SandorClegane
Active Member
I'm new to brewing. It's something I've wanted to do for a long time, but never got around to.
Finally, yesterday, I pulled the trigger and bought some stuff:
5 gallon Primary Fermentation Bucket
5 gallon Carboy
Bung and Airlock
Racking cane and Siphon Hose
Carboy Cleaning Brush
Restaurant Grade Sanitizing Solution
Yeast and Yeast Nutrition
I wanted to start with something easy. I've always loved honey Mead and had decided (through lots of googling) that Mead was a fairly easy brewing project to start with. So I started with it.
I thought I made a big mistake at one point, but I think it's working out okay anyway. I'll look to your input on that, though. Here is what I did.
1. Sanitized everything.
2. Pasteurized a 2 gallon mix of equal parts honey and water (1 gallon of honey with 1 gallon of water, brought to 170 degrees and kept there for 15 minutes).
2.1. Simultaneous with that^ I hydrated my yeast in room-temp/warm water.
3. Mixed the pasteurized honey/water mixture with 3 gallons of cold water in the primary fermentation bucket, then did my best to shake it/swirl it up for aeration.
4. (Here's where I messed up) I added the yeast nutrition and the hydrated yeast to the Must without first checking the temp to make sure it was not too hot.
5. I panicked, checked the temp, and discovered that the Must was around 120 degrees F.
6. Not knowing what to do, I put the lid on it and stuck in the airlock (with sanitized water in the airlock).
7. Moved the primary fermentation bucket to a dry room that stays at about 72-75 degrees F throughout the day.
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AFTERMATH/NOTES/QUESTIONS
I was concerned that I killed the yeast by adding it to water that was about 120 degrees F, and so I was planning on picking up another packet of yeast to pitch. But, within a couple of hours the airlock was bubbling about once every 20 seconds. This morning the airlock is bubbling at a rate slightly more frequent than once a second.
I know, from what I've read here, that the airlock is NOT a tool to gauge fermentation. I also know that the lack of bubbles in the airlock is NOT an indication that fermentation is not occurring.
So, my question would be related to the converse. Is quick and frequent airlock bubble action (more than once per second) an indication that fermentation IS occurring? Should I go ahead and pitch another packet of yeast to be safe, or should I leave it as is?
I do not have a hydrometer, therefore I did not get a measurement prior to pitching the yeast.
Finally, yesterday, I pulled the trigger and bought some stuff:
5 gallon Primary Fermentation Bucket
5 gallon Carboy
Bung and Airlock
Racking cane and Siphon Hose
Carboy Cleaning Brush
Restaurant Grade Sanitizing Solution
Yeast and Yeast Nutrition
I wanted to start with something easy. I've always loved honey Mead and had decided (through lots of googling) that Mead was a fairly easy brewing project to start with. So I started with it.
I thought I made a big mistake at one point, but I think it's working out okay anyway. I'll look to your input on that, though. Here is what I did.
1. Sanitized everything.
2. Pasteurized a 2 gallon mix of equal parts honey and water (1 gallon of honey with 1 gallon of water, brought to 170 degrees and kept there for 15 minutes).
2.1. Simultaneous with that^ I hydrated my yeast in room-temp/warm water.
3. Mixed the pasteurized honey/water mixture with 3 gallons of cold water in the primary fermentation bucket, then did my best to shake it/swirl it up for aeration.
4. (Here's where I messed up) I added the yeast nutrition and the hydrated yeast to the Must without first checking the temp to make sure it was not too hot.
5. I panicked, checked the temp, and discovered that the Must was around 120 degrees F.
6. Not knowing what to do, I put the lid on it and stuck in the airlock (with sanitized water in the airlock).
7. Moved the primary fermentation bucket to a dry room that stays at about 72-75 degrees F throughout the day.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AFTERMATH/NOTES/QUESTIONS
I was concerned that I killed the yeast by adding it to water that was about 120 degrees F, and so I was planning on picking up another packet of yeast to pitch. But, within a couple of hours the airlock was bubbling about once every 20 seconds. This morning the airlock is bubbling at a rate slightly more frequent than once a second.
I know, from what I've read here, that the airlock is NOT a tool to gauge fermentation. I also know that the lack of bubbles in the airlock is NOT an indication that fermentation is not occurring.
So, my question would be related to the converse. Is quick and frequent airlock bubble action (more than once per second) an indication that fermentation IS occurring? Should I go ahead and pitch another packet of yeast to be safe, or should I leave it as is?
I do not have a hydrometer, therefore I did not get a measurement prior to pitching the yeast.