Fess up! How often do you check your fermentation?

You just brewed a batch of beer, and your are waiting for the little yeasties to do their thing. So you can be forgiven if you go check to see if fermentation has started, say several times a day.

But once fermentation has started, and their really is no reason to go check your fermentor very often, how often do you find yourself going down into the basement, or out to the garage to check anyway?

The two batches I brewed yesterday are chugging away nicely, and yet I think I have been out there 5 times today already, to check again.

Why? I dont know, but there it is.

My first batch I checked every 10 minutes it seems.

Now I go out 3 days after I pitched to make sure its fermenting and then come back in 3 weeks....

I pitch my yeast and usually just walk away for a month. I trust my yeast to do their jobs...they don't need me sticking my nose into their jobsite. I don't like it when folks stick their nose into my office without asking so why should they be any different......

I do the laundry here. I take a look at least once a day. Usually just to check the temp. A lot of times when I pitch it's late and I'm drunk. I crash out. In the morning I look and it's normally going nuts.

i go in to check the temp in the morning and the evening, since all i have for temp control is a window AC unit and swamp coolers.

beezy said:

i do the laundry here. I take a look at least once a day. Usually just to check the temp. A lot of times when i pitch it's late and i'm drunk. I crash out. In the morning i look and it's normally going nuts.

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+1

Revvy said:

I pitch my yeast and usually just walk away for a month. I trust my yeast to do their jobs...they don't need me sticking my nose into their jobsite. I don't like it when folks stick their nose into my office without asking so why should they be any different......

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Revvy, I dunno if I'd go broadcasting that you think yeast have the same level of consciousness and situational awareness as you.

I probably check once a day or so just to make sure my temps are where I want them to be. Its also enjoyable to see bubbling

I'm fermenting in a tub filled w/ water and occasionally ice blocks so I go in 2x a day to check the temp and make sure it's where I want it until the fermentation slows way down then I walk away for a month.

I check the next morning after I brew and then usaly once a day to check the temp. If the garage is getting too cold I have to move it inside. We had some warmer days in the 80s and then it got down to the 30s at night and I was getting suck back from my air lock due to the quick cooling (thought that might happen when I put it out so I put vodka in the air lock).

I pitch therefore I'm done. Like Revvy says, they don't need me lurkin' around them.

Quite a bit until it starts rocking then probably once or twice a day. It is in the garage and I am out back on the deck anyway walking the dog throughout the day so I stick my head in and see what temp the ferm-chamber is showing then stick my head in to see how it is doing.

I started my first wine only three weeks ago, started first mead and first apfelwein last night. I have my setup in the basement. So far, I check on it every morning while my coffee is brewing and as soon as I get home from work, sometimes again before bed. Weekends are a whole different story... I'm usually working on a project in the basement and its hard to walk by without stopping to check out the action.

Since I have started brewing differently, I just check to see if I have pressure building. I usually go 2-3 days and crank my pressure up until 2 weeks have passed. For ales, I then crash cool a week and transfer counter-pressure to my serving vessel (sometimes filtering in the process). Lagers, I take a little more time, but with either I have started trusting my process and just know it is working. I take a final gravity sample when my first pint is being poured. At first though, I was an airlock sniffer.

Revvy, I am with you man! I admire the yeast and take a peek now and then because I find fermentation to be such a beautiful phenomenon, but I try to let my yeast work in peace.

just got back from the garage - so cold - but the ferm freezer is a nice toasty temperature.

I check all of them twice a day - give the bigger beers( I have a chimay red clone and a cascade IIPA ) a lot of swirling to keep the yeast in suspension just to make sure the fermentation hasn't crapped out on me.

If I made something within the last 24 hours I check on it regularly to make sure that fermentation has started.

yes, I am a nervous mother when it comes to my booze....its like coddling your children only to pressurize them and drink them a glass at a time.

runningweird said:

yes, I am a nervous mother when it comes to my booze....its like coddling your children only to pressurize them and drink them a glass at a time.

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LOL! That is a great way to think about beers you brew.

3x a day. Weird habit, but I still enjoy it.

Plink...plink...plink

beezy said:

i do the laundry here. I take a look at least once a day. Usually just to check the temp. A lot of times when i pitch it's late and i'm drunk. I crash out. In the morning i look and it's normally going nuts.

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+1

For the first few days like 5 times my gf gets angry and threatens to dump the beer sometimes . It's hurts my heart.

IMO the less you expose your beer to atmosphere the less of a chance you expose your beer to something in the atmosphere that is not wanted in your beer.

Like Revvy, I really do not "check on fermentation". The only thing I do is check on pressure readings/make adjustments like Wortmonger...

I check the krausen level a couple times a day until it does down. Then I just check the temp of the fermentation chamber every 3-5 days or so.

Zamial said:

IMO the less you expose your beer to atmosphere the less of a chance you expose your beer to something in the atmosphere that is not wanted in your beer.

Like Revvy, I really do not "check on fermentation". The only thing I do is check on pressure readings/make adjustments like Wortmonger...

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Checking on your beer doesn't expose it bro. You mean to tell me my beer knows when I'm looking at it.

Since I live where its hot and I don't have a fancy fermentation fridge, I have to check constantly to make sure the temperature isn't doing something crazy. I have had too many brews get up to the 80F's when I didn't check on them for a couple days and all my ice melted or similar.

Ozzfest05 said:

Checking on your beer doesn't expose it bro. You mean to tell me my beer knows when I'm looking at it.

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I'm assuming when he says "checking on it" in this case he's referring to opening the fermenter to take a gravity sample.

I open the fermenter maybe once, after the first big ferment has slowed down, just to look and sniff and make sure nothing too bad is floating around in there.

That doesn't mean I'm not looking at the bucket. Oh no. I look at the bucket all the time. I spend a few minutes in the morning sitting in front of it just watching the airlock go.

I never open it up until I think it's ready to transfer or bottle (usually 3-4 weeks). But I do like to sneak peaks on the airlock.

lol...My fermenters are directly behind me in my computer room, on an industrial shelving unit. I walk by them and "look at them" all the time, this is not what the OP is talking about, I will guess. I have a Braggot that is in an Ale Pail for secondary and has been for a month or more; I have yet to "look inside".

I do check pressure readings a few times a day and also a quick glance at what few airlocks I have (mostly on wines) to make sure the level of vodka is still ok.

after fermantation starts I just check temp every couple of days to make sure temp is stable for the first week, then I don't bother checking for the next 2-3 weeks till its done. After you are confident with your procedures you know that baby sitting the beer does not help the yeasties doing their thing.

Depends... the arrogant bastard I brewed yesterday I've checked quite a lot. It's in the closet in my bedroom at a nice temperature and fermenting nicely. So why do I check? Because it smells of chinook hops in the closet dayum I love the smell of them, much better than simcoe imo, although they blend well.

Did a beer with wild hops recently... have checked it once (quick sniff to see what the hop aroma was like - seems pretty good so far!). I'm confident in my process so I don't hydro check usually until bottling or transferring to bright tank for conditioning.

Beer, I set and forget.
Cider every 24ish hours.

At least once a day. Day two I need to be sure it's going, day three I need to clean up the blow off and day four I need to warm it up. Not long after that fermentation is over.

i check prolly 2x a day for the first few days to make sure temps are right... i have a temperature controlled fridge, but sometimes it gets way too high and i need to tone it down a bit.

I pitch and check 7 days later, though I will come down with 24-48hrs and take a look to see if there are signs of fermentation. If its done on the first check then I just leave it and check once more on bottling day. If I do not believe its done I will check again in another 7 days, then again on bottling day.

Outside of that I just leave it alone and trust in the yeast to do what they do best; eat sugar, crap alcohol and breed.

I live in an apartment, so it's hard to hide the primary where I can't see or hear it.
When I first started out I was checking it all the darn time - and when I brewed my first HG beer it was a good thing I did because it needed a blowoff tube (caught it just as it was starting to errupt into a yeasty volcano).

These days, I cover it with a towel and only check in on it after 24 hours to make sure fermentation has started, then I don't take a gravity reading until at least week 2 - more often week 3.

The cyser I just put in today is going to get set in a closet for at least a month until I rack it to it's next vessel.

I've learned to trust the process (although my inner nerdy tendencies still get the best of me from time to time, and the sound of a bubbling airlock is oddly comforting to me)

Beezy said:

I do the laundry here. I take a look at least once a day. Usually just to check the temp. A lot of times when I pitch it's late and I'm drunk. I crash out. In the morning I look and it's normally going nuts.

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I love the honesty

every 2 days. ish. I just check to make sure it's not blowing off.

I find excuses to go into the garage to look and see whats happening. I probably checked once an hour yesterday after finishing the beer. I went fishing this morning, but first thing I did right after brushing my teeth was to run in there to see how it was doing, and of course right after getting back from fishing.

I check a couple of times a day just because I like seeing the yeasties work their magic.

My fermentation chamber is next to my beer fridge, so... you know...