Finished first brew day, but have a few questions

I just finished brewing one of the Brewer's Best PSA IPA kits. I think everything went well, but I have a few questions/concerns.

1) The instructions called for 2.5 gal of clean water in the brew pot to make the wort. I used tap water knowing that the boil would kill anything. The problem comes when I added the remaining 2.5 gal to make a 5 gal batch. After I chilled the wort and moved it to the fermenter, I added 2.5 gal as the instructions called, but I used unboiled tap water. Is there any reason to be concerned?

2) When I was chilling the wort, I had a hard time getting it down to the 70*F the instructions called for. I finally added the remaining water and pitched the yeast (Nottingham) at 79*F. Is this ok? Will it be ok if it maintains this temperature during fermentation? The instructions called for 64*-72*F during fermentation, but my house is warmer than that without turning on the A/C.

3) The instructions say within 4-6 days the bubbling will slow till there is no more CO2. From what I have read on here it seems like I need to leave it for much longer than 4-6 days. The OG was 1.060 and the instructions call for a FG of 1.012-1.016. Should I leave it in the primary for a while even after it has stabilized at the FG?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Welcome to the hobby!

First, topping up with tap water should be fine. Most municipal water is sanitized with chlorine, so there won't be any nasties for the yeast to compete with.

Second, 79F is quite warm for all but very specific yeasts. You should try to bring the temperature down to the range listed in the instructions. The easiest method would be to put your fermentor in a tub with water and put an old, wet t-shirt around it and into the water to allow the water to wick up and cool by evaporation. A fan blowing on it will do an even better job. It may not get it down to the range listed, but will bring it down. At 79F, the yeast will be producing chemicals that will affect the flavour of the beer.

You can leave the beer on the yeast for longer than six days. I leave mine on the yeast for about two weeks to let the yeast clean things up. From there, you can rack it into a carboy to let the rest of the yeast settle out for a week or just bottle straight from the fermentor. There are lots of posts on HBT about bottling, etc.

Regardless, you'll make beer and will know right away what you do and don't like about it. From there, you can work out how to avoid the things that you don't like. This forum will be of immeasurable help.

jonwest said:

I just finished brewing one of the Brewer's Best PSA IPA kits. I think everything went well, but I have a few questions/concerns.

1) I added 2.5 gal as the instructions called, but I used unboiled tap water. Is there any reason to be concerned?

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no concern at all

2) When I was chilling the wort, I had a hard time getting it down to the 70*F the instructions called for. I finally added the remaining water and pitched the yeast (Nottingham) at 79*F. Is this ok? Will it be ok if it maintains this temperature during fermentation? The instructions called for 64*-72*F during fermentation, but my house is warmer than that without turning on the A/C.

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you want to keep it under 72 . use a cool room, use the AC, use a bucket/tub with water and frozen bottles.

your pitch temp wont hurt the yeast.

3) The instructions say within 4-6 days the bubbling will slow till there is no more CO2. From what I have read on here it seems like I need to leave it for much longer than 4-6 days. The OG was 1.060 and the instructions call for a FG of 1.012-1.016. Should I leave it in the primary for a while even after it has stabilized at the FG?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

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I wouldn't even look at it for a week, then see what the first reading is.
then if its good transfer to a secondary till it clears, however long that takes.

I would agree that adding tap water straight into the fermenter at the end is probably ok; however, tap water can actually be harmful to yeast if it contains enough chlorine, and if your yeast were old that can cause things to get off to a real slow start.

I always use tap water these days for my brew, mainly because here in central Arkansas we have fine tap water, plus it's really cheap!! I always bring it to a boil first though, to remove chlorine. I don't like to use distilled water because it contains no minerals at all and yeast actually need some of those minerals to do their magic.

I have fermented some beer when the temp in my house was around 80 and I haven't had any problems. I always move my brew to a secondary after 7-10 days though.

Welcome to the hobby!!

I usually pitch Nottingham around 75-80 degrees, no problems...you'll want to keep the temperature cooler during fermentation though. I set my freezer to 67 +/- 3, fermentation usually kicks off rapidly and violently.

The tap water is fine, but it's not ideal. If you have a lot of chlorine in your tap water it can create unpleasant tastes. Get yourself a carbon filter or use Campden tablets in your water to get the chlorine out.

Like everyone else has said, try to get the temps lower. You can do a search on "swamp cooler" to get a bunch of ideas along with what was mentioned above.

As far as how long you should ferment.. that is a subject of debate as there are many ways it can be done. Some do Primary and secondary for various amounts of time, and others only do a primary and then go straight to the bottling bucket. Some people go as little as 10 days in primary and others go as long as 4 or 5 weeks. The most important thing is to make sure your FG is stable for a few days and if it already tastes good to you then bottle it.

Personal preference, I like to buy bottled spring water. I have been getting it for $0.88/gallon at Walmart which seems reasonable. You can smell the chlorine in my water and I don't like to drink it unless its filtered so that's why.

My best unnecessary purchase has been an immersion wort chiller. I bought a 50' from Grape, Grain and Bean and it cools mine in 15-20 minutes to pitching temp.

A $20 RV carbon filter and a swamp cooler (both available at Wally-World) and you're good to go. Of course, you've just embarked on an obsession that will have you buying and building all kinds of things you don't even know you need. Welcome.

Thanks for all of the quick responses. I have submerged the carboy into a tub of water. The temp has come down to 70. I'll check the temp daily and add ice packs if necessary, but I'll wait until next week to check the SG.

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but the only reason to rack to a secondary is to clarify the beer, and minimize the amount of sediment in the bottles. It doesn't have anything to do with fermentation? If so, I need to wait until the FG stabilizes to rack. Or am I wrong?

Thanks

The gang has answered all the questions, but here's a tip that might help the next brew: Throw the "top off" water in the fridge or freezer a few hours before you know you will need it. It brings down the temp of the wart very fast along with an ice bath.

jonwest said:

Thanks for all of the quick responses. I have submerged the carboy into a tub of water. The temp has come down to 70. I'll check the temp daily and add ice packs if necessary, but I'll wait until next week to check the SG.

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but the only reason to rack to a secondary is to clarify the beer, and minimize the amount of sediment in the bottles. It doesn't have anything to do with fermentation? If so, I need to wait until the FG stabilizes to rack. Or am I wrong?

Thanks

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Racking to secondary is optional for most types of beer. It was a recommended step in the past but these days many brewers have come to the conclusion that it's unnecessary and exposes your beer to risk of oxidation and contamination so a lot of home brewers now do primary only. You can clarify your beer very well without using secondary.

A tip to help you get down to a lower temp for pitching - chill some of your top up water in the fridge before hand. If you are using an ice bath for chilling your boil kettle, make sure to stir the ice water around every now and again because you'll get a blanket of warm water right next to the pot which will slow down the chilling. I too use straight tap water for topping up without any problem, my tap water is very low in chlorine. If your water is good to drink, should be good for beer.

jonwest said:

Thanks for all of the quick responses. I have submerged the carboy into a tub of water. The temp has come down to 70. I'll check the temp daily and add ice packs if necessary, but I'll wait until next week to check the SG.

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but the only reason to rack to a secondary is to clarify the beer, and minimize the amount of sediment in the bottles. It doesn't have anything to do with fermentation? If so, I need to wait until the FG stabilizes to rack. Or am I wrong?

Thanks

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That is correct. You need to get a stable FG reading for at least 3 days to be sure fermentation is over. That is the only way. You may want to let this one sit for a while on the yeast. It got a hot start, and prolly threw off some off tastes. The longer time on the yeast will help to clean up these off tastes. Yeast is cool like that. After initial fermentation is complete, the yeast are still active and will work to clean up some of these off flavors before going dormant again.

Racking to secondary is one of the most hotly debated topics on this forum. Some say it helps with clarification, some say it does not. It all comes down to personal preference, but keep in mind, if you move the beer it is another opportunity for introduction of contamination. I've tried both ways and unless I'm going to add something like fruit, oak chips or for extended aging, I will not go to secondary. Just 3-4 weeks in primary and then bottle.

Ok, it has been 3 days since I brewed this beer, and I have not seen any activity. I am wondering if I might have killed the yeast when I pitched at 79*F. The wort has been stable at 65* since I placed it in a swamp cooler. Should I just keep waiting, or should I pitch a second packet of yeast?

Jon, the yeast love 79 degrees, hell they love warmer than that. It's just that using warmer temps for fermentation causes them to work so hard they sort of sweat.. Not really, but they work harder produce more off flavors but they certainly don't die.

The reason brewers obsess with temp control is not because a few degrees high will kill yeast. They're pretty happy around 100 degrees and go nuts in that temp range but burn themselves out quickly.

A nice cool fermentation temp (wort temp, not ambient air) encourages the yeast to go about their business with slow determination, happy, relaxed and they just do their thing producing beer and CO2.

Well that makes sense. I guess I'm just getting impatient. Everything I read says that the yeast I used (Nottingham) usually reacts quickly, but mine hasn't done anything.

Thanks for the info.

jonwest said:

Well that makes sense. I guess I'm just getting impatient. Everything I read says that the yeast I used (Nottingham) usually reacts quickly, but mine hasn't done anything.

Thanks for the info.

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How do you know it hasn't done anything? Have you taken a gravity reading to see if it has been fermenting?

Well, no I have not taken a gravity reading. I made the rookie mistake of using the bubbles as indication. But, if Nottingham is an ale yeast shouldn't it ferment on top? The top of the wort is as smooth as glass not even a ripple.

I will take a gravity reading tonight and post the results.

jonwest said:

Well, no I have not taken a gravity reading. I made the rookie mistake of using the bubbles as indication. But, if Nottingham is an ale yeast shouldn't it ferment on top? The top of the wort is as smooth as glass not even a ripple.

I will take a gravity reading tonight and post the results.

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Are you 100% sure you actually added the yeast (don't ask me why I know this is possible.)

Also, did you just sprinkle the yeast on top or did you rehydrate it first?

Did you aerate the wort prior to pitching the yeast?

Kingfish said:

Are you 100% sure you actually added the yeast (don't ask me why I know this is possible.)

Also, did you just sprinkle the yeast on top or did you rehydrate it first?

Did you aerate the wort prior to pitching the yeast?

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Ha ha.. been there done that!

Aeration is not so important using Nottingham yeast. Having said that I usually aerate anyway but good to know it's not a show stopper. Here's the data sheet from Nottingham. http://www.danstaryeast.com/sites/default/files/nottingham_datasheet.pdf

I am confident that I did add the yeast. I sprinkles it on top and stirred the wort Is stirring an except able method of aerating?

Im brewing my first beer, and am using the same Brewers Best IPA kit. Its sitting in the secondary and ready for bottling this weekend.

Mine bubbled like crazy the first few days, and made lots of foam (but not a blow out). After that its just brown liquid. "They" say that bubbling does not necessarily mean fermentation, but it did build my confidence that it was moving forward making beer! I don't remember what the SG reading was when I put it into the secondary, but according to the formula it was 6.3 ABV so its beer.

Try a reading and see if there is any change? If so your good. If its still the same, I'm sure someone on here can assist. (or your local brew shop - maybe the one that sold you the kit?)

I checked the SG and no change since I pitched the yeast. Sitting at 1.060. Should I pitch more yeast?

jonwest said:

I checked the SG and no change since I pitched the yeast. Sitting at 1.060. Should I pitch more yeast?

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Yes! Pitch another pack if you have it..

If its dry take the time to rehydrate first. Check the yeast manufacturer's website for instructions

Pulling for you. Keep us updated.

We have fermentation! I pitched a second packet of Nottingham last night and this morning there was a nice laver of foam on top and the bubbler was doing its thing.

Is it possible that the yeast from the kit went bad? At the store the kits are not refrigerated, but the individual yeast packs are.

jonwest said:

Is it possible that the yeast from the kit went bad? At the store the kits are not refrigerated, but the individual yeast packs are.

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It's not impossible, but highly unlikely. Is there any chance that your wort was a lot hotter than you thought it was when you pitched the first time? Pitching in to really hot wort would kill it. It's very odd that you had no signs of fermentation after pitching the first pack. Dry yeast is usually very resilient. Perhaps the kit itself got overheated at some point?!

The wort was hot when I pitched the yeast (79F). I suppose it may have been hotter than that and my thermometer wasn't accurate. I was using a meat thermometer, cleaned and sanitized of course. Is there a better thermometer I should buy?

A lot of brewers swear by the Thermapen by ThermoWorks.

This one is by the same manufacturer but costs a lot less.

http://www.thermoworks.com/products/low_cost/rt600c.html

I love mine.

When I got home from work today there was foam coming out of the airlock. I wasn't really concerned until I heard a pop. The airlock blew off and I had a huge mess. Luckily the carboy was in a plastic tub of water to catch most of the mess.

I cleaned and sanitized the airlock and put it back in place. A few minutes later it happened again. And again ... Several times over the course of about an hour. Finally it calmed down enough the airlock has stayed in place... For now.

Questions:

1). Is this normal or the result of adding a second yeast packet?

2). Is it because I did not have enough empty space in the carboy?

3). Should I be worried about infection?

1) Yes and maybe
2) Yes depending on your version of "enough"
3) Probably not

Blow-offs are fairly common. Many of us just assume we're going to have one every time (I almost always do). That's why we rig a blow off tube instead of an airlock for the first three days or so. Do a search on blow off tubes to find a plethora of ways to rig one.