BFauska
Active Member
I'm new here, but I've been around plenty of forums on other topics to know that as a noob seeking help I'd better ask this right and have a basic idea of my needs before hand, so, here it goes.
I brewed 5 gallons of an Irish Ale about 9 days ago and I haven't seen any obvious signs of fermentation yet. There is a little foam on top, and tiny bubbles in the airlock, but I haven't seen one airlock jump (3 piece style.)
I did about a 4 gallon boil (liquid extract recipe) chilled to about 80f with a submersion wort chiller and then added liquid yeast (WLP004) after transfering from the brew pot to my bucket primary fermenter. I was a little concerned about the yeast when I added it because the tube said to remove it from the refridgerator about 3-6 hours before use and I only pulled it out about 2 hours prior, but I tried to get it to room temp a little quicker by holding it in my hands during most of the boil. After transfering to the bucket I snapped the lid on and installed the airlock. Our apartment can be very cold at night and while we are away at work so I decided to leave the bucket in the warmest room (living room, about 68 all day, maybe 65-63 at night) but this means it's in a less than ideal room for darkness. I didn't do an OG reading, because I've never understood their importance before researching my potentially impotent yeast. After getting the bucket sealed up and ready to go, I went to bed, and didn't really see the bucket again until about 20 hours later, from that point on, I have not noticed 1 single bubble "plop" in the airlock. In my previous 2 brews I have seen these so I expected to base the move to the secondary on the slowing of the bubbles.
Here is what I see for a course of action, I would love some input or suggestions about this process from anybody. From what I've gathered around this (and a couple other) forum I should be patient (it's been 9 days), check the gravity and compare it to the OG (in this case the closest I can do is compare it to the expected FG) and taste to see if it's fermented or not. I imagine that I could check the gravity again after 1 more day if it doesn't seem low enough yet too. If it doesn't look promising I should give the bucket a bit of a swirl to agitate the yeast and see if they want to do their job now. If after a few days I still have nothing I should add some yeast and hope for some action.
Does that sound like the right way to go? Does anybody else have some other tips I should use? If I add more yeast, what type should I use for my Irish Ale?
Hopefully my question isn't too vague for a pesky noob, I'll be glad to give any more information I can if it will help diagnose my problems.
Thanks.
I brewed 5 gallons of an Irish Ale about 9 days ago and I haven't seen any obvious signs of fermentation yet. There is a little foam on top, and tiny bubbles in the airlock, but I haven't seen one airlock jump (3 piece style.)
I did about a 4 gallon boil (liquid extract recipe) chilled to about 80f with a submersion wort chiller and then added liquid yeast (WLP004) after transfering from the brew pot to my bucket primary fermenter. I was a little concerned about the yeast when I added it because the tube said to remove it from the refridgerator about 3-6 hours before use and I only pulled it out about 2 hours prior, but I tried to get it to room temp a little quicker by holding it in my hands during most of the boil. After transfering to the bucket I snapped the lid on and installed the airlock. Our apartment can be very cold at night and while we are away at work so I decided to leave the bucket in the warmest room (living room, about 68 all day, maybe 65-63 at night) but this means it's in a less than ideal room for darkness. I didn't do an OG reading, because I've never understood their importance before researching my potentially impotent yeast. After getting the bucket sealed up and ready to go, I went to bed, and didn't really see the bucket again until about 20 hours later, from that point on, I have not noticed 1 single bubble "plop" in the airlock. In my previous 2 brews I have seen these so I expected to base the move to the secondary on the slowing of the bubbles.
Here is what I see for a course of action, I would love some input or suggestions about this process from anybody. From what I've gathered around this (and a couple other) forum I should be patient (it's been 9 days), check the gravity and compare it to the OG (in this case the closest I can do is compare it to the expected FG) and taste to see if it's fermented or not. I imagine that I could check the gravity again after 1 more day if it doesn't seem low enough yet too. If it doesn't look promising I should give the bucket a bit of a swirl to agitate the yeast and see if they want to do their job now. If after a few days I still have nothing I should add some yeast and hope for some action.
Does that sound like the right way to go? Does anybody else have some other tips I should use? If I add more yeast, what type should I use for my Irish Ale?
Hopefully my question isn't too vague for a pesky noob, I'll be glad to give any more information I can if it will help diagnose my problems.
Thanks.