Rodanrodanadana
Well-Known Member
I wanted to start with something really easy, a Festa Brew Cream Ale kit, but all I could find in town was a RJ Spagnol's Brew House Cream Ale. My first batch is mainly just to see if my cleanliness and sanitization is up to par.
The kit calls for 8 liters of water into the primary followed by the 15 liter pre-made wort. These kits come with their pH reduced by phosphoric acid, to lengthen shelflife. And you must neutralize it by adding the supplied packet of baking soda to the water, before you add the wort.
I am using a semi-transparent 35 liter plastic primary, with a pretty tight sealing lid, drilled with a hole and a plastic airlock in a bung. Pouring the wort into the water made quite a lot of foam. I sprinkled the dry yeast right onto this foam, evenly, as I did not want to leave it exposed to the air for long by waiting for the foam to subside so I could put the yeast on the liquid surface. Not sure if that was correct.
The fermentation did not really begin for about four hours afterwards, which seems slower than a wine kit. It then proceeded vigorously for about 24 hours, with many bubbles per second in the airlock. The krausen rose to about two inches from the surface. It never reached the lid. It then subsided. For about a day it was doing two bubbles per minute and now, after two days, it is about a bubble per minute or less, and the foam is completely gone.
Does this seem too quick for you guys?
The temperature is only about 20C/70F in that room. Although I do have it wrapped in a blanket against the light. The kit calls for racking into the secondary between 3 and 5 days, after the krausen has fallen. I guess I should at least leave it for the 3.
With paranoid thanks.
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Rod
The kit calls for 8 liters of water into the primary followed by the 15 liter pre-made wort. These kits come with their pH reduced by phosphoric acid, to lengthen shelflife. And you must neutralize it by adding the supplied packet of baking soda to the water, before you add the wort.
I am using a semi-transparent 35 liter plastic primary, with a pretty tight sealing lid, drilled with a hole and a plastic airlock in a bung. Pouring the wort into the water made quite a lot of foam. I sprinkled the dry yeast right onto this foam, evenly, as I did not want to leave it exposed to the air for long by waiting for the foam to subside so I could put the yeast on the liquid surface. Not sure if that was correct.
The fermentation did not really begin for about four hours afterwards, which seems slower than a wine kit. It then proceeded vigorously for about 24 hours, with many bubbles per second in the airlock. The krausen rose to about two inches from the surface. It never reached the lid. It then subsided. For about a day it was doing two bubbles per minute and now, after two days, it is about a bubble per minute or less, and the foam is completely gone.
Does this seem too quick for you guys?
The temperature is only about 20C/70F in that room. Although I do have it wrapped in a blanket against the light. The kit calls for racking into the secondary between 3 and 5 days, after the krausen has fallen. I guess I should at least leave it for the 3.
With paranoid thanks.
--
Rod