My wife got me the Deluxe Brewing Starter Kit for Christmas and I finally got around to making my first batch on 28 JAN. I feel like I was overly meticulous with doing everything just right, so I think avoided really messing up… Anyway, to my reason for posting:
Ok, took about 2 days before I saw any fermentation action in the Carboy… I was worried, but when that started I relaxed.
On Thursday (5 days into the primary fermentation) the bubbler stopped bubbling and the head on the beer started to recede and the entire batch got a murky, muddy look to it
Over the past couple of days the carboy has been clearing up and has become a dark, semi-clear brown; but the bubbler has stayed quiet and it looks like all activity has stopped
Does anyone have thoughts? Have I just skunked my first batch of beer?
Oh yes, man, you’re just fine.
What you saw is this: Once fermentation started you saw the bubbling and foam growing on the top as well as stuff swirling around in the wort. That’s just yeast along with some trub. Then bubbling stopped (end of CO2 production and overall alcoholic fermentation) and the yeast started falling from the top resulting in really murky/muddy looking beer. As it falls out of suspension you’re seeing a layer of darker beer growing from the top down. That’s because there is less and less yeast floating in the liquid and so it appears darker because the yeast cells don’t reflect as much light as the higher numbers at the bottom. They are also cleaning up miscellaneous fermentation byproducts right now and will give you a cleaner and tastier beer if you let them finish.
So yeah, everything is just fine and you’ve got nothing to worry about. Let it ride another week or two and then go ahead and bottle or keg.
Sounds like everything is going exactly right. Wait another 2 weeks then check that your gravity is stable, then bottle. I did the extract kit as my 4th batch. It was delish!
:cheers:
