Patience: Seeking Advice

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Batona

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Saturday evening I brewed my first batch. It is Palmer's Cincinnati Pale Ale. Things went well. I have checked the airlock consistently and have not seen bubbling. It's been more than three days now and I am a bit concerned.

But, the level of the vodka in the chamber has risen. As a matter of fact, yesterday, some vodka ended up on the lid of the fermenter. I suspect it had been forced out through the top of the airlock. Yet, I have not seen any bubbles.

I rehydrated the yeast before pitching. I did not have a thermometer, but believe it was not too hot. I baked bread and make pizza dough and have a pretty good handle on water temperature for yeast.

The wort was cool to the touch before it was added to the fermenter. The only thing I can think of is that when I topped off, I did not mix it in as well as I may have.

Anyhow, despite the lack of seeing bubbling, is it possible there is actually fermentation taking place? I am willing to pitch another yeast pack, but that requires me to get some from the not-soLHBS.

I know everyone preaches patience. Now more than three days in I am trying to have some but want to make certain I am not ruining my beer too.

Thanks for the help.
 
What type of vessel are you fermenting in? If it's a carboy or bucket you should be able to see a krausen on top of the beer (if it is fermenting). Sometimes the lid on the bucket isn't sealed properly and your Co2 escapes there rather than your airlock--not a bad thing, you just don't get the cool airlock action.

Since you said this is your first batch, the krausen is a thick band of foam that sits on the wort during fermentation and then falls back into your beer. If you can imagine a "head" on your wort then you'll have a good idea.

Hope it works out for ya. :mug:
 
I am using a fermenting bucket stored in my basement. It has been cool down there. The lid is on very securely. Is it okay to remove the lid to view the krausen?
 
I've done it, just be careful.

Do you have a thermometer strip on the fermentor? If not I would highly recommend getting one (they're only a couple dollars). Maintaining tempurature is one of the most important aspects of fermentation, I keep a thermometer next to the fermentor to better gauge ambient temps. and help make "corrections" to bring my carboy temps in line (corrections include adjusting my home HVAC).
 
No thermometer. My "gut" feeling is that everything is okay, but I never saw bubbles. At worse, I suppose it's a bad batch.
 
If you have any type of device to measure the temps. in your basement, place it by your carboy. This will give you a good indication of what you're dealing with. The cooler temps. are not as bad as the higher ones, and this could be responsible for your slow start.

Don't give up hope just yet. :mug:
 
I have had a very similar experience in the past where I could have swore that my lid was on tight but no bubbling in the air lock. I even checked it and double checked it to make sure I wasn't going nuts but it was on good but it must not have sealed....the beer fermented fine even with my worrying.
 
I do have a hydrometer, but no thermometer. Does everyone think it's okay to pop the lid and take a reading? If so, I will do that tonight when I get home. I have been hesitant to open the bucket's lid and I can see nothing in the grommeted hole when I pulled the airlock.
 
Sure, if it's sanitized it'll be ok, You can use a sanitized turkey baster to pull out your sample.

You may see a ring of crud just above the beer. If you do- sucess! That would be the remnants of the krausen. Temperature is very important- if your basement is say, 60 degrees, it might be too cool to enable fermentation to really start especially if it's on a cement floor. I'd suggest buying a cheap room thermometer at the hardware store to check the temperature of the room. (Too high temperatures are worse, though!)
 
Basement is cool and the AC was on over the weekend. The bucket is sitting on a concrete floor. So, the cooler temp may be delaying/slowing the fermentation? That makes sense. It should all work out in the end, correct?
 
It will likely be fine...in all honestly, it is harder to mess up a batch of beer than some would have you believe. However, I would get it off the basement floor. Put it on a shelf, or a towel or (like I do) an old piece of carpet. Then, go to Wal Mart and get a thermometer. You can get one for only a few bucks. Sit it next to your fermenter, on the carpet or shelf or whatever, and monitor the temp. 60ish is too low, but it will still ferment. Most yeasts prefer 65-70ish. Also, it is fine to open the lid and check for krausen. I wouldnt leave it open for any length of time, but you can open it, look, and seal it back up no problem...I would bet you will see some krausen or the remnants of.

And you are correct, everything will work itself out.
 
I second the recommendation for a stick on thermometer. You can find them at the pet shop in temp ranges that are fine for ales. Mine is 62-80F. They're under 2 bucks. My guess is that the CO2 is finding its way out under the lid just enough to keep the airlock from moving. If the basement floor is around 60dF, you've probably got a real slow but steady ferment. This is better than the violent hot ferment most new brewers have. Put it up on a milk crate or something to get it off the cold slab.
 
I might even take a flashlight and look through that little hole where the stopper goes to see if the krausen has formed or there is that ring above the beer on the bucket like Yooper Chick says. I made only my second batch on Sat. and have not seen the airlock on my plastic bucket bubble a bit. I made a yeast starter from a liquid vial of London Ale yeast and everything. I looked through the hole and after 24 hrs. there is a fine krausen layer there and everything looks textbook. I know that lid is on tight, my room thermometer next to the fermenter is right at 68F. The aquarium thermometer I do not think works well on a plastic bucket (someone correct me if I'm wrong) but a temp reading of the beer with a probe thermometer was 68F. This set of circumstances is way different than my first batch which I used a rehydrated packet of yeast. That started bubbling like crazy after nine hours, but finished in about 36 hours. I thought that beer was ruined but my first bottle that I tasted only four days after sealing was terrific! (A brown Porter).

From all that I have read it seems that fermentation can be quick, violent, and short or long and calm. There are so many variables that it seems like predicting the weather. But, though I am certainly no expert, I agreed with using the sanitized turkey baster and taking gravity readings.

I think you will be fine an much happier than you realize after tasting that first beer of your own!
 
Batona said:
Anyhow, despite the lack of seeing bubbling, is it possible there is actually fermentation taking place? I am willing to pitch another yeast pack, but that requires me to get some from the not-soLHBS.

I know everyone preaches patience. Now more than three days in I am trying to have some but want to make certain I am not ruining my beer too.

Thanks for the help.

It is most likely fermenting. I have a Hefe and a Wit side by side in buckets that I brewed on Sunday. The Wit is bubbling away and the hefe wasn't doing anything. I popped the lid open real quick for a peek and it's krausen city in there. It's fermenting, but I must not have gotten the lid sealed all the way, so I carefully pushed down the lid on all sides, replaced the airlock with a new, sanitized one and voila - instant bubblage.
 
Good news! I just arrived home from work and found the pale ale happily bubbling along. :)

I set up a table in the basement and got the bucket off the cement. I suspect that the cooler temperatures in our basement slowed the fermentation.

I will look for thermometers so I can better monitor the process in the future.
 
Good for you! There's nothing more exciting than finding that airlock merrily bubbling. When I brewed my first beer, we were having a bit of a cold spell. I placed my carboy down in the basement because I knew the temps would be coming way up in the coming week and I didn't want to expose the yeast to any crazy temperature fluctuations. It was no more than 61 degrees for the first week or two in my basement. Now, it's gradually climbed up to 66. The guy at the brew shop said it would be fine, it would just ferment at a slower rate than usual. I've heard that it's better to keep the beer in an environment where the temp is steady, even if it is a bit cooler. :)
 
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