Hey all I am new to home brewing. I whipped up a batch of the caribou Slobber on Sunday and everything went great. My question is, the fermentation process started in about 4 hours instead of a day or two. Is this OK? I also had some of the wort seep up into the airlock. Is it OK to clean the airlock and re-sanitize so it does not clog or will that allow contamination? Thanks for your help. I keep the temp around 70.
Do you know what temperature your wort was at when you pitched your yeast?
You should be alright to remove the airlock briefly since there should be a layer of CO2 at the top of your fermenter which should prevent any nasties from getting in there.
The temp was right around 65 F.
Was that ambient temperature or actual temperature of the wort? Did you use anything to control temperature during the fermentation? You should be attempting to keep the entire fermentation in the mid to low 60’s.
Actual Temp of wort was about 65. Any suggestions on how to keep wort cool during fermentation, I live in Florida, never really cool here.
Check out this link
http://forum.northernbrewer.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=103505&p=917359&hilit=swamp+cooler#p917359
(shamelessly stolen from Nighthawk’s sig)
Thanks for the help. One more question. Would it be OK to put in a swamp cooler now, a day after the fermentation has started?
Thanks again
[quote=“Birdsfan31”]Thanks for the help. One more question. Would it be OK to put in a swamp cooler now, a day after the fermentation has started?
Thanks again[/quote]
You would do no harm. I found temperature control of my fermentation process to be the biggest thing in producing better beer.
[quote=“Birdsfan31”]Thanks for the help. One more question. Would it be OK to put in a swamp cooler now, a day after the fermentation has started?
Thanks again[/quote]
65 is fine for an ale. I wouldn’t temp fate by messing with it at this point. Unstable/fluctuating temp’s can stress out the yeast. I’d definitely recommend a swamp cooler for the next batch though.
