tinylobsta
New Member
I'm brewing my first batch of beer, and I had a couple questions!
So, it's a red ale, and it's from an extract kit. Jug of LME, some specialty steeping grains, couple oz of hops, and some dried yeast. Nothing too special/crafty!
I finished brewing it Friday night, and am fermenting it in my 5 gallon glass carboy.
I come back the next morning, and my beer has taken fire - tons of fermentation occurring, big krausen on top.
A day later - maybe later, actually; probably closer to 18 hours, the krausen is starting to subside. The airlock has completely stopped bubbling, and now about... 3 full days after I set it to ferment, the krausen is nearly gone.
By contrast, my friend's brew (we brewed in tandem on Friday) is happily fermenting away, with a huge, solid krausen, and has been steadily doing that for about 2 and a half days now.
So yesterday, being the concerned brewer I am, I took the gravity of my beer, and I believe (this was a rather wonky gravity reading, as I had an imperfect container to measure the gravity in), my brew was sitting at about 1.014-1.016, which after 3 days seems to be a decently low gravity.
My concern is that it's gonna stay there, or that my reading was poorly done, and my yeast are completely shot. I've never heard of a fermentation occurring so rapidly.
Is this because of my 5 gallon carboy? Not enough aeration beforehand? Or maybe I'm just being completely neurotic about the entire process, and my beer is fine!
Either way, def. would be curious for some opinions.
So, it's a red ale, and it's from an extract kit. Jug of LME, some specialty steeping grains, couple oz of hops, and some dried yeast. Nothing too special/crafty!
I finished brewing it Friday night, and am fermenting it in my 5 gallon glass carboy.
I come back the next morning, and my beer has taken fire - tons of fermentation occurring, big krausen on top.
A day later - maybe later, actually; probably closer to 18 hours, the krausen is starting to subside. The airlock has completely stopped bubbling, and now about... 3 full days after I set it to ferment, the krausen is nearly gone.
By contrast, my friend's brew (we brewed in tandem on Friday) is happily fermenting away, with a huge, solid krausen, and has been steadily doing that for about 2 and a half days now.
So yesterday, being the concerned brewer I am, I took the gravity of my beer, and I believe (this was a rather wonky gravity reading, as I had an imperfect container to measure the gravity in), my brew was sitting at about 1.014-1.016, which after 3 days seems to be a decently low gravity.
My concern is that it's gonna stay there, or that my reading was poorly done, and my yeast are completely shot. I've never heard of a fermentation occurring so rapidly.
Is this because of my 5 gallon carboy? Not enough aeration beforehand? Or maybe I'm just being completely neurotic about the entire process, and my beer is fine!
Either way, def. would be curious for some opinions.