Fermenation Prob?

I brewed a Irish Stout on thursday and later that night bubbles were already coming out of the air lock, friday and staerday the foam was starting to build up like all the batches before it, now the foam has died down and disapated into the wort, is there a problem?
It's in my basement (around 55-57 degrees) and I tried to warm up the wort with a heating pad no sucess. There seems to be very little yeast on the bottom.

sounds good to me man!

temp definately plays a role, but it sounds like the yeast ran it's course.

you could probably rack it to the secondary if you want and let it set for a spell. i'd leave it in the primary till thursday so you have a week then transfer it to the secondary fermentor.

Yeah, sounds like all is well. Just make sure it's in fermenters for at *least* 2 weeks (3 is better) before you bottle.

But all in all, that sounds like a good, fast ferment.

OK, so I let it sit there until Thursday and I racked into my secondary, there are no bubbles coming out of the airlock. Actualy the middle part of the airlock is now sitting on the tubefrom which the air is suppose to come out. I am conserned that the yeast are no longer working.

sause said:

OK, so I let it sit there until Thursday and I racked into my secondary, there are no bubbles coming out of the airlock. Actualy the middle part of the airlock is now sitting on the tubefrom which the air is suppose to come out. I am conserned that the yeast are no longer working.

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Don't be concerned. The yeast will work until it wants to stop and racking will never change that. Your beer is probably just about done. All sounds very great to me.

But just because it's done doesn't mean that 2 weeks in the secondary won't do it good. The flavor will improve immensely if you give it a few weeks in the secondary. You'll see more yeast settle to the bottom, kind of cascading along the sides of the carboy, and the clarity will improve a lot. The secondary is as much about letting flavors mellow as it is about completing the fermentation.

It is very likely that the yeast are no longer working because they have already done what they needed to do, i.e. turn sugar into alchohol. Did you taste any of the beer when you transfered? If it didn't seem overwelmingly sweet, you should be fine. (a hygrometer reading would give you a more exact idea of how much sugar is still there). You rarely should see much activity in the secondary fermenter; if you do, you may have racked too early! So as far as activity in the secondary fermentation is concerned, less is better! I currently have a batch of Irish Stout (kit from Midwest Homebrewing) in secondary, and when I first racked it from the primary, there was no activity at all. It just sat there for a few days, then I noticed a few small bubbles rising through the wort, forming a thin ring of bubbles around the top of the wort. I think that one should wait till there are no longer any bubbles rising and the wort looks good and clear before bottling. Hope this helps -- D.

Janx said:

The flavor will improve immensely if you give it a few weeks in the secondary. You'll see more yeast settle to the bottom, kind of cascading along the sides of the carboy, and the clarity will improve a lot. The secondary is as much about letting flavors mellow as it is about completing the fermentation.

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So true about the flavors.

Do you use anything other than Irish Moss in the wort?

I usually add a couple tsps of Polyclar to the secondary.

D-brewmeister said:

a hydrometer reading would give you a more exact idea of how much sugar is still there). You rarely should see much activity in the secondary fermenter; if you do, you may have racked too early! So as far as activity in the secondary fermentation is concerned, less is better!

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So true........

homebrewer_99 said:

Do you use anything other than Irish Moss in the wort?

I usually add a couple tsps of Polyclar to the secondary.

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I don't even use Irish Moss...slacker

I used something (maybe Polyclar) in the secondary of my meads sometimes, but it could be a chore because it was really easy to loft it back up off the bottom of the fermenter with any disturbance.

In all fairness, my beer with my current 3-tier setup sometimes has some haze. It's nothing like the clarity I got from my RIMS. I'm considering adding a pump to recirculate the mash for that reason.

The Bitter I'm currently drinking from the Guiness tap is nice and clear, though, with a creamy nitrogeny head...gotta love lunch breaks when you work at home

As it turns out that something was wrong because the thing is intensely sweet. I guess something went wrong after all. First batch not to turn out alright. Well caulk that one up to inexperience or just a fluke.

By the way I didn't use any clearing additives. Although it was clear.

I'm a bit worried about my batch as well.

First, my name is Gordon. Nice to meet you all.

Saturday night at 10 PM I put my batch into the fermenter and pitched the yeast. As of Tuesday morning, I still see no bubbles coming up.

I'm brewing a Pale Ale with White Labs California Ale Yeast and the temperature in the fermenter room varies from about 70 during the daytime to about 60 at night.

Should I just be patient or should I definately have seen some action by now?

Hi Gordon. Welcome to the forum

Did you make a starter? (I think I know the answer).

That's a long time to not see anything. Are you *sure* it didn't just ferment overnight? I would think even without a starter, it would go by now. Was the yeast past its date? Did you add it when the wort was too hot? Had the yeast tube been accidentaly frozen?

At this point, I'd think about adding some dry yeast in hopes of saving the batch. If there really is no viable yeast in there for four days, it invites infection big time.

FWIW, in the future, make a starter each and every time. No matter what your HBS owner or the yeast package says, make a starter. I brewed 15 gallons on Sunday and pitched a half gallon starter made from White Labs. It was raging within about 16 hours, which is the norm. When I rack onto old yeast slurry, it's fermenting within minutes. Minimizing the window between chilling and fermenting is very important to avoid infection. Good luck!

I didn't make a starter.

So, IF the batch is salvageable, or IF it DID ferment overnight and I didn't notice, will adding more yeast hurt either way?

What I mean is, if it is salvageable, and it didn't ferment, then adding yeast won't hurt.

OR

If it DID in fact ferment, will adding even more yeast hurt?

End result being tonight or tomorrow I add more yeast and see what happens.

Well, either way you'll have to open your bucket, so I say pop it open and see if it looks like the stuff foamed up in there. There should be a nasty looking ring of goop clinging to the sides of your bucket, up above your beer. If it's all clean, then you haven't had a ferment. In that case, you should probably re-pitch.

Do your best to avoid introducing anything that could potentially contaminate your beer at this point and if it hasn't fermented, and time is of the essence!

Best of luck, and welcome to the forum! Keep us posted.

Sam

Ok, I talked to my brother, who is much more experienced in brewing than I am (and I suppose this could all be in the beginner's brewing forums, but whatever).

First, I did not have enough water in my valve, so it very possible was bubbling the whole time, I just couldn't see it.

Second, he told me to swirl the fermenter, at which point the bucket bubbled for about 2 minutes straight, proving that a fermentation was in fact taking place, and that my agitating the brew released the suspended CO2 from the liquid.

Third, he told me the possibly slower fermentation of my beer due to a slightly lower temperature may actually make my beer better, even though it might take longer to brew.

So I think I was just worrying a bit because of some ignorance of my equipment, and beginner's anxiety.

Hopefully.

So did you add some water to your airlock, and if so, are you still getting bubbles?

Glad to hear all is well...yeast usually does do its thing

No bubbles now, but that may be because it was bubbling like crazy the past couple days and I just couldn't see it.

Come to think of it, I remember coming home one day and the kitchen smelled like fermenting beer, but I was dismayed not to see any bubbles. In retrospect, it was most likely releasing CO2 the whole time.

Yep...I think you're right. It's probably ready to be racked to a secondary if you're going to do that. It would be hard to tell if it was fermenting if you didn't have enough water in the airlock. Cheers!

I know this is an old thread, but I'd be interested in the Dallas club. I'm in north Irving (Valley Ranch). By the way, do the dates on this thread seem strange?

Jimbutler21 said:

I know this is an old thread, but I'd be interested in the Dallas club. I'm in north Irving (Valley Ranch). By the way, do the dates on this thread seem strange?

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Not sure what happened, but didn't mean for this to end up on this thread. First I'm posting on the homebrew club thread, next thing I know I'm looking at fermentation problems. Sorry guys, wonky app behavior.