altenmuenster
Well-Known Member
I've really enjoyed lurking around the forum for the past week or so, and I have read the sticky on waiting for fermentation to start but . . .
The backstory:
I've been looking to begin homebrewing for some time now, doing some research and reading up and for my B-day this year my wife came through big with a deluxe brew kit from the LHBS and a Brewer's Best German Oktoberfest kit. So this Sunday I gathered my equipment, gave it a good wash and rinse, sanitized (I'll get to that later) and dove right in. . .
Everything seemed to go fine. The boil was pretty much perfect as far as I could tell, the house (and much of the street) filled up with the best smell and I was pumped!
But 72+ hours later I'm still waiting for some sign that my beer is going to do much of anything in the fermenter.
Here are my only thoughts of what 'could' have gone wrong. . .
* Sanitizer problems - was the included "no-rinse sanitizer" included with the equipmwnt kit actually just a cleaner? The included book seems to indicate it was sanitizer (oxygen-based) but there seems to be some confusion about this online.
*Poor Aeration of Wort after cooling - the instructions made no mention of this -- i only learned this was important on here after the fact.
*bad OG ?? - my first hydrometer reading was not exact science I must admit - it looked close to the upper limit of 1.056 but could have been a bit higher -- maybe closer to 1.058 - 1.060 - i took the reading at bang on 60degrees F -- i pitched the yeast at this temp too.
Otherwise temps have been pretty stable -- between 55-57 degrees taken numerous times for Primary. Directions state 53-59
The backstory:
I've been looking to begin homebrewing for some time now, doing some research and reading up and for my B-day this year my wife came through big with a deluxe brew kit from the LHBS and a Brewer's Best German Oktoberfest kit. So this Sunday I gathered my equipment, gave it a good wash and rinse, sanitized (I'll get to that later) and dove right in. . .
Everything seemed to go fine. The boil was pretty much perfect as far as I could tell, the house (and much of the street) filled up with the best smell and I was pumped!
But 72+ hours later I'm still waiting for some sign that my beer is going to do much of anything in the fermenter.
Here are my only thoughts of what 'could' have gone wrong. . .
* Sanitizer problems - was the included "no-rinse sanitizer" included with the equipmwnt kit actually just a cleaner? The included book seems to indicate it was sanitizer (oxygen-based) but there seems to be some confusion about this online.
*Poor Aeration of Wort after cooling - the instructions made no mention of this -- i only learned this was important on here after the fact.
*bad OG ?? - my first hydrometer reading was not exact science I must admit - it looked close to the upper limit of 1.056 but could have been a bit higher -- maybe closer to 1.058 - 1.060 - i took the reading at bang on 60degrees F -- i pitched the yeast at this temp too.
Otherwise temps have been pretty stable -- between 55-57 degrees taken numerous times for Primary. Directions state 53-59