Festa kit fermentation question

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NScooknet

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Hi all,

I'm only on my 3rd batch of beer, i've already drank the 1st Brew House IPA beer I brewed and bottled, it went off without a hitch, and have just bottled a batch of Brew House Pale Ale now.

While the Pale Ale is bottle conditioning, i just started a new batch of Festa West Coast IPA, but in the past 24 hours, there is no activity in the airlock at all, and just a very slight coating of tiny bubbles on the surface of the wort.

Should i worry?

The wort is a constant 68 degrees all day today, but yesterday, it was down around 64 degrees as we lost our power unfortunately.

The only reason I'm worried is because the brew house kits fermentation was fast and very violent, so i kinda expected the same with this Festa kit.

What do you think?

The only thing I realized that I did wrong was use the wrong measuring cup to hydrate the yeast in, it was 500ml instead of 250ml, will that make a difference? Will twice the water screw up the yeast?

I made sure the boiled water came down to around 80 degrees before adding the yeast packet to it, so I don't think I screwed that up or anything!

Maybe I'm just over reacting due to my inexperience, but all I have to go by is the other 2 kits I've made, so are Festa kits different in their fermentation?

Thanks!

Chris ;)
 
The brewhouse kits use coopers yeast which is a quick starter and has a tendency to leave unwanted fruity flavors for some.

The festa brew kits come with yeast specifically for the style, just remember if you rehydrated the yeast at 80f you may have shocked the yeast slightly, the wort would have been around 68f so there will be lag time.

Lag time up to 3 days is expected sometimes 4, Krausen should develop.
Don't even take hydrometer reading until 2-3 week mark.
 
The brewhouse kits use coopers yeast which is a quick starter and has a tendency to leave unwanted fruity flavors for some.

The festa brew kits come with yeast specifically for the style, just remember if you rehydrated the yeast at 80f you may have shocked the yeast slightly, the wort would have been around 68f so there will be lag time.

Lag time up to 3 days is expected sometimes 4, Krausen should develop.
Don't even take hydrometer reading until 2-3 week mark.

Thanks for the reply!

Well that's kinda a bummer, why don't the instructions warn you of that I wonder?

So what temp "should" I hydrate my yeast at??

This is the 1st time I've hydrated yeast before pitching, as the Brew House Coopers yeast is just sprinkled on the surface of the wort and not even stirred, seems a bit easier and less chance of a newbie like me to mess it up actually...lol.

I never realized yeast could be shocked like that, so thanks for that info.

So, after the fermentation finally starts, I should leave it in the primary for 2-3 weeks before checking the SG?

I plan not to rack to a secondary, as everyone i talk to is against doing that, so I'm gonna leave it sit on the yeast cake the full term of the fermentation just before bottling.

Glad to hear it's not all screwed up or anything!

Thanks again.


Chris ;)
 
No problem , I say not to take gravity because if your going to leave it 3 weeks then it doesn't matter if gravity is reached it's better to leave it 3 weeks regardless . Your beer will get better.

Now you can just sprinkle the yeast using festa brew kits, s04 s05 s33 etc...
However it is good to rehydrate for an hour before pitching.

The kits don't have great instructions but my suggestion is use the festa brew wort itself to hydrate. It contains sugars and it is the proper temp to activate yeast.
 
The kits don't have great instructions but my suggestion is use the festa brew wort itself to hydrate. It contains sugars and it is the proper temp to activate yeast.


They don't contain good instructions, but it is better to just sprinkle on top of the wort than try to rehydrate using wort I would think.

Try it this way http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter6-5.html
 
boo boo said:
They don't contain good instructions, but it is better to just sprinkle on top of the wort than try to rehydrate using wort I would think.

Try it this way http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter6-5.html

I almost always just sprinkle dry yeast into wort, I have rehydrated with wort , warm water with dissolved dextrose all which work.

This is to answer the posters question , If you pitch yeast into 80f water then pitch into 68f wort it could shock yeast and increase lag times.
Wait and fermentation should start.
 
Thanks for the info guys, very helpful.

I think something is actually just starting to happen now, as I noticed the little bell inside the airlock has risen up about half way to the lid, hopefully this means the yeast is waking up and shrugging off the beating I gave it mistakenly....lol.

It would be nice if it were bubbling the next time I looked.

Well, I know what to do next time if I buy a Festa kit, I have to drive an hour to New Minas to get them, only Brew House is available locally here in my little town, I'm thinking about picking up a Brew House Oktoberfest and starting it tomorrow now that I have an empty carboy.

Why the heck do they only come out with Oktoberfest when October is over? Duh....lol.

Chris ;)
 
The brewhouse oktoberfest kit is really good. One suggestion pickup us-05 yeast.
Remember if ambient temp is 68f fermentation could reach 75+ it's important to keep it under 70.

I put fermenter in a rubbermaid container filled with water and rotate frozen water bottles, also have fan blowing on it for first 3-5 days.
 
The brewhouse oktoberfest kit is really good. One suggestion pickup us-05 yeast.
Remember if ambient temp is 68f fermentation could reach 75+ it's important to keep it under 70.

I put fermenter in a rubbermaid container filled with water and rotate frozen water bottles, also have fan blowing on it for first 3-5 days.

You actually have to "cool" your fermenter during the primary fermentation?

Most people have them wrapped in blankets or have a heating pad wrapped around it, now I'm confused!

Right now, the ambient temp in the back room where my setup is is around 65 degrees, the thermometer on the carboy says 70 right now, and now there are finally bubbles in the airlock!

I'll drop the room temp down more to hopefully keep the yeast from overheating, what happens if it gets too warm? Off flavors?

Chris ;)
 
You actually have to "cool" your fermenter during the primary fermentation?

Most people have them wrapped in blankets or have a heating pad wrapped around it, now I'm confused!

Right now, the ambient temp in the back room where my setup is is around 65 degrees, the thermometer on the carboy says 70 right now, and now there are finally bubbles in the airlock!

I'll drop the room temp down more to hopefully keep the yeast from overheating, what happens if it gets too warm? Off flavors?

Chris ;)

There is very few beers and yeast the benefit from 70f + fermentations,
For example making a belgian wheat (weisse) you want it warm cause that yeast
strain will produce a clovey taste.

I thought the same as you but that was until my beer came out with a kick of
just strong ( some call it estery or fruity flavour) I found if I let them condition in the bottle longer and refrigerate for over a week the taste mellowed out.

For that festa brew kit if you keep the wort at 65 you will be golden if its possible. Its using us-05 yeast which for me anyway just needs to be kept under 70.
Us-05 is a clean yeast and is great because it normally doesnt throw out all those off flavors as does the coopers yeast which comes with the brewhouse kit.
 
There is very few beers and yeast the benefit from 70f + fermentations,
For example making a belgian wheat (weisse) you want it warm cause that yeast
strain will produce a clovey taste.

I thought the same as you but that was until my beer came out with a kick of
just strong ( some call it estery or fruity flavour) I found if I let them condition in the bottle longer and refrigerate for over a week the taste mellowed out.

For that festa brew kit if you keep the wort at 65 you will be golden if its possible. Its using us-05 yeast which for me anyway just needs to be kept under 70.
Us-05 is a clean yeast and is great because it normally doesnt throw out all those off flavors as does the coopers yeast which comes with the brewhouse kit.


Well if keeping cool is the goal, i have no problems there!

the back room of the house where the brew setup is, is not insulated well, and usually I have to keep a heater back there to keep the pipes from freezing in the winter.

Right now, it's about 60 degrees back there, but the fermenter is actually right at 70 degrees all on it's own, i see what you mean now.

Before I was simply taking the air's ambient temp, thinking the liquid would be the same, i now realize that fermentation creates it's own heat.

I guess it's because it's been beat into my head thus far to ensure the yeast doesn't get too cold or it will go dormant, and I've even listened to podcasts from that brewing network describing how to do the same thing your talking about, only instead of ice in a rubber maid with water bath, the guy was talking about using aquarium heaters to keep the wort warm during fermentation, so now I'm definitely a bit confused about what to aim for and how to achieve it.

As long as I know what temp is supposed to be what, and when throughout the process, I can rig something up to accommodate that and keep things steady, but I think now I've got so much conflicting info in my head from different sources I really need to sort it all out and get a proper process straight.

I think the 1st thing I'll do is never read another beer kit instructions again!

Thanks1

Chris ;)
 
Well,
there's steady activity in the airlock, but very little kreusen, maybe 1/4 inch or so.

The wort is a steady 68 degrees now.

What happens if fermentation craps out or something?
 
NScooknet said:
Well,
there's steady activity in the airlock, but very little kreusen, maybe 1/4 inch or so.

The wort is a steady 68 degrees now.

What happens if fermentation craps out or something?

I'm using us 05 on my Alaskan amber right now. Took three days to take off, on the 4th day I had 2-3 inch of Krausen. I haven't checked it today but it's probably still fermenting.

The yeast will finish their job and your Krausen will fall, when it does take a gravity reading make sure to sanitize.

It won't just crap out, but it's a waiting game, cause even though it will be done say Krausen falls in 3 days , you should leave it for 3 weeks from pitch date.
If you can cold crash 24 hours before bottling and you will have a clean beer
 
The problem is that it looks like fermentation is now done, wel, the "kreusening" part anyhow.

I only got a 1/4" if that bit of kreusen on the surface of the wort, then it appeared to have fallen, and the activity in the airlock is dead now since yesterday.

It seemed to wait 2 days to start, then started, but fizzled out.

Does this mean that there won't be a proper fermentation?

Does anyone ever "re-pitch" more yeast into a wort that looks like it stalled like this?

This kinda pisses me off a bit because i followed the Festa instructions very closely, and now I'm worried it won't turn out right.

I've never used any yeast other than what is supplied with the kits, and will have to either drive for hours from where I live, or mail order custom yeasts.

So, what should I do now, just wait?

Should I just leave it in the primary for the full 3 weeks then?

Chris :)
 
Yeah just wait, it could still be fermenting even though Krausen has fallen. You can take a gravity reading on the weekend.

Don't pitch more yeast. You had fermentation activity so your yeast should be healthy.
 
So the temp falling from 70 degrees to only 64 degrees wouldn't put the little yeasties to sleep on me?

What temp should I keep it at now?

I'm not sure if the temp in the fermenter fell because of ambient air temp getting colder as it did, or because the fermentation slowed down, or both.

I guess all I've read thus far stated that a healthy fermentation was indicated by a robust kreusen on top of the wort, so when I saw so little actually form, it alarmed me a bit.

I guess with brewing it either goes off without a hitch fro the get go, or is seems problematic like this.

So leaving it that long on the yeast cake in the primary wont harm it will it?

Thanks for the info ozz, I very much appreciate it!

Chris ;)
 
Well, everyone has their own time scale for primary and secondary (if they use it), but most will tell you leaving it on the yeast cake for a month is standard practice. I'm too impatient to leave it that long.

A heavy krausen on top is a sign of healthy fermentation, but a lack of one does not mean unhealthy fermentation. Each batch is different, and I routinely have many batches that don't create a thick krausen, or it's on there for a day, settles, and fermentation finishes within a few days.

You don't really want to keep adjusting the temp on the yeast, but within the ballpark of 60-70 won't make them dormant. Cooler will take longer to finish. Depending on the style, most people start the fermentation in the low 60's and allow it to come up to 68 by the end. Ensures the temp created by the initial fermentation doesn't get too high.
 
Thanks for that info!

Since I'm just starting out, and only have the basics for a setup, I don't have any real means to regulate temperature of the fermenter other than adjusting the ambient room temperature, which I'm well aware is less than ideal.

I liken it to trying to keep my tropical fish alive with no heater in the tank, and adjusting the room temp to keep the aquarium at a stable temp, not likely that's gonna happen, so also not likely I'm gonna have very stable wort temperatures until I rig up something to control it!

What I "can" hopefully do, is keep it within a range, and hopefully not fluctuating too much.

What I'm still trying to figure out is what is the optimal temp for everything. Since I'm only brewing ales, I'm guessing from start to finish that 60-70 degrees will be the utter maximum tolerances, while 64-68 degrees is optimal, am i correct so far?

I guess like anything else you don't learn unless you have problems, so I don't mind that, as long as it is not catastrophic failure and a loss of cash in the process, those Festa kits aren't cheap!

Thanks again for the info, while this wort is chugging along with it's little yeastie friends, i think I'll start a batch of Brew House Octoberfest, and this time, i'm just pitching the yeast straight into the wort outta the package like the last 2 batches I did!

Thanks!

Chris ;)
 
Yeah, I suggest just keep brewing, keep detailed notes on everything including fermentation, like if the temp got too hot, then test down the road what, if any, flavor those changes imparted. If it has a significant effect, you will certainly taste it. If not, well then your setup is perfectly adequate for your tastes!

About fermentation temps, for most ales, your target of 64-68 is a good target. As you stated, this is temp in the liquid, not the air. And remember, it takes a while in ambient air for the temp of the wort to change, so large sways during the day of +/-4F isn't really going to change the liquid temp all that much - as the room temp is coming down from high, it will cross the fermentation chamber on it's way up and vice versa.

If you do get really off tastes, first thing I would focus on is fermentation temps. Pitching low and keep constant temps below 68F. That is by far the hardest thing to control.

Not to give you something else to worry about, but Oktoberfests like it cold...:D
 
Not to give you something else to worry about, but Oktoberfests like it cold...:D

OK, I'd better ask you, what do you mean "likes it cold"??

I don't want to bugger this one up, and following those darn instructions that come with the Brew House kits are obviously of no great help.

What temp should the wort be when I pitch the yeast, what temp should it be fermenting at over the first primary part of the fermentation, and what temp should it be while in the primary for the next 2-3 weeks?

Thanks!!

Chris ;)
 
Well, I'm not sure about the yeast used in that kit, but traditionally Oktoberfests are fermented in the mid-50's. These are true Oktoberfest yeast strains, so depending on what's in the kit, you could get away with a higher temp. I've done a few 'fests with German/Euro strains, ones that leave a very malty dry flavor, at mid 60's, and they come out very well. True to the style? Good enough for me, probably not a judge.

Overall, you can't really go wrong with low 60's for most ales, including oktoberfests, alts, Kolsch...well most German beers. If you keep the temperature out of the equation of things to worry about, you can experiment a little more with yeast strains and recipes.

Go for the Oktoberfest using their yeast, aim for the mid-low 60's, and see how it turns out. It's really difficult to bugger up a brew, unless you do something stupid. We've all done it, but yeast are very forgiving if given a comfortable place to go all asexual.
 
Oktoberfest style beers are sometimes lagers , The brewhouse kit comes with coopers yeast which is an ale yeast , just don't let it get over 68 although I would recommend a us-05 yeast and 62f fermenting temp you can't always get what want.
 
Thanks guys, again, great info!

I'll start it up and see how it goes, and in the mean time, watch the Festa kit I've got going now to see what ti does.

Thank god I've at least got a Brew House Pale ale kit in bottles conditioning now...lol

Chris ;)
 
OK,
This is just getting a bit confusing for me!

After I took a sample of the Festa Weat Coast IPA wort to get the SG today, I replaced the airlock, and lo and behold, 15 minutes later, activity in the airlock started again!

The OG was 1.054, and today's reading was 1.018, and it actually had a huge head on the wort as I poured it into the graduated cylinder, and tasted slightly carbonated, and still a little sweet, but that may just be the way the wort is, never had it before.

What's going on here? There is a substantial bubble in the airlock every 5 seconds or so now for the past few hours after NO activity for days now.

Could opening the fermeter have allowed oxygen in there to wake up the yeast or something like that?

I didn't stir it or disturb it at all, I just removed the air lock, took a sample with a thief, and replaced the airlock, that's it.

I'm actually discussing this on a different message board as well, it wasn't intentional actually, (sorry to be repetitive if your reading both!) but someone else is having some festa brew weirdness as well, so I'm wondering now about this brand a bit.

I'm really trying to understand this fermentation process, so any explanations would be very welcome!
Thanks!

Chris ;)
 
OK,
This is just getting a bit confusing for me!

After I took a sample of the Festa Weat Coast IPA wort to get the SG today, I replaced the airlock, and lo and behold, 15 minutes later, activity in the airlock started again!

The OG was 1.054, and today's reading was 1.018, and it actually had a huge head on the wort as I poured it into the graduated cylinder, and tasted slightly carbonated, and still a little sweet, but that may just be the way the wort is, never had it before.

What's going on here? There is a substantial bubble in the airlock every 5 seconds or so now for the past few hours after NO activity for days now.

Could opening the fermeter have allowed oxygen in there to wake up the yeast or something like that?

I didn't stir it or disturb it at all, I just removed the air lock, took a sample with a thief, and replaced the airlock, that's it.

I'm actually discussing this on a different message board as well, it wasn't intentional actually, (sorry to be repetitive if your reading both!) but someone else is having some festa brew weirdness as well, so I'm wondering now about this brand a bit.

I'm really trying to understand this fermentation process, so any explanations would be very welcome!
Thanks!

Chris ;)

Straight from Festa Brew

OG: 1.0560 – 1.0600, FG: 1.0120 – 1.0160, Yeast: Safale US-56, Bitterness: 42 IBU, pH: 5.04, Colour: 14 SRM

Your in range of FG. Your beer is probably at its FG now you leave it for another few weeks it may hit .0160 if it stays the same in 3 days its done and that sweet taste will fade out as the yeast finishes up.

Its normal for your airlock to bubble after removing it and replacing it. Perfectly normal for any beer. For example I leave a beer for 2 weeks and then I dry hop. Now after dry hoping the air lock goes crazy for a a few hours.
 
Its normal for your airlock to bubble after removing it and replacing it. Perfectly normal for any beer. For example I leave a beer for 2 weeks and then I dry hop. Now after dry hoping the air lock goes crazy for a a few hours.

So why is that exactly?

Just trying to get a handle on what is happening and why.

Thanks!
 
Hi All,
Just a question about possible air infection or oxidation.

About a week ago, I pulled the airlock outta my carboy of Festa West Coast IPA to check the fermentation level, and I was wondering if by doing this, and letting air in, and CO2 out if this has any ill effect on the brew?

Is there a set time that I should be racking/bottling if my wort becomes exposed to the air after the seal is broken for such reasons as checking the SG?

Thanks!

Chris ;)
 
I usually let my primarys go a few weeks for ales before checking SG and then let it age in primary for a week or 2 after. Then I keg/bottle.
You should be fine as long as you don't keep messing with it.
Those Festa kits are the best kits I have ever tasted, and as long as you keep fermenting temps in check, you'll make great beer, everything else being equal.
 
Thanks booboo,

I only opened it because I was asked what the SG was as I was not sure if a proper fermentation took place or not.

It was weird, just a few bubbles, a tiny bit of krausen, then poof, done.

I'm gonna bottle it in a few days or so, and just wanted to ensure that it was OK in case I had to leave it longer.

Thanks!

Chris ;)
 

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