First Batch! Some minor problems, questions..

Hi this is my first post here, looks like a great place.

I brewed my first batch two days ago.

Bellingham Red Ale:

So everything went according to plans except I couldn't break the smackpack and ended up just pouring the yeast and starter pack in about 1 minute apart.

12 Hours later I had a lot of activity in the airlock and now about 36 hours later there is still a lot of activity and there is a large foamy head in the fermenter with a darker ring above it.

A few questions:

I don't know if my sanitizer was strong enough. How dark should the water be after adding the iodaphore? I had a very light brown color going. Should it have been darker? Also, it said to leave the equipment in the solution for 2 minutes. Could I have left it much longer? I took it out after 2 minutes and let it air dry. This seems to open it up to contamination, is this ok?

Did not breaking the smack pack screw me up?

When should I move to my secondary glass carboy?

Any help would be appreciated! Thanks!

Man them smackpacks give everyone trouble, you really gotta give it to them to get them to bust it seems. I think you will want to make sure you do break the smack pack next time, a long time in advanced, possibly the night before. But if you were getting activity 12 hours later then I think you don't have much to worry about. I have read people getting really short lag time but that is usually when they use a starter.

Do you know exactly how much water and how much iodaphore you used? I have never used it but I know it doesn't take much iodaphore for a 5 gallon bucket of water. If you followed the instructions then I am sure you are fine. Maybe some of the other guys can give more of an idea of how dark it should be. Sounds like you should have good results though. Good luck with it and tell us how it comes out.

Oh yeah, WELCOME to the forums, I think you will find this place real cosey, I know I have.

Measure out a gallon of water. Measure out a 1/4 teaspoon of Iodophor. Mix. That equals a no rinse solution. Should have a slight brownish tint to it.



No need to air dry, that little bit of solution isn't going to hurt your beer.

Welcome to the forum! Are you a Tool fan?

If you're getting airlock action, then no, your yeast is fine. It might have taken off a little sooner if you'd "activated" it properly, but no harm done.

You can rack to secondary once your airlock activity really slows (like 1 bubble every 8-10 sec), or even stops. Usually between 5-7 days from the time fermentation began. There's no hard/fast rules for racking, though.

Thanks for the advice! I just racked over to my secondary glass carboy. A few questions and concerns now:

The beer looks kind of merky and super dark, is this normal at this point?

Should I have tried to move any of the froathy yeast over to the secondary? Now I am left with just liquid and some sediment on the bottom. Will the yeast that is in the beer continue to ferment and should I continue to see airlock activity? If so, after how long?

The left over yeast and gunk in my primary smells really strong, kind of a super bitter fruity unpleasent smell, the beer in the secondary doesn't smell as bad but smells super hoppy maybe slightly fruity, is this bad?

Thanks for any help again, it helped a lot last time!

PS: Yes I am a tool fan! I assume you are too?

I wanted to add also that I don't have very much volume in the secondary, should I have filled it to the curve with boiled water? I'm not sure why my volume is so low, I boiled 5 gallons.

splatteralus said:

Thanks for the advice! I just racked over to my secondary glass carboy. A few questions and concerns now:

The beer looks kind of merky and super dark, is this normal at this point?

Should I have tried to move any of the froathy yeast over to the secondary? Now I am left with just liquid and some sediment on the bottom. Will the yeast that is in the beer continue to ferment and should I continue to see airlock activity? If so, after how long?

The left over yeast and gunk in my primary smells really strong, kind of a super bitter fruity unpleasent smell, the beer in the secondary doesn't smell as bad but smells super hoppy maybe slightly fruity, is this bad?

Thanks for any help again, it helped a lot last time!

PS: Yes I am a tool fan! I assume you are too?

Click to expand...

No to moving yeast from primary to secondary. There is a boatload floating about in the brew (suspended) that makes everything just fine for ya. Maybe you'll get airlock activity on secondary, maybe not. I typically check the gravity at rack time; gives you a hint where your at & I'm usually < 95% there after racking. Your stilll 100% fine. If you rack too soon it'll keep fermenting, else it's still fermenting and your still fine

yeast smells funky; again I'm 99.9% sure your ok.

I have no comment on Tool