Fermentation problems??

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

reno56k

Active Member
Joined
Nov 10, 2010
Messages
29
Reaction score
0
Location
Stuyvesant
Hi there,
I'm working on my 3rd batch of brew. This time around I am doing a pumpkin ale. It is a half batch. I halved everything including the yeast.
Here is the problem. The first day there was no bubbles, the 2nd day the bubbles were large. The 3rd day and so on there are no bubbles.
I used half a vile of the white labs liquid yeast.

I'm not sure what is the problem is. Can anyone advise?
 
Have you taken a gravity reading to see what is going on? Just because there are no bubbles dosn't mean that it is not fermenting
 
Before I added the yeast my OG was at 1.042. It is supposed to be in the primary for 10 days. Then change to a secondary.
 
It doesn't matter how long your recipe says to keep it in primary. You keep it in primary until your gravity readings remain constant over a couple of days at least or you gain enough experience to know it's done. Do some searches and read up on using your hydrometer. It's probably a good idea to read about using a primary and secondary or just using a primary fermenter only.
Halfing a vial of yeast is not a great idea. you have underpitched, but I'm sure you'll be ok. You should've pitched the whole vial if you were not going to make a starter. Do some searches and read up on pitching rates. i'll throw out the obligatory www.mrmalty.com as well for your pitching rate education.
 
ok so I have something to report finally.

My OG reading was 1.042. I just racked into a secondary and my OG reading was 1.010. I'm not sure if that is good or not. This is my first batch where I did a secondary.
 
I'm fairly certain you mean 1.010. It's done. Let it clarify some more and then bottle.

And read up on why most of us don't do secondaries.
 
Back
Top