First time carboy fermentation question with pictures

So I'm on my second home brew kit. A Belgian blonde. My first with a carboy. It's a 6 gallon. I think I pitched my yeast too warm and then submerged it in my closet cooler and made it too cold. Maybe I put the yeast back to sleep? I pitched yeast around 74F then placed in my water. Took it down to 64F by the next morning. Been staying between 64F and 70F. Seen only a few bubbles out of airlock when it was closer to 70F. It's now at 70F and I'm keeping it here since it's closer to pitching temp. I wanted to start lower and gradually increase the temp but I couldn't chill down wort for whatever reasons. Anyways just wanted to check in and give pictures to see if there's anything else I should be doing or worried about...again. No airlock bubbled but the head (krausen?) is growing. Also did I push the damn carboy rubber stopper down to far? I'm gonna have to pull it out with a knife. But that's for later... Thanks for any info. Oh and I brewed it Wednesday night.


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Odd that you aren't getting any bubbles with that much Krausen. Looks like a perfectly good fermentation to me. I use a sanitized coat hanger to get my stoppers out when I push them down too far, which I have been doing a lot lately. Just straighten it out and bend about 1/4 or less from the end at a 90 degree angle. Stick it down the hole airlock hole, get a grip on the bottom of the stopper, and wiggle it up and out.

Hello, keep the fermenting temp as steady as you can, it is best (most of the time) to keep the temp at the lower recommended temp for whatever yeast you are using.

Your beer has already fermented out for the most part, thats why your not seeing much air-lock activity = normal, active fermentation happens in the first 3 to 5 days for most beers, after that not much activity=boring lol

I keep my fermenting beers at the lower recommended yeast temp for 5 to 7 days, then (on ale yeast) I raise the temp to 68 to 70 deg for 7 more days, then transfer to whatever, secondary, keg, bottles, then age/condition/carb for as long as that beer needs.

Hope this helps !

Cheers

Put more liquid in the airlock it doesn't even appear to be floating


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GCPHomebrew said:

Put more liquid in the airlock it doesn't even appear to be floating


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+1, Good catch ! I didn't even look at the air-lock in the pic !

Cheers

And ditch that awful stopper and replace it with a universal bung.

It's at 70F and starting to bubble more now. And no the inside lock wasn't floating so I've poured more star san in there. It's all these little things...


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And I'll have to look up the bung...but thanks in advance...


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I'm getting a lot of bubbles now it's warmed up a touch. I'm guessing I'll just have to keep it at this temp for a few days to finish fermentation?


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This is what it's looking like now. Really taking off. Is it about to blow?


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DougMedic said:

And I'll have to look up the bung...but thanks in advance...


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Uh, not sure what to say here lolol!

Haha whoops!


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Yes. Clean out the airlock replace it. Put a blowoff tube on it.


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Thanks. This is what I've got set up now. Look correct-ish?


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Looks right if the hose is submerged in a container of water....

Yeah the hose end is submerged and bubbling nicely. Thanks for all the info. And don't mind the Dora towel haha


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DougMedic said:

This is what it's looking like now. Really taking off. Is it about to blow?View attachment 204545View attachment 204546


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Also use Vodka in the airlock !

And if its fermenting like crazy you should keep it lower than 70 deg ! slowly lower the temp.

I think the temp swings are causing it to stall then start again.

Cheers

DougMedic said:

Yeah the hose end is submerged and bubbling nicely. Thanks for all the info. And don't mind the Dora towel haha


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I would use another container with stars an in it for the end of the Blow off tube, it looks like you are using the swamp cooler tub for the other end of it!

Cheers

I'll try to keep the temp at 68 which was the original plan but seems to stall out any lower than that...this is my second brew. Def better temp control than my first which was left at room temp. So hopefully I'll get this dialed in...I think my top priority will be cooling wort down effectively and pitching at a better temperature. Funny how I try to talk these things out...


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Correct. It's all the little things.

I blew my airlock off several weeks ago with my first hefeweizen. The following week I brewed a saison.... ZERO MOVEMENT on the airlock.

The choice of yeast is truly the most important and versatile ingredient... which now has me looking at getting into yeast starters in the relatively near future.

Just took a sample reading. Gravity is at 1.012. Starting was 1.062. My starting was just below the low end per the kit instructions. Im sure I can make improvements in my process and cooling procedures which could help me get into the higher end of the OG. I'm Gonna check again in 2 days. Will probably leave it in primary over the weekend even if it's done. Per the brew friend my apparent attenuation is 80% with an ABV of 6.56%. Little on the weaker side die to the lower starting OG I guess. Just though I'd check in and see if there was any feedback. Tasted the sample and it's good. I like this Belgian Blonde...


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Don't worry about it, nothing is going to blow up. Getting krausen inside your airlock is not a big deal - things are going out, not in.

Build yourself a little hook tool with a piece of a wire coat hanger so that you can pull your bung out. Make sure you sanitize the tool before using it. Then, reseat your bung properly. Not a big deal.

Looks like the hose is submerged in the swamp cooler, you will have a nasty mess made of the water. Get it submerged in a separate vessel with star san in it.

Thanks for the heads up. That water was nasty! Next time I will use a separate bucket with starsan. This was my first time using a blow off and I did it kind of hastily. The airlock is back on it. I'm giving the bucket a bath in some smell good bath stuff.

Is the top of the bung not suppose to be flush with the carboy. Only way I could seem to get an airtight seal.

It's been 10 days. Do you think it's ok to not worry so much about temp control? Or should I put it back in some water? Ambient air is usually around 75F. There is no more a krausen head. I'm wanting to leave in carboy for another week or so for conditioning. Any ideas?


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I wouldn't worry too much about temp control at this point. Once fermentation winds down, it becomes much less important.

As for the bung, I think it's the style you have... You can also get universal bungs that don't go so far in.


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Fermometer says 75F. Thanks for the info.


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The bung shouldn't be flush with the top of the carboy, otherwise how are you supposed to pull it out?

Mine sits about 1/2 - 2/3 out the top. It's still air tight and works fine.

Yeah you're using a bung that's too small for the carboy. I find a #6 bung fits perfectly, as a #7 is slightly too big and keeps slipping out.

Don't worry about the temp. the fermentation is over. at this point id wait a couple days take a hydro reading and then keg or bottle.

Ok thanks. Bung comes out when I pull on airlock or blow off hose. Didn't seem right but whatever works I guess...I'll look for a bigger one. I'm hoping to brew this weekend or beginning of next week.


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DougMedic said:

Ok thanks. Bung comes out when I pull on airlock or blow off hose. Didn't seem right but whatever works I guess...I'll look for a bigger one. I'm hoping to brew this weekend or beginning of next week.


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Hello, if you transfer this beer off the the yeast cake the day before you brew (leave 1/4" of beer over yeast cake), then you can cool your next batch to pitching temps and dump it right on top of that yeast cake.

If you do this, make sure to start off with a blowoff tube from the start, it will ferment like crazy !

Cheers

Per the BF calculator beer came out with 83% yeast attenuation at 6.69% with a final gravity of 1.01. Smells good. Tastes good. It almost has a dry champagne smell at parts if you take a big long smell. Is this because of the fermentation temp fluctuations? I'm gonna wait two weeks before trying the first bottle. Just finished bottling after it sat in primary for 1 month.


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