first solo brewing session

i have brewed in tandem with a buddy's equipment a couple of times, but a week ago i brewed a snpa clone with my own newly aquired equipment.

i used 2 liters of lme, 4 lbs of dme and wyeast (northern brewers).

it took about 1 hour to get my wort cooled to about 77 degrees during which time i aerated like crazy in my 6 gal carboy. after this period i attatched the airlock and about 12 hours later the batch was bubbling up a storm.

my batch formed a layer of white froth about 1/2" thick during aeration and after about 9 days this layer has not dissipated and i'm getting about 1 bubble every 3 seconds.

My questions are: 1- is this froth a normal occurance. i did not notice it in my first two batches. 2- is my primary fermantation going on for too long. i have not taken any hydrometer readings (next time definitely will).

thanks for any help.

Aeration during cool down is a bad idea.

It sounds like your fermentation is going ok. Nine days is a bit long, but I've had longer. Take a SG reading and watch the process.

thanks. what could i have done to my pale ale?

Cool it down first then aerate.

thanks.

it was below 86 degrees before anything was aerated. unless aeration was occuring, the carboy was capped. the white froth developed during the aeration time and has not increased or diminished since the outset.

the yeast was pitched when the wort reached 77 degrees.

The temp during the primary has been betwix 65 & 74 degrees thanks to the recent cold front and my a/c.

77 is pretty warm, buddy. You might want to drop that temp.

I use a tub of water with my fermenter in it, and drop frozen 1-gallon water bottles in it. ScottT uses the same system, I have learned. Get it below 70 for best results.

David, what is wrong with aerating during cool-down?

I'm glad the issue of aeration during cool down of the wort is being brought up.

Some people say to do it, stores sell aeration kits, etc. And yet some insist that aerating the wort (which is highly susceptable to wild yeast/bacteria infestation) at this stage is a bad idea.

Makes sense to me you wouldn't want to introduce air to a wort just waiting to grow bacteria or provide a home for a wild yeast....

But then, when should you aerate? Doesn't aeration also insure a healthy fermentation?

Yes, you do want to aeriate your wort after it cools down and before you pitch the yeast. The yeast need the O2 to reproduce, without it, you won't have a good fermentation.

The problem with aeriating while hot is something called "hot side aeration" This will cause staleing of your beer later. If you want to know more, do a google search on it.

Look, folks, there's an easy solution to your fear of wild yeast in the air.

It's called air sanitizer. Like Oust. It kills like 99% of those microbastards in the air. I call it a safety measure. Aerate all you like, your yeast needs it.

Cool your wort a little more before aerating. Personally I don't think you did any real damage. Some yeasts just take a little more time to finish out.....don't sweat it.

77F isn't too warm to pitch, unless the specs on your yeast strain say it is. If it's a typical ale strain, most likely it's good to go at anything 80F and below.

What yeast are you using, and what's the temp in the room you're fermenting in? Those two factors, above all others, will give you a clue as to how long you can expect fermentation to last.

the temp in the room (closet) is the coldest in the house. it gets down around 68 at night (62 on the first couple thanks to that cold front) and goes up around 72-75 during the days. temp-wise, the first two batches i was invovled with making at my buddy's house fermented at a consistant 78 and we had good end results, so i thought the temp's i have in my house were more favorable. the fluxuation may be a problem but, it is what it is.

i think the yeast i used was liquid wyeast- northern brewer, however, i threw away the packaging and my recipe just says "ale yeast".

anyway, thanks a lot for all the input and i'll post how it goes in the not so distant future.

well, everything is great. the brew was only in bottles for about 5 days but, couldn't resist it, i had to try one. lightly carbonated but, more than i thought there would be at this point in the wait. no weired tastes. one thing i think i did out of wack was to boil up my dry hop pack and strianed it into the secondary so, all i really dry hopped with was kind of a hop broth. consequently, the brew is probably lighter in the hop dept. than it could have been.

thanks again for all the input.