something is wrong with my beer

hi all ...........again

my first all grain has ben in the fermentor for about 40 hours now after 20 the krausen had formed but i did not notice any bubbling in the airlock although the was some pressure in there

i had a look this morning and the krausen as fallen but it has a very strong smell a bit like cheap red wine also the airlock shows thete is no pressure in the fermentor

has something gone wrong?

Have you taken a hydrometer reading?

It is possible you do not have a seal and the CO2 is escaping another way, instead of through the airlock. It is also not unheard of for the bulk of fermentation to take place within 48 hours. What kind of yeast did you use and what kind of temperature is it where you keep your fermenter?

Don't worry about the smell at this stage.

Dumb question- you do have liquid (water or vodka) in the airlock, don't you?

Not so dum question- is it a carboy or a bucket? If it's a bucket, you might not have a good seal and the CO2 may be escaping that way. Just push down on the sides a bit and see if that helps. Maybe even run some plastic packing tape around the sides as a temporary "fix"

hi thanks

its in a foodgrade bucket with snap on lid
the temp is 23C i think thats about 73F
the yeast was safale S 04
the airlock has water in it

i will check the lid is snapped down but im pretty sure its ok i will take a reading later it was 1050 when it went in

Ok. Don't listen to this because I haven't brewed before. I've only read maybe a thousand pages on the subject. But I would tend to wait a while longer before taking a gravity reading. Seems to me that most problems are self-induced by over-attentive brewers. If you've got some pressure in the fermenter, then it's gotta be escaping from somewhere and you should be fine. But every time you open that bucket, you're adding in fresh air. Give it at least a few more days before taking a gravity reading. If your beer is ruined, then it's ruined and a couple of days won't matter. If it's still good, you'll be making it worse every time you open the lid. I think it's a no-lose proposition to err on the side of patience.

Is it a 5gallon batch in a 5 gallon bucket? Maybe, if anything, just try a new airlock. Maybe it's gotten plugged a bit from the kreusen.

I'd take the gravity reading ASAP, that way you'll know if it's finished. If the krausen has fallen then there's a good chance it has. If it's not then you can try to give it a stir to reawaken. Some time racking to secondary will set it off again or you may need to re pitch.

I reckon it's done, the CO2 went past the airlock and it'll turn outfine!

orfy said:

I'd take the gravity reading ASAP, that way you'll know if it's finished. If the krausen has fallen then there's a good chance it has. If it's not then you can try to give it a stir to reawaken. Some time racking to secondary will set it off again or you may need to re pitch.

I reckon it's done, the CO2 went past the airlock and it'll turn outfine!

Click to expand...

Don't take this as disagreement, but rather, more of a question...

Odds are you are correct that the fermentation is pretty much done. But it's only been 2 days. From what I've read, normally, you can let the brew sit in the primary for a week or two without noticing any off flavors. And normally, if you're going to go with the gravity method, looking for two days without a change in gravity. So what's the harm in waiting for day 5 before starting to check the gravity? Couldn't it only help?

Or is there some risk here that I'm not understanding?

Well, I'd take a s.g. ASAP. The main reason is to make sure that there's been fermentation (that is the question here). If there is no doubt that it's fermented, I'd say leave it alone. But since that's the question, the only way to know is to take a s.g. reading.

So, I'd take the s.g. and if the beer has fermented, I'd leave alone another 5 days or so. Then move to secondary. If it hasn't fermented, and the s.g. is still high I'd repitch. The reason is to protect the beer- if you have a stuck fermentation, and the yeast is not working, a week is too long to let it sit. You'd have a risk of contamination. Alcohol helps to protect the beer, but if the beer doesn't have much alcohol in it, you need to restart the fermentation.

So, I'd take a s.g. today and go from there. I would NOT keep opening the beer and taking the s.g. repeatedly, but there are times it needs to be checked.

Lorena

Doesn't the krausen tell you that it's fermenting?

Since this is his first all grain batch, I assume that means he has extract experience and that ought to mean that he knows what a krausen is supposed to look like (which puts him ahead of me... but I'm just trying to learn here... but anyway...). So if the krausen looks good, what else could it be besides fermentation?

Doesn't the krausen tell you that it's fermenting?

Click to expand...

That is the unvarnished truth, as a krausen is nothing more than a big head. Which means the lack of airlock action has to be a sealing problem OR the ferment is just really slow OR it was really fast and it's done. A gravity is the only thing that will settle the question.

david_42 said:

That is the unvarnished truth, as a krausen is nothing more than a big head. Which means the lack of airlock action has to be a sealing problem OR the ferment is just really slow OR it was really fast and it's done. A gravity is the only thing that will settle the question.

Click to expand...

I swear I'm not trying to argue that I'm right.. I'm just trying to learn by asking a bunch of annoying questions...

If you check the s.g. after 48 hours and it's in the right range for bottling or moving to a secondary, you wouldn't go there immediately, you'd just wait another day or two to let it finish while taking gravity readings, "letting it ride", until it's not going any lower.

If it's not in the right range for transferring, but close, you let it stay there for awhile longer and keep taking grav readings.

If it's still quite high, then you have to keep taking readings to determine whether it's stuck or just going slow.



So any way it goes, now's the time to start taking gravity readings because, since we already have krausen, so it must almost be time to do something, whatever that may be.

Is that a correct assessment?



Regardless, it seems to me that when you take the gravity reading, it *would* be a good time to check/change/clean the airlock just in case it's fouled up. And if you have to remove the lid in order to get the brew out for testing, then you might as well try swapping lids too (after sanitizing it, of course) as long as it's already off...

Most of my ferments are done in a day or so. The reason I leave it in the fermenter is to allow all the trub to settle and to make sure the yeasty beasties are finished feedin'

I moved my last AG over in 4 days because it had gone fro 1045 to 1010 in less than 48hrs:rockin: and it looked quite clear.

It's good practice to leave in the primary for 5 to 7 days.
But the only way you'll know if your wasting time is to measure the Gravity!!!!

Don't worry too much about sanitizing. There'll be a blanket of CO2 over the beer. Just make sure your syphon/baster is spotless, Take a sample, place the lid back on.

Take the reading and drink the sample, don't put it back in the brew. It'll give you an insight to how it's going to taste. If you are down close to target id not worry about waiting for it to be stable for 2 days. Tthe gravity will probably drop another point or to when you move it to secondry because the residual yeast will be waken, given afresh shot of oxygen and chomp a bit more food.

The smell you had was problaby CO2.

I'd rather waste time than waste beer.

But I think I see the light now. Krausen has taken place and it must, therefore, almost be time to do something, so check the gravity.

hi all i will take a reading this evening as i have to go out to get more sanitier
i think the lack of airlock bubbles may be due to the airlock grommet not seating correctly so the gas was escaping there instead

i think that like some people have said it has done fermenting the last kit i did took 5 days for the krausen to fall i just didnt expect it to be done so soon

i will leave it for 4 more days before moving to the second tank

Those dang plastic buckets are hard to seal. Your problem is a leaky top.

At 23c, S-04 yeast is a fast worker. Leave it for the week before bothering to do anything.