Hey all, first time trying this out (I got a starter kit + white house honey ale for Christmas). I’m afraid I won’t be able to have a nice cold one with the gift-giver, though, seeing as here is the state of things 72 hours after I loaded the fermenter:
Whole:
Top:
Bottom:
How screwed am I, from 0-10? It looks like 10 to me, but I’ll admit I don’t know anything about this. The bottom doesn’t worry me too much, but the top is a mess. Not only is there no foam, but I’m afraid the CIA is going to bust in any moment and indefinitely detain me for biological warfare. Did I botch sterilization, or what? It almost looks like all the yeast has fled the wort for dear life, but I don’t think the temperature is too off…I looked around briefly on the forums and didn’t see this situation, but I could easily have missed something.
It looks like you had a vigorous fermentation (that crept up into the airlock…some call it a blowoff), then the yeast dropped out. What temp is that room and/or fermenter? It can happen well-within 72 hours.
Yeast aren’t pretty, but they make tasty beer. Leave it alone for another 2 weeks.
Also, is your fermenter next to a glass window? If it is, you want to cover it with something dark. Like asap. Light is not good for beer. If you don’t believe me, have yourself a tepid Newcastle, Heineken, Molson, or other green/clear-glassed beer thats been sitting in the light for 12-24 hours.
Multiple reasons why opaque ale pails that you can’t see into are great for first-time brewers :^)
I’m not quite sure on temperature, but my guess would be around 60-70 depending on time of day. So I should just leave it as is despite not seeing any more bubbles? Or should I swish it around?
Thanks for your help!
By the way, I’ve been keeping it in the back corner of a closet shelf…I just took it to the light so I could take some pictures.
EDIT: also, do I need to do anything about the airlock, or is that fine?
HA! That’s normal homebrewing, my friend! You didn’t see it on the forums cuz that’s what it’s supposed to do. Keep it in the dark for another week and a half then you can bottle it. You didn’t by chance score a hydrometer for xmas too, did ya?
You can take out the airlock and cover the opening with some sanitized aluminum foil. The foil will work to keep out nasties but you can reinstall the airlock/cap if you want after you clean and sanitize it.
You’re all good. If you wanted, you could rinse and re-sanitize the airlock, just to keep stuff from trying and messing it up. Sanitize some tin foil to cover the opening while you do that. Let it sit for a couple more weeks then bottle. Don’t rush it.
I kinda figured that would happen with the 1 gallon jugs. Just not enough room for krausen. I’ve expected more post like yours since they started selling the 1 gallon kits.
Mr. Sawyer had a much more appropriate and less curmudgeonly of a response than me. Been one of those days. +1 to everything he said (potentially the exception of only one more week. I would give it 2 just to be safe then bottle (though I’m sure you’re itchin to drink it asap!)). Basically, once the VISIBLE stuff from fermentation has finished (like bubbles out of the airlock, krausen cake on top), the yeast are still doing work on the beer at a cellular level. They will essentially ‘clean up’ some of the ugly flavors they made during their orgy/banquet.
Hydrometers are key to knowing if beer has finished fermenting and the yeast have done their work. Definitely pick one one WHEN you order your next kit!
Thanks all again, and no worries Pietro…was/am too happy at not having ruined xmas to take note of any alleged curmudgeoning. (My girlfriend was so excited to have found a perfect gift, and it would really burst her bubble for it to be messed up! Equally/more importantly…I want to drink some of this goddamn beer…)
Maybe I’ll ask for a hydrometer for my birthday :lol: any recommendations, or will just about any do?
They have ones for $4.99 from our host. It’s fine. They have more expensive ones, that are more accurate, but you don’t need that. Get the test jar for $3.99, too.
So, out of curiosity I looked up the ingredients in those 1 gal kits. They include a packet of dry yeast (US-05 for the one I looked at), and the instructions say to use half the packet. Even using half the packet, that’s more than twice the amount of yeast you really need for an ale of modest gravity.
Given this, and the fact that many people are probably going to pitch too warm, and accidentally use the whole packet, I bet we can expect fast fermentation and blowoff to pretty much be the norm with people using these kits.
Nate, I was wondering about that. The instructions seemed a little odd, but I did my best to guestimate half the packet…although I probably erred on the side of more yeast rather than less.
[quote=“mel2010”]Nate, I was wondering about that. The instructions seemed a little odd, but I did my best to guestimate half the packet…although I probably erred on the side of more yeast rather than less.
And thanks Tuna! :lol: [/quote]
No worries. The beer looks fine, and of all the sins you can commit, over pitching a smidge is one of the better ones.
If you make another 1 gallon kit, I would try using roughly a quarter of the yeast packet. Or better yet, get a bigger fermenter and switch to 5 gallons. One of those dry yeast packets is sufficient for a 5 gallon batch. Congratulations on your first beer.
Future reference: there’s a strong chance this will happen again in the future. Look up attaching a blow-off tube for the first three days of fermentation; if you don’t start doing this or buy a 6.5 gallon fermentor or an 8 gallon bucket there’s a verrrrry slight chance that the yeast will plug up the bung and then http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m5l5h … o1_500.jpg
I had a similar experience with the 1gal batch. But I think I boiled off too much and got way less than a gallon, so no blow off even though I also pitched probably more than half the yeast. I’ll have the adjust and use more water. Mine looks just like yours, but none in the airlock.
I don’t have the room for the 5 gallon, but the 1 gallon seems like not enough. Wish there was an in-between size.
