First brew ever! Totally unsure....

My roommates and I brewed our first batch this weekend and are unsure about the progress.

We know we messed up some potentially important parts:

It turns out that our thermometer was not particularly accurate nor consistent during the boiling and whatnot. We also ended up short of the 5 gallon level.

At this point it appears to be fermenting ok, but it seems like it has slowed down considerably. The foam on the top is almost back down to the liquid after only 2 days and we were curious if this is indicative of the fermenting nearing completion? That's what we had read in the book we got with all the equipment and whatnot.

Any ideas? It's still bubbling at a rate of about 18 times a minute.

Thanks.

tehmaxshell said:

My roommates and I brewed our first batch this weekend and are unsure about the progress.

We know we messed up some potentially important parts:

It turns out that our thermometer was not particularly accurate nor consistent during the boiling and whatnot. We also ended up short of the 5 gallon level.

At this point it appears to be fermenting ok, but it seems like it has slowed down considerably. The foam on the top is almost back down to the liquid after only 2 days and we were curious if this is indicative of the fermenting nearing completion? That's what we had read in the book we got with all the equipment and whatnot.

Any ideas? It's still bubbling at a rate of about 18 times a minute.

Thanks.

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It sounds like it's fermenting completely normally. Leave it in the fermenter 3 weeks.

I would just make sure you are fermenting at about 68-70 degrees.. Mine bubbled like mad and my temps were a bit high.. I think that may have caused my fermentation to go nuts(or the bubbles anyways).. But then again.. it was my first batch.. I am still learning myself..

Welcome to homebrewing.

Actually it sounds like it is going really great, depending on the recipe, yeast, yeast population, oxidation of the wort, temperature, etc. Active fermentation can be done in less than 24 hours.

That does not mean your beer is done. let it sit for a week after all activity is done, then use your hydrometer to get the current SG. Wait three days and test it again. If its the same, then rack to secondary, or wait another two weeks before bottling or kegging.

Time is your friend, lack of patience is your enemy. If you drink "green" beer it will taste off, or just plain horrible. It's OK to test it to learn, but please give the yeast time to work their magic, and let it age enough to taste like beer. I promise you, you will be happy with the results if everything was kept clean.

tehmaxshell said:

My roommates and I brewed our first batch this weekend and are unsure about the progress.

We know we messed up some potentially important parts:

Click to expand...

That remains to be seen.

It turns out that our thermometer was not particularly accurate nor consistent during the boiling and whatnot.

Click to expand...

At the risk of pointing out the obvious, you do not require a thermometer during boiling, accurate or otherwise. It is either a good, rolling boil or it is not. You don't need to measure the temperature; you need to look at the surface of the liquid.

We also ended up short of the 5 gallon level.

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Not necessarily a bad thing. If your gravity is light, for example, ending up a bit short of the full brew length is quite acceptable to keep the desired original gravity (OG) within specifications.

At this point it appears to be fermenting ok, but it seems like it has slowed down considerably. The foam on the top is almost back down to the liquid after only 2 days and we were curious if this is indicative of the fermenting nearing completion? That's what we had read in the book we got with all the equipment and whatnot.

Click to expand...

It is perfectly possible for the initial vigorous ferment to be complete in 24-48 hours. When the krauesen (the foam) falls back into the beer, fermentation is still going on, but the yeast activity is slowing. The vigorous initial ferment throws out a lot of carbon dioxide gas - the major yeast byproduct - which combines with large molecules to form the krauesen foam. As fermentation slows, less CO2 is devolved, so there is less to form the bubbles.

Any ideas? It's still bubbling at a rate of about 18 times a minute.

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My idea is as others have noted - leave it alone for two, three weeks. Then take a gravity sample to see where your ferment ended in terms of specific gravity.

Good job! You made beer!

Bob

it will turn out, I know this is hard to do but be patent!!! it was hard for me. I just started drinking my first batch after 1 1/2 weeks after being bottled. turned out SO GOOD! I thought i messed mine up to.

Yeah, don't sweat it... It will be beer before you know it, just be patient. Again, time is your friend.

It sounds like you're in a pretty good place right now. I'd do as the rest have suggested and take a hands off approach for awhile. The beer needs some time for the yeast to clean up their poop after the active fermentation has finished.

Regarding the inaccurate thermometer: I wouldn't worry about it that much, and not at all during the boil. If you steeped grains then there is some necessity to have an accurate thermometer, but there's some wiggle room there. If the temperature was higher than the thermometer indicated then you could run into some harshness in the beer, if it was lower than indicated your only concern is that you didn't extract all the sugars from the steeping grains that the recipe intended.

However, this is the time to rejoyce in a simple fact of homebrewing: Even when you screw it up it's still beer.