Fermentation stopped after 1 day

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IwanaBrich

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I haven't brewed any beer for at least 5 years and I recently decided that I wanted to start up again. So yesterday I brewed a 5 gallon batch of Amber Ale (malt extract from a kit) and the fermentation stopped after 1 day. Could it be finished or will it start up again? Should I transfer it into my carboy now, or should I wait a couple more days?

Also, I never saw such a violent fermentation. I use a white 7.5 gallon bucket as the primary and then transfer into a 5 gallon glass carboy. This is the first time that fermentation actually got into the airlock. Usually there is enough room in the 7 1/2 gallon bucket to allow for the bubbles and suds and I didn’t need to use a blow off tube. Not only was there brown junk in the airlock, there was also some on the top (outside) of the pail. It must have come through the airlock. I cleaned off the top and quickly cleaned the airlock. Did I screw up my batch? Should I go back to using a blow off tube?
 
It is unusual that 5 gals. would ferment in 1 day, but possible. I would need more details.
What was the original gravity of the beer?
What type and how much yeast did you pitch?
What was the temp. during fermentation?
Mark.
Beer Diary...
 
It's not unusual for main fermentation to be done in one day. That does not mean that your yeast is finished with it's job. It may have a few more points to ferment down as well as clean up it's waste and clear your beer.

Leave it for a least a week to 10 days, then take an hydrometer reading. If it is at it's FG, you can rack to secondary for a couple weeks OR you can leave it in the primary for a couple more weeks before bottling.
 
Good questions!

I used the following:
1 can of Muntons Hopper Amber Malt Extract
2 lbs of Light Dried Malt Extract
1 package Muntons Ale yeast
1 package of hops pellets (HBU 13%)

The specific gravity was 1.032 which was lower than the instructions said it should be. They said it should be 1.042-1.044.

The room temperature is about 65-66 degrees.
 
I haven't brewed any beer for at least 5 years and I recently decided that I wanted to start up again. It must have come through the airlock. I cleaned off the top and quickly cleaned the airlock. Did I screw up my batch?
No, but I always use blowoff tube. It may seem to not be fermenting in a pail but most of the time it just leaks through the lid rather than push through the water. It's still fermenting! Let it finish fermenting for at least 2 to 3 weeks.

Should I go back to using a blow off tube?
It does not matter now as the vigorous fermentation is over.
 
That seems like a pretty low O.G. so I can see how it would ferment quickly. I'm still a little surprised by the volitile fermentation. In any case, you could check your gravity now and see where it's at. With a starting gravity of 1.032 I suspect that your final gravity will be down in the 1.006 range to be complete. You should leave the beer in the primary until the krauesen settles leaving the surface of the beer relatively clear (4-6 days). Then you can rack to a secondary container or as I often do, just bottle it with the appropriate amount of priming sugar.
mark
Beer Diary...
 
I suspect that your OG reading was off since you have over 5 lbs of malt in that beer. With a kit it's almost impossible for your gravity to be different than what the recipe says, however, it is VERY common to not get the wort and top off water mixed thoroughly. The wort being heavier than the water sinks to the bottom so when you take your reading it's mostly top off water giving you a low reading.
 
I guess its possible that I screwed up the measurement, but I did stir it a lot. I checked for air leaks and didn't see any, ther fermenter seems tight.

I looked at the batch this this morning and I didn't see any activity at all. I also noticed that the upside down cup inside the air lock was all the way down resting on tube insde, almost as if there was negative presure inside fermenter.
 
I thought an update was in order. Since there was no activity for over a day I decided to open the bucket and see what was going on inside. (This is why I'm not sold on plastic buckets) When I opened it up I recieved a wonderfull Hops odor and no bleachy or odd odors which I was afraid of. I then took a hydrometer reading and it was about 1.008-1.010, so I guess it's finished fermenting. I then transfered it into a carboy (my new 6 gallon better bottle). Oddly enough it started to ferment again, but by this morning it was guiet again and its already starting to settle out.

I spoke to my local HBS and he agreed with all of your comments. I think i may have caused the problem myself. The directions said to sprinkle the yeast over the wort when it reached 90 degrees. Instead I pitched the yeast for about 30 minutes in warm sterilized water and added it when the wort when it reached 90 degress. The HBS guy thought that I should have let it cool more. He thought that must have given the yeast a real head start, which explains the fast fermentation He said I was lucky, that fermenting too fast can ruin the beer.

Hopefully I dodged the bad beer bullet!

This is such a great a great web site!. Lastly I really appreciated all of your comments and suggestions!

Bob
 
Argh... I just read an article Revvy had linked in another post... along the lines of "evaluate before action"... once you've taken an action it's hard to undo it.

And never listen to your LHBS guy/girl... ask the guys/girls here.

Two days is too soon for secondary :(
 
I agree I've never done it so fast before, but the fermentation appears finished and that is what the local HBS guy told me to do. In fact it is already clearing.

What is the reason for not racking?
 
There is a lot of stuff that goes on after the bulk of fermentation stops. The yeast still have work to do cleaning up after themselves. I always let my beer wait for 3 weeks in the primary, then to the clearing tank if needed for conditioning.

Did you get consecutive SG readings before you racked? That is the only real way to know if your done.

my euro cent

Tim
 
I just made an amber ale & had similiar results, the fermentation stopped after 1 day. i pitched my yeast at 70 degrees like the directions said & the OG reading was right on as well. I guess time will tell!
 
I just made an amber ale & had similiar results, the fermentation stopped after 1 day. i pitched my yeast at 70 degrees like the directions said & the OG reading was right on as well. I guess time will tell!

How do you know fermentation stopped? Fermentation doesn't just stop....Not once in the ANCIENT thread did anyone bother to ask what the OP meant by "fermentation stopped" or if the poster mean "Airlock Stoppped Bubbling" nor did it appear that anyone even asked if the op took a CURRENT GRAVITY. But you notice that the OP opened up the bucket and found out that indeed fermentation was going fine.....And learned that an airlock is NOT a fermentation gauge.

Bubbling doesn't really mean anything other than the airlock is bubbling. And airlock is not a fermentation gauge, it's a vent to bleed off EXCESS gas, be it oxygen or EXCESS co2. It shouldn't be looked at as anything else, because an airlock can bubble or stop bubbling for whatever reasons, including a change in temperature (gas expands and contracts depending on ambient temps) changes in barometric pressure (You can have bubbling or suckback in the airlock, depending on pressure on the fermenter) whether or not a truck is going by on the street, the vacuum cleaner is running, or your dog is trying to have sex with the fermenter. Or co2 can get out around the lid of the bucket or the bung...it doesn't matter how the co2 gets out, just that it is.

And bubbles don't coordinate with anything concrete within the fermenter either, "x bubbles/y minute" does NOT TRANSLATE to any numerical change in gravity....if an instruction says do something when bubbles do something per something, throw the instructions out.

Fermentation is not always dynamic, just because you can't see what's going on, doesn't mean nothing is going on. And just because your airlock starts up, and then slows down or stops in a few days, doesn't mean fermentation is over YET, it just means the excess co2 is not coming out of the airlock...not that the yeast is done.

The only way to know how your beer is doing is to take a hydrometer reading, if you're worried. But not until 72 hours have gone by. Then if you're still concerned, take one...then you'll know.

But don't try to discern what the yeast is doing by what the airlock is or isn't doing. All it is is a cheap piece of plastic, not a calibrated gauge of anything.

So I'm going to ask you, how do you KNOW fermentation has stopped, have you taken a CURRENT GRAVITY reading? If the answer is "no" then you don't KNOW if fermentation has or hasn't stopped.
 
Ya your right, i'm just assuming it has stopped based on the lack of activity in the airlock, as you say its not a gauge. I'll just wait & take a gravity test soon!Hey you gave me a boost of confidence that i did'nt mess it up, thx
 
I haven't brewed any beer for at least 5 years and I recently decided that I wanted to start up again. So yesterday I brewed a 5 gallon batch of Amber Ale (malt extract from a kit) and the fermentation stopped after 1 day. Could it be finished or will it start up again? Should I transfer it into my carboy now, or should I wait a couple more days?

I just did an Amber Ale and noticed the exact same thing. I went ahead and left it in the carboy for a total of 2 weeks, despite the fact it looked like it only fermented for a day or 2. Just bottled them on Saturday. Despite the fact it might be mostly done fermenting you will want to leave it in there so the yeast can clean up after itself.
 
Seeing this is an old post that I came upon when searching for the same problem, the one day fermentation and no active bubbling, thought I would chime in.

I like what was said about the yeast still being active. I had assumed this was the case since my wort is still super cloudy and as with all past brews if it doesn't clear up (intentionally cloudy) it at least changes colors (SRM). I was always just going to wait anyway.

The beer just brewed was an all grain SMASH and it had an astounding 1.075 OG post boil, it was 1.05 after the mash but my hop additions and full conversion of the sugar upped the anti. So I added my mixed yeast profile as usual and the fermentation did not happen right away it took over night (due to the density?). The next day it bubbled but not as much as I would have liked and stopped after a day.... but not really stopped. It is super hot here and it is the summer so I take these factors into consideration. The worst that I have heard is that one of yeasts (a small percent) of my combo makes a bananay clove flavor when fermented above 80°, which for me is not bad at all and I had taken into consideration before pitching.

Anyway I'll let it go for a few more weeks and update then. Thinking it will turn clearer, darker and that the yeast is active just not to the eye.

Best brewing to all....
 
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