I made my brew at 11:30 Wednesday. It was bubbling at one belch per second Thursday morning. This morning (Friday) it is bubbling at one belch per 30 seconds. It was 15 seconds just a few hours ago. I saw where I am supposed to let it set for at least 2 days after it stops bubbling but I am wondering if it has slowed down too much too soon. It is an Irish stout. It is fermenting in a glass carboy with a tight cap and bubbler. It had an inch of foam yesterday but it is closer to a half inch today. I’m going to let it sit for at least a week to make sure it has stopped bubbling. It will be racked into a keg with a co2 bottle for carbonation and put into a fridge at around 40 degrees. Yes, this is my first brew so I don’t have a clue as to what is normal bubbling. If you have any advice that is positive, let me know. Thanks
Do yourself a favor and forget about the bubbling. Yes, it’s cool to look at and yes, it gives you an indication of when fermentation starts but it is not an accurate way of depicting when it ends. If you’re kegging (which is awesome for a new brewer!) I would leave it in there for three weeks, transfer to the keg and force carb. By letting it sit there for a while you give it a chance to make sure it’s done fermenting, to clean up a little bit after fermentation and to clear out and mellow out a bit.
Also, if you don’t have a hydrometer get one. Other than that, congratulations; it looks like you’ve made some beer!
+1… If your beer is fermenting this quickly it could be due to a few reasons. 1) To warm. 2) Nature of the yeast (S-04 is a fast fermenter), and a whole slew of other reasons but those 2 will play a major role. Cheers!!!
Thanks for the advice. I can wait 3 weeks before I rack it to a keg. Not a problem. It is staying a constant 65-66 degrees in the carboy in a pitch black storeroom. According to what I’ve read that is in the 60-74 degree range for an ale.
The kit came with some powdered sugar that was supposed to be used for bottles to create co2. Does it also increase the alcohol content and if so, could it be put in the keg when I rack it from carboy to keg to make the stout more potent?
Alcohol created with the bottling sugar is negligible. Some brewers will put about 1/2 the amount of bottling sugar in the keg when they rack to it. I tried it a couple of times & ended up with a lot more crap in the bottom of the keg. I find it better to carbonate with CO2. Cheers!!!
Is it a low grav stout? If it’s in the 1.040 range, 2 weeks will probably be plenty of time before kegging. You can definitely be drinking faster if carbing with CO2 instead of sugar.
The bg is listed as 1.043-1.045 and the fg is listed as 1.010-1.012. I didn’t mark my carboy to make sure I filled to the 5 gal mark so some of the brew was lost in the brewing process. I used a lid on the pot though so I doubt that much more than a quart was lost in steam. Is it to late to dump in a quart of distilled water now after 2.25 days?
Don’t add water now, just learn from it.
Also shouldn’t boil with the lid on.
OK…I had a taste yesterday, after 6 days of sitting, and it was pretty good. I’ll let it sit for another 2 weeks and then rack it into my keg, add some co2 and then try it again 2 days after that. If it is still good, I’ll try to make a batch of steam brew next. Does anyone have a source for a kit that resembles Anchor Steam beer?
I’m going to add a hydrometer soon. racking cane and maybe a couple of other items. This beer brewing was fun and now that I had a taste of my efforts, I can see that it will be something I will do again.
I did the California Common recipe from our host a couple years back. It came out good. Try and keep the temps down with the lager yeast, though.
As for your current beer, once you keg it may take some time to carb, depending on how you do it. You can crank the pressure up to 30psi and shake it to be ready in a couple days, or let it sit and wait a couple weeks at serving pressure. My first kegged batch I carbed it quickly, just to start drinking, but now I let 'em sit and wait. They taste a lot better after conditioning a couple weeks, IMO.
Thanks for the advice.
The California Common is the only one I’ve seen so far. I guess that will be my next purchase.
I’ve got about 600 PSI left in my co2 bottle. It was given to me by a friend who went on the wagon. Is this going to be enough pressure to get the keg started? I know that a 5 lb bottle is supposed to be good for 5 kegs but I don’t know what pressure it starts out as full.
I live in the middle of nowhere and the nearest Airgas supplier to buy co2 is over a hundred miles away so I don’t just hop in the car and run down to my local beer stuff supplier.
Grab yourself a dirty sock …sit down next to your carboy and watch those yeast reproduce !!
[quote=“ignatious”]Thanks for the advice.
The California Common is the only one I’ve seen so far. I guess that will be my next purchase.
I’ve got about 600 PSI left in my co2 bottle. It was given to me by a friend who went on the wagon. Is this going to be enough pressure to get the keg started? I know that a 5 lb bottle is supposed to be good for 5 kegs but I don’t know what pressure it starts out as full.
I live in the middle of nowhere and the nearest Airgas supplier to buy co2 is over a hundred miles away so I don’t just hop in the car and run down to my local beer stuff supplier.[/quote]
Does the middle of nowhere have a Home Depot? I trade in my tanks there.
OK…The stout is almost gone and I am ready to brew some Bavarian Hefeweizen.
I want to take some of what is left of the Irish Stout and put it into two 26 oz champaigne bottles with
artificial caps.
I am thinking that if I put two teaspoons of priming sugar into each bottle, pour the beer into the bottles as gently as possible and then capping them after the foam settles down, I can save them for tasting later on with my cousin up north.
All the research I’ve done says that two teaspoons of priming sugar is the right amount for a 26 oz bottle. Am I on the right track on this idea? This was my first brew so I am about as dumb as a bag of hammers so far in my brewing experience so all help and advise is appreciated.
I just exchanged my co2 bottle for a fresh one and notice that it only comes with about 750 PSI of co2. I thought that it would be a lot higher than that since my gauge shows that when you get down to 600 PSI you should exchange it. This is a 5 LB bottle. I don’t know if that makes much difference but it seems like it should have been a lot higher pressure for a new bottle.
:cheers:
[quote=“ignatious”]OK…The stout is almost gone and I am ready to brew some Bavarian Hefeweizen.
I want to take some of what is left of the Irish Stout and put it into two 26 oz champaigne bottles with
artificial caps.
I am thinking that if I put two teaspoons of priming sugar into each bottle, pour the beer into the bottles as gently as possible and then capping them after the foam settles down, I can save them for tasting later on with my cousin up north.
All the research I’ve done says that two teaspoons of priming sugar is the right amount for a 26 oz bottle. Am I on the right track on this idea? This was my first brew so I am about as dumb as a bag of hammers so far in my brewing experience so all help and advise is appreciated.
I just exchanged my co2 bottle for a fresh one and notice that it only comes with about 750 PSI of co2. I thought that it would be a lot higher than that since my gauge shows that when you get down to 600 PSI you should exchange it. This is a 5 LB bottle. I don’t know if that makes much difference but it seems like it should have been a lot higher pressure for a new bottle.
:cheers: [/quote]
Sometimes the gauges can be wrong because of temperature. With a 5lb tank you could probably carb and serve 8-10 kegs.
If you want to bottle, you don’t want to add sugar since you already have CO2 in solution. Turn up the regulator about 5 psi from where it’s at for a day to get a little more carbonation. Turn the pressure down to 3psi and dispense into a sideways bottle. Be sure to sanitize them first.
:cheers:
