Check On My Brew

Ok, so with my 2nd batch I had to take a different route since my carboy was junked up with OxyClean in it. I am fermenting in my bucket that I used for secondary last time. Since I have the lid on, I can see if everything is going alright as far as possible infection, etc.

Is it ok for me to remove the lid to just take a quick peek? On Saturday it will have been fermenting for 2 weeks. I planned to let it sit for another week or 2 before bottling.

I have almost the exact same question except my 1st batch has been in the primary only since Saturday - when should I take a gravity reading. I started out at 1.050 - is it ok to take a gravity reading now to see how it's doing or should i just wait?

DON'T TOUCH IT!!!! It's fine. Leave it alone. You run the risk of infection if you take the lid off. Leave it another week, take a hydro reading and bottle. Patience my son

WSURaider41 said:

Is it ok for me to remove the lid to just take a quick peek? On Saturday it will have been fermenting for 2 weeks. I planned to let it sit for another week or 2 before bottling.

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If you do, you increase the risk of infection, but since it has been fermenting for 2 weeks, the chance is pretty low. Wipe the bucket and lid good with some sanitizer and be fairly quick with the inspection and you will be fine.

noddin said:

I have almost the exact same question except my 1st batch has been in the primary only since Saturday - when should I take a gravity reading. I started out at 1.050 - is it ok to take a gravity reading now to see how it's doing or should i just wait?

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For you, I say wait. 3 days in primary is no time to worry with gravity. Once the airlock quits rapid bubbling then you can start to wonder. At 3 days you should be seeing good activity in the airlock and you know things are going okay. Hardest part of brewing is waiting.

A quick peek after two weeks runs a minimal risk of oxidation, as long as you're not stirring things around or anything. After two weeks, the oxygen at the top of the bucket will be replaced with CO2, which will give you a nice buffer from the air outside the bucket. Infection is still a risk, but a minor one, I'd wager. Most of your fermentation should have finished up by now, and most bugs don't care for alcohol. That's what makes yeast magic and special.

As to Noddin's question, I'd wait a while. There's a really good chance that your gravity has changed in the 4 days since Saturday. There's also a near-enough 100% chance that your beer isn't done yet. I personally never bother to check my gravity until 2 weeks have passed. And a lot of the old-timers here don't bother to check their gravity until bottling day... but they tend to do 3-4 week primaries and have their process down to an art. I'm not yet so comfortable, so I usually check at 14 days and 21 days before deciding when to keg/bottle.

thanks for the advice guys - much appreciated.

LOL a quick peek isn't ever gonna hurt anything, but REALLY, everything will be fine.

I take a spray bottle of StarSan mix and mist the whole area and top of my carboy and the stopper and my hands (after washing them too) and the wine thief ect before I take anything off and check anything inside. A nice recent layer of starsan makes me feel slightly more comfortable if I need to get in there and do anything.

Thanks guys. I think I'm just going to let it sit and hope for the best. This is my first attempt at a longer primary and no secondary so I'm looking forward to seeing how this turns out. I also used a blowoff tube instead of an airlock. It has been quite fantastic. I keep getting a single bubble occasionally.

No Peeking!! As long as I know it had active fermentation for the first few days I just let it sit in primary for 3-4 weeks then take a gravity reading right before bottling to calculate alcohol content.