So I put my first batch into the fermenter last night and was wondering about the consequences of having the fermenting beer under moderate light? Due to temperatures in the room I am brewing in I am concerned that if I keep it covered it may get to warm (it is about 68 in the room). I am using a 6 gallon glass fermenter brewing the American wheat extract kit and th is would be in a room with lights but not under direct light. Any advice would be great! - Josh
Got any black garbage bags you could throw over it?
Poke a hole for the airlock.
Incandescent, florescent or sunlight?
Sunlight and florescent is bad…but it is my understanding that incandescent light won’t hurt anything.
I use a 60w incandescent to warm my fermentation cooler and everything seems OK.
HTH,
I am using cfl’s to light the room so I will try a back trash bag for now, currently looking at getting a small refrigerator withi temp control for fermentation so hopefully it will work in the mean time. Thanks for the help!
You need not be too worried about CFL’s unless the lamp source is right next to the carboy. The amount of UV rays CFL’s give off is concentrated just a few inches from the bulb.
:cheers:
Concerning this American Wheat Kit, the directions say 2 weeks primary & 2weeks bottle conditioned, I keep reading about secondary fermentation which makes me want to do a secondary to clear it up a bit as the pouring instructions say to leave the sediment be. I have been drinking un-filtered wheat beers for over a decade, my first inclination upon seeing fines in a bottle is to invert the bottle to mix it up for drinking what I call “Dirty Beer” in a proper glass. Anyway my gal, Cinnamon sez do it by the book first, we opted for the dry yeast as we went brewsaver shipping. I am contemplating doing this kit w/Wyeast and doing a 10 day primary and 10 day secondary for an experiment.
Traditionally, your wheats are meant to be cloudy. Pour the first 80% of the bottle into your glass, swirl up the yeast with the remaining liquid and pour the rest. If you want clarity, leave them in the fridge longer and pour slowly without mixing.
:cheers:
So as I have said before, a secondary fermentation will clear up the beer considerably and not detract from the flavor…So when doing a secondary when does one know when to move the wort???
Secondary’s on most beers is purely a personal choice. Myself, I almost never use a secondary unless I am bulk aging, adding something to the beer (fruit, new yeast, etc), or doing a considerable dry hop. Years and years ago the yeast being sold wasn’t all that good so getting beer off the yeast before it broke down was important. The new yeasts are really good stuff. You can leave your beer on them for at least a month (though I have rarely done that unless it is a big beer). Professional brewers do a bright tank after primary only because they need To free up ferementation space most of the time.
It’s up to you but there will be no difference if you dont do a secondary on a wheat beer. I would bottle after two weeks, if you are worried about it leave it an extra week in the primary. Just my thoughts.
Congrats on the beer and cheers!
Gravity will tell you when it’s ok to secondary. Get 2 consistent readings a day apart and you know fermentation is finished. Then let the yeast cleanup for a couple of days and transfer to secondary.
Thanks! I best be reading a bit more in Joy of Homebrewing…
We have lost most of the Kruaesen to a smaller bed of whitish foam and the sediment on the bottom of carboy is still releasing o2. We have a fairly steady temp in the closet 62~65 degrees, the fermometer is reading 66/68, still bubbling air lock, will check gravity on Friday, 1 week into fermentation. Then a second reading on Sat. to check similarity. Sun & Mon as well.
It is possible for the dry yeast to have done its job in 1 week is it not?
It is possible but you’re going to be disappointed if you rush it. You have gotten through the most vigorous part of fermentation. The yeast are still fermenting and turning sugar into alcohol as evident from the foam on top. You will continue to see little yeast sites on the surface until all the sugar is gone and the yeast go to sleep. I’ve got an amber that I brewed 2 weeks ago that is still showing signs of fermentation. Don’t waste the beer to check the gravity. Wait at least 2 weeks before checking. Trust me, you want to be patient. Also, the yeast are releasing CO2 as part of the fermentation process. Generally, O2 is bad for the beer after the yeast is pitched and fermentation begins.
This sounds good to me, I will give it a FULL 2wks in Primary. In other-words, I need to quit bugging & chill like the BEER!
And yes there are sm patches of darker foamy stuff mixed in w/whitish foam…And the bubbles I see escaping the bottom are Co2 not o2. Thx mvsawyer
Approaching the 7th day of primary, still very little action on the surface with exception to a collection of bubbles on top. No brown cap or spots floating on top, just the yeasty ring around the carboy @ cohesion point, air lock is still burping about once every 2 min or so.
This beer was brewed on Friday the 13th, I will check Final Gravity on the 13th day in Primary. After bottling I will check for proper carbonation after 13 days of bottle conditioning…we have chosen ‘Friday the 13th Wheat’ as the name for our 1st batch of Am. Wheat beer. I have been skeptical because of never doing this before but, we are anxious to brew the AK47 Pale Mild next…
It sounds like you are almost finished with the fermentation schedule. With so little action, I’d bet you’re at final gravity and just need to let the yeast clean up for a few days. Raising the temperature a few degrees could speed that up. You could test the gravity at 10 days, and then again on 13 to keep your scary schedule. 
You’ll probably be bottling on day 13, though!
:cheers:
We did get this in the bottles, we lost a bit to the thief (2). Also due to the weight of the beer in the spring tip bottle filler which we let rest in a small Star-san bucket, it was heavy enough to release the pressure on the spring & let beer into my Star-san while I took a small break to move full bottles and get a few more sanitized ones ready…I soon had an amber colored, over-flowing small san bucket!! Next time I will close the spigot!! We capped 42 12oz bottles so I’d say we lost a 6r+ to the san bucket! Labels in 13 days
The warm flat beer was good I had the last of the goodies in my sample from the very bottom of the bottling bucket…mmmm…the honey for priming sure added a nice touch/palate.
We purchased the ‘Super Colonna’ corker/capper to give us more options when it comes time…It works great, the ‘Red Baron’ capper works very well leaving a much more ‘commercial looking’ cap as compared w/the Super Colonna that leaves a dimple on the top. I have purchased a 6pk of beer from San Luis Valley Brewing Company in Alamosa, CO that appeared to be capped by this same Super Colonna. The Bottles were each filled to different levels, had great labels and paperboard carrier! All printed up nice. Might I add that it was a very good place to eat & we got a tour of the smallish brewey !
Update on ‘Friday the 13th Wheat’, we are pushing the case & half of these to carb, I have place them on the top of the fridge. The 1st pair we tried on day 13 of bottle conditioning was very tasty but lost what carbonation it had nearly immediately. Day 21 of BC is approaching. We have tried the 2nd pair and found the same minimal carbonation. The 3rd pair is in the fridge for sampling.
