Hi guys… first post… I brewed beer about 17 years ago… never did a really good job of cleaning things so my beer was always uneventful. Got married, had kids haven’t brewed for about 15 years… decided to start again so I got some newer equipment from Norther Brewer (of course!) and the “Mild Ale” kit to start things off.
Now to my subject: I added 2 cups of honey to the recipe, brewed everything up and pitched the one yeast packet (dry) that came with the recipe… for the first 2 or 3 days the fermentation went crazy… I have it on our heated bathroom floor so it’s right at 70°… OG was 1.042 at 100°
but now it’s slowed to the point where it doesn’t bubble much at all that I can see (I’m using a bucket for the primary)… I did some checking on the forum for stuck fermentation but I’m not sure if it is or if I am worrying too much… so a few questions: should I have pitched more yeast? Can I aerate the bucket or will that be bad?
Welcome back to the hobby!!! Being that warm (70F ambient) I’m guessing it’s probably is done fermenting for the most part. I’d let it sit at least 2 weeks and then take a hydrometer reading over 2 days and if it’s the same you’re ready to package. BTW, what yeast did you use? Also, depending on the yeast, you really want the temp of the beer (not ambient) around 65F. At 70F ambient you might have developed some esters (banana aroma/flavor) and possibly fusel alcohol (hot alcohol bite with hangover headaches). Time will tell.Cheers!!!
If the ambient room temp was at 70F, then the fermenting beer was most likely closer to 75F. That’s a very warm fermentation. It may have just fermented out very quickly. You want to keep your fermentation temps more in the 60’s for most ale yeast. Which means the room temp should be closer to 60F rather than 70F since fermentation can raise temps inside your fermentor 5-10degrees. The heated floor may make it even warmer, I’m not sure.
The only way to know if it’s done fermenting is take take a gravity reading every day for the next 2-3 days. If it’s in your expected FG range, then your done, but I’d still leave the beer sit on the yeast for another week or 2 to clean up after itself.
If it did ferment too warm, which sounds like the case, you may have some off flavors in your beer. Try to ferment cooler next time if possible.
There’s a good chance that fermentation is done. The only way you can confirm is to take a gravity reading. I’d just chill if you can’t take a reading at this point as the numbers you gave seem to indicate that it’s likely done at this point.
