First time brewer...fermentation question

Hi, I am a first time brewer and have a question. I am brewing an ipa. I was following along two different guides, and of course the one I listened to for some reason did not mention anything about cooling the wort drastically before adding the yeast ( I'm sorry if this was stupid of me). Anyways, Iet the wort sit for 5 min and then added it to 4 gallons of colder water. Then let it sit for another 10-15 min, added the yeast, let it sit for another 10 min and then very gently stirred the yeast in for a sec or two. Then sealed the primary fermenting bucket. My question is whether u think the fermenting take place or whether I killed the yeast. There has been bubbling in the airlock over the first 2 days so far, and was gonna let it sit for another 5 days or so. Any suggestions or comments would be appreciated. Thanks!

Do you have a thermometer on your bucket? I would get one of those stick ons if you don't, very useful to know the actual fermentation temperature. Anyways, if you diluted with 4 gallons of colder water, I would bet you will be fine, it might have even been on the cool side. Also, do you have a hydrometer? A specific gravity measurement is the only real way to know that it is fermenting.

Yes I have one of those stick on thermometers. It was in the high 60s. I have the bucket sitting in my dining room, which has a thermostat in it and usually stays around 65 give or take. Also I did take a hydrometer reading after I poured the wort into the fermenting bucket with the 4 gallons of cool water. It was 1.040.

I took an hydrometer reading today And it read 1.028 so looks like there is some fermentation taking place. The bubbles in the airlock seem to have stop though. Should I shake up the bucket a little bit? To see if it reinitiate the fermentation process, because I read somewhere that that's something you can try. I am going to give it until Saturday and then I will check the hydrometer reading again

Also I read how if you taking a hydrometer reading into high temperature that it will skew the numbers some so it sounds like the original gravity would have been even higher if I would have done it in the normal 65°.

I wouldn't touch it, if the gravity has gone down, which it has, then it is fermenting. Let it ferment for about 3 weeks and then check it again. Its hard to wait that long but it will pay off. After the 3 weeks, if the gravity still hasn't dropped, then you have a problem...which I doubt is the case. Don't worry about the bubbles, they don't mean a thing other than gas is escaping. Your hydrometer is your friend in this case. I usually take an original starting gravity reading, and then take one at about 3 weeks, then I let it go another week before packaging...4 weeks total in the carboy.

redwings522 said:

Yes I have one of those stick on thermometers. It was in the high 60s. I have the bucket sitting in my dining room, which has a thermostat in it and usually stays around 65 give or take. Also I did take a hydrometer reading after I poured the wort into the fermenting bucket with the 4 gallons of cool water. It was 1.040.

Click to expand...

If the temp was in the high 60's when you pitched the yeast, then you were perfectly good. I usually try to pitch most of my ales around 65F and then let it ferment between 65-68.

Yeah I'm sure your brew is fine, but you could of done things better. Always make sure your temp is at the right pitching temp. Don't gently stir the yeast in , stir it well because you have to creat air bubbles for the yeast , I shake my bucket. And like everyone said hydrometer is what u pay attention to not bubbles in airlock. And don't shake the fermented after it's been sitting bcuz your mixing it all up and making it dirty. Hope I helped u out