Hey everyone, another newbie here.
I am also brewing the 1 gallon White House Honey Ale. I started this past Friday and about 10pm I had it in the fermenter. 6 hours laster fermentation started and it was fermenting heavy all day Saturday and Saturday night. This afternoon (Sunday) I woke up and it looks like fermentation has stopped except a few bubbles here and there with no visual activity in the airlock.
The beer looks very cloudy as well.
My question is: Although it looks like fermentation is complete, is it still happening? Is it normal to be that active and already be complete after a day and a half?
And final question, will everything settle and will the beer start to clear after a week or two sitting in the fermenter?
- What temperature did it ferment at? A higher temp will cause it to ferment very quickly, and look like it got done really fast.
- I would leave it in the fermenter for 3 weeks and then bottle. The yeast is still working, even though you can see evidence of that(airlock activity)
- Now that you’ve brewed a 1 gallon batch, buy a 6 1/2 gal fermenting bucket, and make the 5 gallon batch. Do the same thing, leave it in the bucket for 3 weeks, then bottle.
- make sure you are fermenting around 65 degrees. Do you have a cool basement?
- It should start to clear after a few weeks, but if it doesn’t, don’t worry. Bottle it anyway. Clearness, for the most part, has nothing to do with taste.
- Congrats! You made beer!
Well, I just finished bottling my first batch. I managed to get 6 1/2 bottles from the jug without sucking up much of the gunk at the bottom.
We did have one minor hose malfunction when we were too focused on the bottles filling and squirted some beer on the cabinets and counter. It sure smells like beer and the kitchen smells like a brewery now…lol… 
I have a question about cleaning everything up in anticipation of making my next batch…the top of the jug has the old fermentation foam stuff and I got most of it off by filling the jug with hot water and swirling it around. Now I have the jug filled to the top with warm water and am letting it sit for a moment, can I use some household dish soap on things to clean up now. In any case it’s fun so far and smells like beer. Maybe I can get an actual gallon out of the next batch… 
Thanks everyone for all the help and advice, I’ve been reading all the other newbie threads since we all have most of the same ques.
[quote=“paultuttle”]1. What temperature did it ferment at? A higher temp will cause it to ferment very quickly, and look like it got done really fast.
2. I would leave it in the fermenter for 3 weeks and then bottle. The yeast is still working, even though you can see evidence of that(airlock activity)
3. Now that you’ve brewed a 1 gallon batch, buy a 6 1/2 gal fermenting bucket, and make the 5 gallon batch. Do the same thing, leave it in the bucket for 3 weeks, then bottle.
4. make sure you are fermenting around 65 degrees. Do you have a cool basement?
5. It should start to clear after a few weeks, but if it doesn’t, don’t worry. Bottle it anyway. Clearness, for the most part, has nothing to do with taste.
6. Congrats! You made beer![/quote]
Fermentation is in the mid 60’s, it approached 70 a couple times but I was able to bring it back down.
Ill leave it for 3 weeks, and cloudy or not, its beer.
I already have a 5 gallon kit comeing, supposed to deliver tomorrow.
