fermentation question

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

BUTCH D

Member
Joined
May 6, 2007
Messages
7
Reaction score
0
(I am making an ale, we had a liquid temp of 65% when we added the yeast. We had bubbles in the the site glass after a few hours. Within 24 hours the bubbles have stopped, it seems almost completely. we are to transfer to the carboy on monday or tuesday, which would be 3-4 days. Should the bubbles have stopped so soon? Or is it still fermenting with out alot of activity?
 
Take a gravity reading today and tomorrow and if it hasn't changed, then the beer is finished fermenting.:mug:
 
It's possible that you don't have a perfect seal on the lid of your fermenter. If that's the case, the fermentation may have slowed enough to vent around the edges of the lid rather than through the air lock. RDWHAHB - your beer will be fine. Don't mess with it.

Also, if you're not taking hydrometer readings, leave it in the primary fermenter for at least a week before transferring to a carboy for clearing.
 
Thanks for the help... The schedule is to be in the primary for 3-4 days and move to the carboy for 7-10. We work for a beer distributor and are in a beginners home brew contest, sponsored by sam adams. Is it , the longer the better in primary? Whats the norm for tranferring to the carboy in days? we were planning on 3-4 days, and we do have a hydrometer.
 
The primary is generally where most, if not all, of a beer's fermentation should take place. If you have a hydrometer, you can accurately tell when the beer has nearly completed fermenting, as the gravity readings will begin changing at a much slower rate, then stop changing altogether when fermentation is complete. You should rack the beer when it's at or near the predicted final gravity.

Typically, one week in the fermenter is about average. If it's done fermenting sooner, there's no reason to wait a week before racking. If it's still fermenting after a week, leave it alone for a few more days. You can generally keep beer in the fermenter for up to a month without experiencing any ill effects.

www.howtobrew.com has a lot of good information - give it a read sometime.
 
If you don't have a spigot and have to open the lid, I'd just wait for 7 days to go by. It's more likely to be ready for racking then. You don't want to open the lid more than is really required.
 
if we had a slight boil over during cooking would this cause the yeast not to feed as long as normal? If so what would be the impact on our brew?
 
We had a slight boil over during the cooking stage. The bubbles were visible for about 24 hours then they poretty much stopped. Could this be because of the bopil over? If so, what would be the effect on the liquid, and if there is a fix, what might that be? Thanks..
 
A boil over wouldn't affect your fermenation at all.

See above for the most likely reason that you're no longer seeing bubbles in the airlock (leaky lid seal).
 
Personally I like to leave the beer for 2-3 weeks in primary. There are things the yeast do to eat up byproducts they made during initial fermentation. The more of them aorund to do this the better.

"Secondary fermentation" is really just for clarifying your beer.
 
I wouldnt worry about no airlock activity after the 24 hours of activity. For most of my brews, I usually only get about 24 hours or so of activity. Typically for me, I start getting bubbles after about 7 hours or so, then I get a nice hard fermentation (bubbles every second) for 18-24 hours, and then after that I get bubbles maybe every 2-3 minutes for a day and then it basically stops. I really dont think you have anything to worry about.
 
Back
Top