2 more newbie questions

1. I started my first batch on Saturday, an amber ale. It is fermenting now. I was reading the book I got from the homebrewing store and I noticed that it looks like I should have filled up the carboy a little higher. They say that some of the foam is supposed to come out of the tube. I had zillions of bubbles coming out for a couple of days before it slowed down, but because my beer only comes up to where the carboy first starts to curve, none of the foam came out, just bubbles. Will this have a big effect on my beer?

2. This morning I watched the fermentation lock for a few minutes and didn't see any bubbles. It looks good and smells like beer, but things seem to have really slowed down now. Is this normal?

1. No, the foam is not supposed to come out the tube. Sometimes it does, so a blowoff tube is a good idea. Your beer is fine.

2. Yes, it doesn't bubble forever.

1) They were probably referring to a 5 gallon carboy. You probably have a 6.5 gallon. Most "batches" are for 5 gallons. You wouldn't want to do that and then just add enough water to fill up your primary. I have used a 5 gallon bucket for years and the trub just sits on top and nothing "blows off". When the ferment is done the trub will settle. It is then that most of us rack to a secondary, which is usually a glass carboy. So to answer #1, your beer will be just fine.

2) Your beer is almost done fermenting, when the trub settles to the bottom, you can either rack to another carboy, or leave it. I would just leave it alone for another week to 10 days before bottling, unless you can rack to a secondary. If you can rack to a secondary, do that and leave it alone for a week to 10 days.



cheers, loop

1) I'm curious on where you read that As long as your airlock is bubbling along, there isn't a curtain amount of krausen needed for a good brew. I personally get worried when the krausen makes it into the airlock (which my last batch did, but luckily receeded shortly after).

2) Sounds normal to me. Let it sit a day more or so and transfer it to secondary if you have one. Congrats, you've made beer

LupusUmbrus said:

1) I'm curious on where you read that As long as your airlock is bubbling along, there isn't a curtain amount of krausen needed for a good brew. I personally get worried when the krausen makes it into the airlock (which my last batch did, but luckily receeded shortly after).

2) Sounds normal to me. Let it sit a day more or so and transfer it to secondary if you have one. Congrats, you've made beer

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It's the book that they put in lots of homebrewing kits, by Charlie Papazian. The book claims it is good if some of the crud from the krausen is bubbled out. I was just happy that my tube isn't all brown and yucky so it won't be too hard to clean after wards.

I don't have a second carboy yet, so I won't be racking it off.

The recipe I have calls for fermenting it for 2 weeks. Will it improve it to let it sit longer if nothing much is really happening?

Thanks everyone.

Aging can improve the beer, but doing so in the primary past 3 - 4 weeks can supposedly cause off-flavors. Since you're using just the primary, just wait for your 2+ weeks, and if all is quiet, bottle it up and let it age in the bottles.

LupusUmbrus said:

Aging can improve the beer, but doing so in the primary past 3 - 4 weeks can supposedly cause off-flavors. Since you're using just the primary, just wait for your 2+ weeks, and if all is quiet, bottle it up and let it age in the bottles.

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Ditto.

loop