I am brewing my first batch (Irish red ale)
Fermentation was going great, nice head of foam, good CO2 production.
After 48 hours the foam has receded and the CO2 production has significantly slowed.
Any helpful information would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks Brewers!
Sounds normal. Don’t worry
Take a gravity reading in a few days. That’s the only way to know for sure if it finished fermenting
Most likely the beer is in a warm area and the yeast had a wild party and finished feasting on the sugar.
It’s best to keep the fermenting wort cool. In the mid 60’s. See my signature line for ways to keep the temps down for your next batch.
For this beer. Let it sit for 2-3 weeks for the yeast to cleanup the byproducts they left behind. Then bottle it. I wouldn’t worry about taking a hydrometer reading until day 7. Then again at 14.
I had the exact same experience recently with the same Irish Red Ale. I live in a very warm area, so keeping the thermostat below ~75 means a much bigger electricity bill. I had a lot of foam the first day which even resulted in the cap being blown off. I cleaned and sanitized the cap and put it back on. Now I see the gas escaping like it should but the foam level is much lower and the gas rate is also much lower. Is this batch ruined now due to that occurring?
If not, even though fermenting has slowed greatly, I should let it be for at least 2-3 weeks before bottling? So there is no problem with “over-fermenting”?
Also, how can I prevent this type of thing from happening in the future?
I don’t have a gravity measurement device. This was my very first attempt at making beer after receiving the small batch starter kit for my birthday over the weekend. Thanks for any help on this!
Sincerely,
a hopeless first time brewer.
I guess as a follow up to that, I set my thermostat to 74 since the recipe says fermentation will be happiest at 60-75. So I thought I would’ve been ok.
gm, let it sit for a couple of weeks. Then bottle.
See my signature line for ways to keep the temp down.
Alright, thanks? Any help with my other questions?
I wouldn’t say it’s ruined. you may have some off flavors due to a high fermentation temp. the beer will not over ferment. I strongly suggest getting a hydrometer to check your original gravity and final gravity. add your yeast after you’ve cooled your wort to around 60-64F. let it ferment in those cooler temps. fermentation will crate it’s own heat, so the beer will get warmer than ambient temp.
The beer will not “over ferment”. The yeast will eat the sugars that they can eat. Then they are done.
Otherwise we would not be able to bottle our beer with out pasteurizing it. The beer would over ferment in the bottle.
Use a blow off tube and a bucket of water. Keep the temps LOW. If you had it at 74* likely it was fermenting at 80*+ and will have fusel alcohol (hot flavor). This will not age out. If this happens use it as a lesson, and as a way to get/build a fermentation chamber! 
I live in a warm area too. My first couple of batches were fermented at room temp 80f + degrees and had some noticeable off-flavors.One of the best investments i’ve made so far was a chest freezer with a johnson temp controller. Now I usually set the controller temp for around 62 and let the yeast eat. I’m always hitting up yardsales and usually find chest freezers for sale around $60 bucks.
Yes it look like your fermention is done …
