It is my first brewing day and I am trying the red ale.
It has been sitting for almost eight hours and no foam no bubble, no nothing.
I have been thinking about what I have done and reading these forums.
The kit I received had dry yeast in it. I may have mixed it with too cold a water.
Can I save the batch?
I may have been to gentle with my “gently rock the wort in the carboy” instruction.
Can I save the batch?
These are the only too things I can think of that I may have done improperly.
Also, I had almost zero SLUDGE at the bottom of my wort boil at transfer time.
I did cool it as fast as i could in a galvanized ice tub full of ice and water. so maybe the sludge didn’t settle. I had a hops ring around the inside of the pot.
Any ideas?
Should I start over?
Don’t worry at all. Could take round 24 hours (give or take) to get going. You will be fine. Welcome to the passion!
On rare occasions I’ve had it take even longer than that…and the end product turned out perfectly fine.
So, a big +1 on “don’t worry”
Thank you.
I will just wait a bit and see.
The DVD made it seem as though though the froth would be exploding!
Will follow up tomorrow night.
No you can’t save this batch.
The yeast will take care of everything. :lol:
It could take upwards of 72hrs for things to get going.
Let it go for 2 if not 3 weeks from the start of activity. When you bottle, fill 1 soda bottle with your beer. Squeeze the O2 out and screw the cap on. As CO2 is formed, the bottle will expand. Go another 3-4 weeks from the bottling date before sampling.
You will be rewarded with your patience. :cheers:
And… keep the temps down. See my signature line for help.
I woke this morning to the pop pop pop of the bubbles atop my carboy!
I just may have done it right! I added a bit of water to the valve as it looked a little low since yesterday. Going to keep an eye on it today to make sure I won’t have the opposite problem I thought I had yesterday.
The stick-on thermometer indicates a temp higher than the ale range printed on it.
Should I move the corboy to the basement? Will it disrupt things to move it?
I didn’t initially because of the “warm, dry, quiet” instruction. Basement is in the 60’s or low 70’s.
[quote=“jmars”]
The stick-on thermometer indicates a temp higher than the ale range printed on it.
Should I move the corboy to the basement? Will it disrupt things to move it?
I didn’t initially because of the “warm, dry, quiet” instruction. Basement is in the 60’s or low 70’s.[/quote]
Yes put it in the basement it will help your brew not disrupt it. I don’t understand why NB’s kit instructions are so poorly written. For the most part you want to ferment ales in the 60’s.
I would ferment this (and most) ales in the low-mid 60’s. That is the beer temp. A tub of water with a t-shirt draped over the carboy, into the water will help cool the beer by 5-10*. Adding some frozen water/soda bottles to cool the water more will increase the cooling effect.
Higher fermentation temps can create off flavors.
http://www.howtobrew.com/section4/chapter21-2.html