1st batch brewed...

I just closed the lid on my primary fermentor, Elbro Nerkte Brown Ale. Looks very dark. I'm really anxious to see it start to ferment, just to put my hearts at ease. Anyone else have doubt with their first brew? Currently I have the primary in my apartment, is there any concern of odor? Should I move it to the basement ASAP?

Excited and nervous...

I brew in an apartment too and have noticed no odor during fermentation (although the whole place smells like a brewery on brew day).

I was also really anxious and paranoid during my first brew so my biggest advice to you is RELAX; no matter what, it will be beer. Don't worry if fermentation doesn't start and stop exactly when the guidelines say they will, every batch does its own thing.

Just sit back, finish off your commercial beer and wait, in 6 weeks, you'll have beer.

Paranoia still gets me with every brew. But really just try to relax and have a brew.

We got fermatation...

tomek322 said:

We got fermatation...

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Break out the cigars.

Now, get crackin on your next batch.

So it was fermenting for about a day... now all bubbling had subsided. Is this cause for concern... Do I need to add yeast?

Did you measure your gravity beforehand? Would help, but if you didn't you should still measure it now, see how low it is.

One more thing, no readings of gravity... Figured with my first beer it would be just one more thing I worry about... I popped the lid off the fermentor. There was about 1/4 inch of green stuff stuck to the under side of the lid. The top of the beer had nothing on it, no foam, it was just clear.

1. They always look dark in the fermenter: the light has 5 gallons of beer to try to get through, rather than a few ounces when you pour it in a glass.

2. The question of whether to move it to the basement depends entirely on temperature. In the best of all possible worlds, your fermenting beer would be at a constant temp of about 65-67°F. If the basement is closer to those conditions, then that's the best place.

3. Very fast ferments are typical of some yeast strains (and especially at higher temps). What yeast did you use?

4. Relax. Some people share your attitude about hydrometers. For a beginner, I think they can cause less worry, since you can check and be sure that your beer really is fermented before bottling. But to each his own.

Welcome to the best hobby ever.

I used two packs of Muntons standard yeast.

tomek322 said:

I used two packs of Muntons standard yeast.

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Yeah--I'd expect the fast ferment, then.

FWIW, dry yeast packages have a very high yeast cell count, and there's really no reason to ever use 2 on a "normal" gravity beer.

Guy at my LHBS said to se two.

Were they 11 gram packages? (You probably don't know--who remembers stuff like that?)

It wouldn't hurt anything to use 2, but every dried yeast I'm familiar with comes in a size that is absolutely sufficient to ferment 5 gals of beer with one package.

No they were either 5 or 6 grams per pack.

tomek322 said:

I just closed the lid on my primary fermentor, Elbro Nerkte Brown Ale. Looks very dark. I'm really anxious to see it start to ferment, just to put my hearts at ease. Anyone else have doubt with their first brew? Currently I have the primary in my apartment, is there any concern of odor? Should I move it to the basement ASAP?

Excited and nervous...

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That's what the paramedics told me repeatedly.....I've tried everything from paper bags to hyperventilate into to thinking warm and fuzzy thoughts ("puppy dogs and butterflies, puppy dogs and butterfiles") to finally settling on 150mg of Zoloft on brewdays....

No, really....I'm much better now (twitch)

There simply was not enough beer to keep me sedate on my first two batches, the counselors said I had to "step one" it;

"admitted that we were powerless over the fermentation process and that our lives had become unmanageble"

Try it man, it really works!

Larry

tomek322 said:

No they were either 5 or 6 grams per pack.

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(in best Emily Litella voice...)

Oh.....Nevermind!

My little bit of unsolicited advice: next time, upgrade to a higher-quality dried yeast such as Safale US-05 (formerly US-56) or S-04, or Danstar (Nottingham or Windsor), or, if you're doing a style for which a standard American or English yeast isn't appropriate, try liquid.

I figure at this point, I'll just take off the blow off tube and throw the air lock on. wait until sunday and bottle. Hopefully it will taste like beer.

tomek322 said:

I figure at this point, I'll just take off the blow off tube and throw the air lock on. wait until sunday and bottle. Hopefully it will taste like beer.

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It will. But I wouldn't be in such a rush to bottle. I'd wait a minimum of two weeks from brew day. You'll get a much clearer beer in your bottles that way. I know it's hard with the first batch, but I'd try to wait 5-6 weeks from brewday before drinking them. (Sure, you'll taste a few bottles earlier, but try to wait on as many as possible--even a quick maturing beer like your modest-gravity brown ale improves a lot over the first couple months.)

Start planning your next batch (it'll take you mind off this one), stock up on you favorite commercial beers in the meantime.

Got to get to drinking more beer now... purely for the sake of producing more bottles... it's a tough job but somebody has to do it.

Out of curiosity, if taste the sample should it taste like flat beer?