I keep seeing a lot of the same questions popping up and everyone always has such great answers that I figured a FAQ thread might be a really good idea. We could all chime in with questions we have seen and there answers and make a consolidated place for the new comer to get some really helpful info. I will start feel free to chime in.
"It has been 24 hours since I pitched the yeast and there have been no signs of fermentation as the air lock is not bubbling. what now???"
The obvious answer is weight. it can take as much as 72 hours for the airlock to start bubbling, but also more important than the airlock activity, has it clouded??? Remember that in the first few days after you pitch the yeast (up to 72 hours) bubbles are not the best indicator of an active fermentation. The liquid clouding up is a far better indicator of activity. The reason for this is you will not see bubbles until the liquid has become co2 saturated. Perfect example I pitched part of a wild yeast and apple juice starter in a gallon of cider. The starter was bubbling away and you would think that the already active yeast would immediately create bubbles in the cider. however because there is a full gallon of cider just weighting to absorb CO2, at two days later there were still no bubbles, however the cider had clouded so I knew the starter was growing then visible bubbles started on the third day.
I think some times people have the idea that each bubble is created by one yeast, (not to be crude but kind of a yeast fart) but yeast are so small and the amount of co2 that each one is excreting is so minimal that one little bubble is the product of 1000s of yeast. When you are dealing with such small quantities of CO2 it easily dissolves directly in to the liquid until saturation is reached, THEN bubbles start to form.
"What will my AVB be with this recipy
First and for most "get a hydrometer and learn to use it" they are only about $10.00 however knowing how figure the approximate final ABV is also a good skill to have especially since hydrometer readings can be thrown off by other solids in the mix.
Definitions:
ABV Alcohol by volume this is the % of alcohol that a person end up with assuming all the original sugars are fermented out
PA potential alcohol this is the level of sugar in the mix prior to fermentation
OG or SG original gravity or specific gravity. (measured with a hydrometer)
FG final gravity (measured with a hydrometer)
If am approximating it I like to think of things in terms of PA the reason being is it makes things simple. I can then use a chart or my hydrometer to translate PA in to SG after the fact
conversion:
one pound of sugar per gallon is good for about 5% PA. I realize some things like honey take a little more and some sugars take a little less but for the purpose of approximating 1 pound to 5% per gallon is a good rule of thumb
All store bought juices and concentrates are required to have the sugar content on the label and that number is in grams so we need to know the number of grams in 1 pound 453.59237 Since we are approximating I make the math simple and round down to 450.
some recipes are in cups rather than pounds. 1 pound of sugar is on average about 2 cups.
The last thing you need to know is natural sugars if using fresh fruit or juice where you are unsure of the exact grams of sugar you will need to guess. With the exception of grape juice which has tones of sugar most juices (or 3 lbs of fruit to on gallon of water) will result in 180 to 450 grams of sugar with most of them being in the 200-300 range.
Math:
3 cans of apple concentrate 180g sugar each in 1 gallon, what is my PA OG and probable ABV assuming all the sugar ferments out.
180 *3 = 540g
540/450 = 1.2lbs of sugar
1.2 * 5 = 6% PA when you look at a conversion chart that will be an SG of 1.042
"It has been 24 hours since I pitched the yeast and there have been no signs of fermentation as the air lock is not bubbling. what now???"
The obvious answer is weight. it can take as much as 72 hours for the airlock to start bubbling, but also more important than the airlock activity, has it clouded??? Remember that in the first few days after you pitch the yeast (up to 72 hours) bubbles are not the best indicator of an active fermentation. The liquid clouding up is a far better indicator of activity. The reason for this is you will not see bubbles until the liquid has become co2 saturated. Perfect example I pitched part of a wild yeast and apple juice starter in a gallon of cider. The starter was bubbling away and you would think that the already active yeast would immediately create bubbles in the cider. however because there is a full gallon of cider just weighting to absorb CO2, at two days later there were still no bubbles, however the cider had clouded so I knew the starter was growing then visible bubbles started on the third day.
I think some times people have the idea that each bubble is created by one yeast, (not to be crude but kind of a yeast fart) but yeast are so small and the amount of co2 that each one is excreting is so minimal that one little bubble is the product of 1000s of yeast. When you are dealing with such small quantities of CO2 it easily dissolves directly in to the liquid until saturation is reached, THEN bubbles start to form.
"What will my AVB be with this recipy
First and for most "get a hydrometer and learn to use it" they are only about $10.00 however knowing how figure the approximate final ABV is also a good skill to have especially since hydrometer readings can be thrown off by other solids in the mix.
Definitions:
ABV Alcohol by volume this is the % of alcohol that a person end up with assuming all the original sugars are fermented out
PA potential alcohol this is the level of sugar in the mix prior to fermentation
OG or SG original gravity or specific gravity. (measured with a hydrometer)
FG final gravity (measured with a hydrometer)
If am approximating it I like to think of things in terms of PA the reason being is it makes things simple. I can then use a chart or my hydrometer to translate PA in to SG after the fact
conversion:
one pound of sugar per gallon is good for about 5% PA. I realize some things like honey take a little more and some sugars take a little less but for the purpose of approximating 1 pound to 5% per gallon is a good rule of thumb
All store bought juices and concentrates are required to have the sugar content on the label and that number is in grams so we need to know the number of grams in 1 pound 453.59237 Since we are approximating I make the math simple and round down to 450.
some recipes are in cups rather than pounds. 1 pound of sugar is on average about 2 cups.
The last thing you need to know is natural sugars if using fresh fruit or juice where you are unsure of the exact grams of sugar you will need to guess. With the exception of grape juice which has tones of sugar most juices (or 3 lbs of fruit to on gallon of water) will result in 180 to 450 grams of sugar with most of them being in the 200-300 range.
Math:
3 cans of apple concentrate 180g sugar each in 1 gallon, what is my PA OG and probable ABV assuming all the sugar ferments out.
180 *3 = 540g
540/450 = 1.2lbs of sugar
1.2 * 5 = 6% PA when you look at a conversion chart that will be an SG of 1.042