Brewers Best Irish Stout

Ok so heres the story just started my first brew ever friday =] I went with Brewers Best Irish Stout because that is my favorite type of beer ( I love me a good dark stout )....I followed every instruction to the T when i transferred my wort into the primary and added the yeast the temp was 68 degrees..... that night it started to ferment sooner than everyone told me that it would good right?....... Well i went to work Saturday and was gone most of the day when i got back home the air lock was across the room lid was popped off and krausen was all over the floor..... so i cleaned up the mess and reattached the lid and sanitized the air lock and watched as the beer continued to ferment and bubble normally..... well today there has been absolutely no bubbles in the air lock at all and i have been home to watch it... the temp is 70 degrees so i don't know what is going on with my brew......... also i checked inside and there is very little foam on top so i took a gravity reading just to see what it was and i am pretty sure it read 1.030??????? What should I do ????

I used the exact same kit for my first brew. Like you, I also experienced a stuck fermentation which ultimately led to the beer having a strong diacetyl flavor (buttery, buttered popcorn).

It sounds like your initial conditions were favorable. Well aerated wort, good temperature, etc...

The blow off was just a minor set back. I would let it sit for a week, you should see a large drop in the gravity. If you don't, go get yourself some more yeast and pitch it (I use liquid and I do not trust the packets that come with kits). If you do use dry, make sure you hydrate it first.

If I recall, this recipe has a good amount of maltodextrin in it which is a non-fermentable sugar so don't be surprised if your final gravity is in the area of 1.014.

If I could go back and do my stout over again, I would let it sit in the primary for much longer and bulk age it in the secondary for at least 3 weeks. I rushed it and there is STILL diacetyl flavored stout available in my cellar. (though it is getting significantly better with age)

oh, and stop opening the fermenter and checking it. the hardest part about home brewing is being patient, and not rushing things. Leave it alone dude!

yea im going to leave it in the primary atleast 10 days ...and i keep wanting to check it but i know better lol....i only took the lid off completely to check the gravity when the lid popped off .........any suggestions on what i should brew next cause im getting a second kit this week so i can do 2 brews at the same time

IPAs are really popular and there is a lot of hop flavor to hide any slight off flavors. I will always have a home brewed IPA in my cellar.

The beauty is it is totally up to you. Whatever you feel like making. Eventually, you are gonna want to start making your own recipes and maybe even discover the world of lagers and all-grain brewing.

http://www.howtobrew.com if you dont already have this book...GET IT...its available in its entirety at this link but i like to have a hard copy handy as a reference when I am brewing.

I read it cover to cover and learned a lot. Also, every brewer I know owns this book and its regarded as one of the best complete brewing guides for all skill levels.

LOL i actually bought that book today when I picked my gf up from work lol....she works at a book store so I had her grab some books and put them on hold for me lol

It is a really helpful book forsure

Can anyone recommend a similar recipe to the BB kit? This was my first brew as well and would like to repeat it slightly without buying the kit. It was delicious!

If you're wanting to go with another kit try Northernbrewer's Bourbon Barrel Porter. It's the bomb diggity!:rockin:

I have the exact batch stuck right now. The only difference is that I added 1/2lb of coarsely ground espresso beans at flameout.

I brew at my mom's house, live about an hour away so I left it in the primary 3 weeks to be sure it would be done fermenting by the time I went to bottle it. OG was 1.052, and after 3 weeks it was only down to 1.032. Temp was down to 62, it had been bubbling away at 65 24 hours after pitching. My guess is that the temp in the basement dropped below 60 and stalled the fermentation. Moved it up into my old bedroom (~65-67 ambient) and haven't seen it since. I would have pitched more yeast, but I didn't have any on hand and it was too late at night to buy more. I'll check on it again after about 5 weeks in the primary (about the earliest I can) and see what is going on.

EDIT: My recipe: http://hopville.com/recipe/154138/dry-stout-recipes/espresso-stout

I did the Irish Stout from Midwest as my first and it has been going well. I must say everything worked as should. It's in secondary now at 1.014ish. Every sample was awesome.

So give it a shot if you like Irish Stout. I upgraded it to WL Liquid Yeast. Stuff works........Just shake vial and pitch.