Fermentation

Yeast & Fermentation
1

Hey Guys,

This is my first brew and I have a question regarding the fermentation. I brewed a witbier on Sunday and the airlock has already stopped bubbling. I know i should wait 48 hours after it appears to have stopped, it just seems a little quick to me. Do you think I should be concerned?

Thanks,

Tony

2

Fast fermentation can be caused by fermentation temperature that was to high. What was the temperature of your wort during fermentation? Have you taken a hydrometer reading to determine the specific gravity?

3

Its stayed in the 68-70 range so far. No, i havent touched it. I was just going to leave it alone until this weekend.

4

Take a hydrometeer reading on Friday and then again on Sunday. If the readings are the same fermentation is complete. Another week in the primary will let the yeast clean up some off flavors produced during fermentation. If the beer temperature has changed the hydrometer reading will need to be adjusted. Here is a link to John Palmers online book about calibrating and adjusting SG readings for beer temperature.

http://www.howtobrew.com/appendices/appendixA.html

68° to 70° fermentation temperature is on the high side for ale yeasts. A swamp cooler can help get the fermentation temperature down into the low to mid 60°s.

5

Thanks! I figured that if I could keep around 68-70, that would be sufficient. I guess ill have to use the swamp cooler.

6

you can ramp up the temp for some wheat yeast strains I think? Which one did you use? And what was the gravity of your beer? Just because it’s not bubbling doesn’t mean it’s not sill working a bit. Either way, I bet you’re going to have a good beer on your hands. Don’t worry about it, stop looking at it (I know, it’s hard) and check it in a week or two.

7

Safbrew WB-06. The gravity was around 1.045. I figured i was a little anxious in posting this, just couldnt help it. :slight_smile:

8

I recently brewed a weizen with WB-06 fermented at about 62 F and got a light clove note and no banana - exactly what I wanted. The info I read said you can expect a solid banana note from your temps.

Please let us know how it turns out.

9

Will do! Thanks, everyone, for your input!