I am in the midst of fermentation of a caribou slobber extract kit and worried something is wrong. This is my very first batch of beer ever. I have made an effort to do my homework but, having just popped my brewmaster cherry, still have much to learn.
Brew day was seemingly successful with no apparent problems and I felt I was careful about sanitation. Fermentation was strong over the first couple days and then quickly dropped off. It has now been 2.5 weeks in a peaceful, quiet, dark, and happy primary place and I am suddenly seeing new bubble activity (a bubble every 7 seconds) in the airlock accompanied by some sulphur smell.
I do know that I have been fermenting a little warmer than ideal conditions but not sure this would cause what I am seeing. Any ideas what is going on here? Please tell me a bunch of unwanted bastard microbials are not crashing my party right now!
It could just be off gassing the CO2 that is in the beer, leftover from fermentation. As the yeast drops out the beer will off gas. You can take a look in there and get a hydrometer reading. Give the beer a taste and see.
yeah, as a general rule in homebrewing, don’t rely on airlock activity to determine much of anything. Believe me, I know those little bubbles make us smile and feel all warm inside that those yeast are making beer for us, but as the posters above say, it doesn’t mean much of anything, and certainly doesn’t mean infection.
In most cases for beer, sulphur is “better out than in”!
Leave your beer for another week, clean and sanitize up a turkey baster, and take a gravity reading. If its where its supposed to be, leave it for another week, then bottle.
If there was an issue it would be pretty easy to tell. It should be very clear after 2 weeks. #1 sign for an infection would be that the beer has not cleared and still looks like heavy fermentation - not just a few bubbles out of the airlock.
#2 Take the old sniff test. If it does not smell like a Belgian’s arse you are in the clear. Sulpher smell can pop up once in a while and is not usually a sign of anything sinister.
Otherwise it sounds like you are just suffering from some opening night jitters. Good luck and enjoy your beer.
Thanks for the replies and giving me a little peace of mind. I’ve read all the forum posts about off smells, unlikelihood of contamination, and airlock activity not meaning jack. I’m hoping my concern for the sudden change in activity is just some learning curve jitter. For all I know the sulphur smell may have been there for awhile and I’m only noticing now because of the gasses being expelled again.
There is a nice cake on the bottom but my beer is cloudier than I expected at this point, to the point I can still see small particles floating around in there. I’ll be sure to give it the ol Belgian’s arse challenge as soon as I find a nice Belgian girl to be my control sample!
Being very observant is a great thing while learning. However, the best thing to learn is patience. Beers undergo lots of changes as they ferment and age and there are plenty of unpleasant smells and tastes that can be present in a beer that will taste great in a few weeks or months. So pay attention, but don’t freak out! If your beer was infected there wouldn’t be anything you could do about it anyway. The best thing to do is to follow your process, taste your samples, and when in doubt give it another week or two…
[quote=“boilermaker”]I am in the midst of fermentation of a caribou slobber extract kit and worried something is wrong. This is my very first batch of beer ever. I have made an effort to do my homework but, having just popped my brewmaster cherry, still have much to learn.
Brew day was seemingly successful with no apparent problems and I felt I was careful about sanitation. Fermentation was strong over the first couple days and then quickly dropped off. It has now been 2.5 weeks in a peaceful, quiet, dark, and happy primary place and I am suddenly seeing new bubble activity (a bubble every 7 seconds) in the airlock accompanied by some sulphur smell.
I do know that I have been fermenting a little warmer than ideal conditions but not sure this would cause what I am seeing. Any ideas what is going on here? Please tell me a bunch of unwanted bastard microbials are not crashing my party right now![/quote]
I’m in the middle of my first brew too (English Brown Ale) I made the mistake of using my bottling bucket for the primary fermenting. It’s been about 6 days, so I am planning on racking to the glass carboy this weekend for secondary fermenting.
It’s funny how excited we get on our first attempt. I was so pumped when I saw the first bubbling from fermenting. Grabbed my 9 month preggers wife off the couch to show her. She wasn’t as excited as I was.
Anyways, from a fellow rookie homebrewer, good luck. Keep us updated on things. My first racking experience should be interesting.
[quote=“UM2UVA”]I’m in the middle of my first brew too (English Brown Ale) I made the mistake of using my bottling bucket for the primary fermenting. It’s been about 6 days, so I am planning on racking to the glass carboy this weekend for secondary fermenting.[/quote]This is a very common mistake by the new homebrewer - setting a schedule for a beer (or following a 1-2-3 routine or adhering exactly to generic recipe instructions) rather than letting the beer tell you when it’s ready to be racked. Before you rack the beer off the yeast (and remove your best tool for correcting problems), take a gravity reading and see if the beer has reached the target gravity. Wait another day or two and take another reading and if they match, then you can rack, although the beer will likely be better if you leave it on the cake for at least another couple of days.
