Uncertainty

Well first off, hello to everyone.

I am on my second brew. I was very pleased with my first brew which was an India Pale Ale. This time around i am trying Liberty Cream Ale. It is currently in the primary fermentor, where it has been since friday around 10 pm. I am a little worried, because the fermentation isn't taking off like the IPA. It is fermenting but not at the same rate as the last one.

Is this normal or should i be worried


Cheers,

Alex

Don't worry about it. Every fermentation will be different depending on yeast, fermentable, temperature, etc. As long as you can tell fermentation is going on, you're golden. Welcome to HBT!

Thats good to hear. Another question that comes up is-

Do any problems arise if i switch to secondary fermentation before the primary is actually complete? I only ask because times when i leave unexpectedly for a couple days.

Just make sure the krausen has subsided most of if not all the way. Secondary fermenters tend to be smaller and the risk of blowing your lid goes up

Just leave it in primary, I usually leave mine for 2 weeks before I even think of looking at it. You should never be in a rush to rack, let the yeast do their thing. Fermentation should be complete before you rack it over, secondary is actually just for clearing and conditioning.

I travel a lot also.

Leaving it in the primary longer is better than racking to the secondary too soon.

The secondary is really a clearing tank after the fermentation is complete.

Your not going to lose anything by keeping it in primary for a few extra days. Honestly, don't worry about autolysis and the bit until like 4-plus weeks. If that. If you leave it in primary for an extra bit, you're only going to help it clear. RDWHAHB. You're all good. Enjoy.

Cheers,

Not sure what autolysis is, if someone coud enlighten me.

If i were to leave it the primary over my trip, it would be in there for two weeks and 3-4 days. From what i can gather this would be okay.

If it is in the primary for that amount of time, how long should i leave it in the secondary fermentor before bottling?

autolysis when yeast starts breaking down **** it shouldnt be leading to off flavors.


EDIT:****, I can't say ****. that sucks

I've racked to secondary early and the only thing I really noticed is that I got more trub on the bottom of the carboy. Not a big deal to rack early, but it really is much better to wait. I'm sure it was a brewer that coined the phrase "patience is a virtue."

There are other disadvantages to racking too early- one of the little jobs the yeasts do after they finish fermentation is to begin to clean up after themselves, eating their own waste products. If you remove the beer from the yeast cake before this product, it won't be quite as clean tasting.

Also, occasionally, if you rack too soon, you may end up with a stuck fermentation. This isn't usually a problem, but I thought I'd mention it. There aren't any disadvantages to keeping it in the primary fermenter 3 weeks or so.

After primary, you can leave it in the clearing tank as long as you want. Or you can go right to bottles if you want. There aren't any hand and fast rules on this, and it does depend on the beer itself. Some clear up pretty fast and some take a while.

I usually rack to secondary when the krausen is fallen - on average this takes atleast 5 days depending on the fermentation. If there is still krausen of the FG is above the your target I would just leave it til you get back - it will still be ok.

In seocndary I uslly lose a couple more points offf the gravity - just leave it in thre til the clearness of the beer is the way you want it. Usually I leave it about 2 weeks or so.

i just checked the fermentor, and their really isn't a head on it at all. Like is said earlier, it has been in their since friday. you can see where it has risen a little bit, about one to 1.5 inches. Is this normal or is their a problem.

Sounds normal to me! Give it a few more days and then check the gravity. Different yeasts take different amounts of time, you just need to be patient and let them do their thing.

RDWHAHB best thing to do when you are new to brewing. Wherever you carboy, bucket, <insert primary of choice> is cover it. Put a note on it that says don't open til and pick a date about 2-3 weeks from when you brewed. Then no peeking. It will be done and ready to go in that time assuming it isn't a big brew or a lager.

How sad is this, I saw the title of this thread and the first thing that came into my mind was this:

Brewing Clamper said:

How sad is this, I saw the title of this thread and the first thing that came into my mind was this:

Click to expand...

Sad indeed, nerdlinger