Fermentation/dark in the carboy!

Thanks for the good information. I have a batch of American Wheat that has not started yet (24 hours). I used a Wyeast SMack Pack. I have to say, that I have not had the best luck with liquid yeast. From the experiences on here, I think I will use a starter next time. The advertising on the liquid yeast starters and on the websites should be changed. I have never had one start in 5-15 hours.


I will give it another 48 hours and then try some dry yeast. Also, I used 4 pounds of light DME and a can of wheat extract. The beer seems pretty dark in my carboy. Will this lighten up with age and in the glass?

Hoosierbrewer said:

I have a batch of American Wheat that has not started yet (24 hours). I used a Wyeast SMack Pack. I have to say, that I have not had the best luck with liquid yeast. From the experiences on here, I think I will use a starter next time. The advertising on the liquid yeast starters and on the websites should be changed. I have never had one start in 5-15 hours.


I will give it another 48 hours and then try some dry yeast. Also, I used 4 pounds of light DME and a can of wheat extract. The beer seems pretty dark in my carboy. Will this lighten up with age and in the glass?

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Well, I always make a starter with liquid yeast now. I've had too many long lag times to count on it starting right up.

Extract beer is usually darker then what you are used to- because the extract can darken when boiling. Still, it will look lighter in the glass than in the carboy. If you take an SG sample after it's fermented, that will give you a good indication of what it will look like in the glass.

Welcome to HBT!

Glad to hear that your first batch went well, and Yooper's right - your beer will always look darker in a carboy than it will when you're actually drinking it.

Thanks. I have brewed extract for awhile and partial grain. I have scaled back to once a year over the last 3 years. I am back on track though for 5-6 a year now.


My biggest concern is and always has been yeast/fermentation. I have never had luck with liquid yeast. I think a starter may cure everything. I want to brew a big IPA and a Bavarian Wheat so I need to get it down for those.


If this batch does not take off by 3 days, I will re-hydrate some dry yeast to put in it.

Hoosierbrewer said:

My biggest concern is and always has been yeast/fermentation. I have never had luck with liquid yeast. I think a starter may cure everything. I want to brew a big IPA and a Bavarian Wheat so I need to get it down for those.

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My willingness to make starters has gone way up since I got a pressure cooker. This way one is able to "can" it and pull the sterile starter out of the pantry as needed. I also can water while I'm at to use with yeast washing and other sterile water needs.

I checked my American wheat today. It has not started fermenting yet. It is still at the same starting gravity. ugh, I hate liquid yeast.

Should I still give it 72 hours? I pitched the yeast at 12:30 AM Saturday night/sunday morning.



Primary: Sorta American Wheat

Yes, give it some time. It's hard to wait, but without a starter it sometimes takes up to 72 hours.

The top is getting foamy. I will see how it does over the next 2 days. I will be in Indianapolis on Wednesday and may have a chance to get more liquid yeast if necessary. I need to get stuff for a starter for my Kolsch.

Starter is all I do any more..unless I use dry yeast:rockin: much nicer for ales

jay

I guess I must have sacrificed to many Miller Lites to the fermentation gods. I now have a gusher going on. It is fermenting like crazy. I guess this will not be an American Wheat since the gravity was near 1.50

it has now blown the plug out of the fermenter with the airlock in-place. it is gushing everywhere. Any tips?

Blow-off tube?

If you have a 5gal glass carboy, use 1.25"o.d. (1"i.d.) plastic hose from the Home Depot (about 3 feet worth) to make a blow-off tube.
Sanatize and insert one end in the carboy, the other end into a bucket with sanatizing solution.
Or you can fashion a pvc on like shown in the wiki:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/Blow_off_Tube

Edit: fratermus beat me to it.

I have 6 (6.5) gallon carboys. I think I need to change to a blow-off tube. Do I use one with the plug? I plan to brew a Kolsch this weekend and want to be sure I have it write next week.

Thanks.

PS: Do I support though the upgrade of my account?


Primary: Sorta American Wheat

The hose sizes I gave were for the 5 gal cabboys only. See this post where a guy is having issues with a blow-off on a 6.5gal:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=62461
If you're doing a 5 gal batch in the 6.5gal carboy you might be ok with just an airlock for the kolsch (unless it's a modified Kolsch with some wheat). From what I've read wheat beer generates a lot more krausen that an standard ale/lager.
I have a modified kolsch (substituted 1 lb 60% wheat DME for extralight DME) fermenting in a bucket right now and i didn't use a blow-off tube just the airlock and I was fine, but the bucket does have a lot of head space.

Good Luck

Sponshorhip/support does make the ads go away. I can't remember how i navigated to the support/subscription page, but I think there was a link on the top of the forum when I was viewing as "unsubscribed"

The airlock keeps getting milky looking stuff in it from the fermentation. It must be yeast. Man, this thing was slow to start, but ended up being the most violent fermentation yet. I plan to brew my first all-grain Kolsch this weekend. I hope it takes off well, but is not as violent. I will try the 1.25 inch tube in the bunge this time.