1st brew in 15 years

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Ster

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Plastic fermentation bucket. Finished about 8pm last night. Noticed fermentation this morning. Now 24 hours later, fermentation appears very slow. A bubble every 15 seconds. No vigorous bubbling like I remember. Should I be concerned. The brew is an all malt porter kit with Muncies dry yeast.
 
Ster said:
Plastic fermentation bucket. Finished about 8pm last night. Noticed fermentation this morning. Now 24 hours later, fermentation appears very slow. A bubble every 15 seconds. No vigorous bubbling like I remember. Should I be concerned. The brew is an all malt porter kit with Muncies dry yeast.

No I wouldn't be worried. Check the gravity in a week or two. What temp are you keeping it at?
 
More info: yeast pack said pitch under 100F. Book says 75F. I pitched just under 90F. Should have waited.
 
Didn't check gravity. New to that, not sure what it means yet.. learning.

Keeping in closet. Indoors. Florida. 65 to 75 always.
 
Ster
Well you came to the right place for answers! Welcome back to the game! A lot has changed in 15 years in regards to equipment, sanitation, just the whole process really!
Again Welcome back and welcome to HBT

Cheers
Jay
 
No worries. Pitched a little warmer than ideal, but certainly not a deal-breaker. If you plan to keep up with this hobby, I strongly recommend getting a hydrometer and getting comfortable using it. It can give you WAY more useful information than that lying, 2-faced airlock. That thing will tell you a fib in a quick minute!
 
Ster
Well you came to the right place for answers! Welcome back to the game! A lot has changed in 15 years in regards to equipment, sanitation, just the whole process really!
Again Welcome back and welcome to HBT

Cheers
Jay

Welcome back. ^^^ What he said. I just got back into brewing after over 16 years. A lot has changed, in almost all areas, since I started. There's a lot of talented people here, who'll help you along and who enjoy doing it. ;) If you need help, just ask. Although, you may end up with more help than you bargained for...
 
Okay. 27 hours since pitching, fermentation almost done. 1 bubble every 45 seconds. Not good?
 
Okay. 27 hours since pitching, fermentation almost done. 1 bubble every 45 seconds. Not good?

Not good or bad. Just normal. Give it another week and try not to worry too much about how often the aitlock bubbles. Bubbles are a very misleading means of monitoring fermentation.
 
Okay. 27 hours since pitching, fermentation almost done. 1 bubble every 45 seconds. Not good?

The airlock bubbling doesn't give you the whole picture. CO2 could be escaping elsewhere and so pressure isn't building up to cause rampant bubbling. The airlock is not a fermentation gauge, it is a way to let gases escape safely without leaving your wort exposed.

...and what Jaybird said.
 
Watching the airlock is a good way to stress out. Just relax, don't worry, have a homebrew. Beer is harder to screw up than you'd think.
 
Plastic fermentation bucket. Finished about 8pm last night. Noticed fermentation this morning. Now 24 hours later, fermentation appears very slow. A bubble every 15 seconds. No vigorous bubbling like I remember. Should I be concerned. The brew is an all malt porter kit with Muncies dry yeast.

Things are sooooo much better now. Try getting a quality fresh liquid yeast if available local, or buy a good dry yeast. Do a proper 'starter' easily searched for here, then pitch at an ideal temp. For ale generally around 70 degrees or lower, or for a lager probably 55 or lower. Try this out. Also realize that yeast do a lot more than create alcohol. They also eliminate off-flavors in the right environment and can create horrible flavors if fermented improperly, especially if pitched into a overly warm wort or if the yeast is stressed by the amount of fermentation neccesary.

Have fun and enjoy the beer.
 
36 hours.. fermentation has ceased. Lid is very tight fitting. I will trust you experts, let it sit for about 5 more days and bottle on Sunday.
 
Fermentation has not ceased. Yeast continue consuming other compounds to "clean up" the beer after you see CO2 escaping the air lock. Most people here use a one month primary and then bottle. Your beer needs more time.

I personally use a 7 day primary and 14 day secondary for most. Then a solid week in the keg. That is when my beer starts to get good.
 
There is not set time table to bottle. You assume in five days it's ready to bottle. You assume fermentation has stopped because you see no bubbles in the airlock. These may not be safe assumptions to make. Let it sit at least a week. If possible use that time to obtain a hydrometer and measure your gravity. If it has reached a realistic final gravity and is stable over two or three days, it is safe to bottle at that point. That does not necessarily mean it would not benefit sitting for a week or two more. The yeast will definitely clean up some of the by products. I always take a gravity reading at seven days. Most beers are done then, but I let it sit two more weeks beyond that. I take a second gravity reading right before bottling, just to make sure something didn't go wacky and then I keg on that third week. Since my beers are primed with sugar in the keg. I let it sit another month. So, most of my beers are enjoyed, at the earliest at seven weeks of age. Something like a hefeweizen, I would probably just keg once gravity is stable for a few days and I might force carb it, so I can get to it while fresh, but 95% of my beers are probably on a seven week minimum schedule.
 
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