell present when I opened the fermentor to check things out. (not sure what skunky smells like but seems pretty accurate.)

I had it in a indoor closet the first 24 hours and it was bubbling great. My house got a little hot 80 degrees or so, so I moved it out into my garage where it was cooler at the end of the second day. The outside temp probably dropped below 60degrees but I had covered my fermentor with a thick tile and my garage was a little warmer than the outdoor temp. Not sure what happened, but it definitely doesn’t seem right.

Thanks for any of your help guys.
Jackson

[shadetree]

Hot temps will result in a fast and furious fermentation with the potential for some unwanted byproducts. Check the gravity to see if it’s done and let it sit for a couple weeks on the yeast cake to give them a chance to clean up as much as possible.

[firststatebrewer]

I recommend you just leave it alone. Seems to be fermenting fine, to me. Opening it up to “check things out” is only going to introduce oxygen, which you don’t want. Yeast will often have that funky smell when you first open the fermenter. Don’t worry about it. That’s normal. Your beer will be fine.

[dobe12]

+1 to both of these ^^^ posts. It fermented WAY hot if your house temp got up to 80F. It was probably a fast, hot fermentation which would explain why it’s almost stopped now. It’s done. Well, at least active fermentation is done. There are more things going on now that you wont notice. But at this point, there’s nothing to do but wait. You can’t undo the hot fermenation, so just give it some time (2-3weeks) then check the gravity a few days in a row. If the numbers are where you expect and the same for each reading its done and time to bottle or keg.

[dobe12]

P.S. Along with sanitation and proper pitching rates, fermentation temperature is probably the most important part of making beer. Find a way to keep a cool and constant fermentation temperature for your next brew. Find someplace in your house (basement?) or look into a minifridge and temp controller. If that’s not an option, search ‘swamp cooler’. It’s another cheap and effective way to control your ferm temps.