crh1109

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Took my first shot at homebrewing tonight using a Brooklyn brew shop kit(summer ale, I know its almost winter!) I had planned on using a LHBS kit for my first time, but I told my neighbor about wanting to start brewing beer and he told me he had this kit, but didn't have the time, so he gave it to me. Any thoughts on this kit, I followed the instructions mostly, but they are kinda vague in some spots. Hopefully it turns out, I will le you all know in a month!

android

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i can't speak to the summer ale kit, but i had a friend who did a few of the brooklyn kits and they always seemed to turn out pretty good.

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Tall_Yotie

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Only concern could be that the yeast is old, depending on how long ago he bought it (and if it was kept in the fridge or not). If you have any questions on the vague spots, please ask here, we can help clear it up!

And welcome to the hobby and the forums!

crh1109

Recipes 

In the little bit of knowledge I have gained from this forum, I have been worried about the yeast as well. If there are no signs of fermentation, will I be able to get some from the LHBS and add it after the fact, or could the last 3 hrs of mashing, spurging, and boiling be wasted?

rescuedogrr2010

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yes. has happened to me before with some liquid yeast not appreciating southern summer weather before. just grabbed a package of dry yeast, rehydrated, pitched and in a few weeks was enjoying delicious cream ale. of course, remember you just poured dead yeast in your wort...not a truckload so it maybe isnt the end of the world, but when it happened to me i figured i at least wasnt going to let it sit and condition for a month in primary on that dead yeast. just a thought.

Tall_Yotie

Recipes 

You can just add yeast again as "rescue" posted. Just give it a day or two, if you don't see anything then go ahead and get some new yeast. It won't go bad if no activation occurs initially.

tennesseean_87

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Definitely give it a day or two. My friend and I just had some that took 2 days to start showing signs of fermentation.

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#8 Corks in Belgian Bottles Hold Carbonation
Drinking: Graham's Cider, Sour mash Red, Rochefort 8 clone, Yeti Imp Stout clone, Brown Sugar Spiced Cider, Split batch IPA/SBitter, Oatmeal Brown Ale, Belgian Pale Ale, Oatmeal Dry Stout
Bottle conditioning: Graham's Cran-Apple Oaked Cider, Raspberry Apfelwein, Split batch Tripel, Split Batch Pilsener
Fermenter: Graham's Cran-Blue-Pom-Apple Cider
On Deck: Gun Stock Old Ale, BC Haus Pale (half nugget, half columbus), Berliner Weisse

crh1109

Recipes 

I think it the yeast is ok, the first 12 hrs or so it was visibly bubbly, and there were air bubbles coming out of the blow off tube, but now most of the visible bubbles are gone, but there is still some air bubbling out of the blow off tube. I guess my next question would be is this the standard operating procedure, or should there be more bubbles visible?

yancydc

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Don't worry about the bubbles, it's only one sign of fermentation, and not a reliable one. Give it a couple weeks and then check the gravity. If you get the same for 3 days in a row, then you're done.

In the meantime - sounds like everything is going great.

edit: Should mention, when I say you're done, I meant the fermentation is definitely done, a stable gravity for 3 days is the only way to tell for sure. You could let it age in primary more, of course. I like to let it sit in primary for a good 3-4 weeks, and assume the yeast has done its job.

petey_c

Recipes 

Bubbling is just an added benefit of fermentation. Sometimes, there's no bubbling at all and there's still fermentation going on. Hydrometer readings are really the most accurate way of determining the status of fermentation.