did i make a big mistake!

im new to making beer. and i purchased a barons beer kit its a double malt kit and was just one big bag of wort. the question i have is. the kit came with 2 packs of yeast. the instructions never mentioned how many i was supposed to put in my beer. so i put them both in. but im reading that most kits only come with one pack of yeast. have i made an error and used to much yeast in my beer? also its been 3 days,and i have not had any krausen at all in my beer.when i carefully open the lid on my fermenting bucket i can here my beer sizzling and crackling away. and thers bubbles comming to the top. but there has been no sign of any krausen what so ever.

With the amount of yeast I wouldnt worry much. Can you check your gravity, only true way of knowing if its fermenting

well i made the mistake of listening to some friends who dont use hydrometers,lol. so i never checked my starting gravity. i could take a reading now. but not knowing what my starting gravity was i wont know how to tell if it is in fact fermenting. all i know is theres lots of little bubbles constantly comming up to the top of my beer. and it sounds like a bowl of rice crispies,lol. i do have all the gravity specs in my beer kit instructions but im wondering if i put in to much yeast would that change the gravity readins from what they are supposed to be?

jeffsos3000 said:

well i made the mistake of listening to some friends who dont use hydrometers

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Word of advise....get new friends

Don't sweat the yeast,the beer will be fine! As far as yeast goes the more the maerrier. To a point!!

well i jujst took a hydrometer reading and my beer appears to be at around 1.019 assuming im reading the thing right ha ha. it sure sis foam up nice when i poured a sample and it smells like beer . so im hopeful. my instructions show final gravity being in the 1.008 -1.014 range and a starting range of 1.036-1.042, so if i am correct then i should be fermenting right along.

I routinely use two packs of yeast, especially in a higher gravity beer. Don't sweat it. What temp are you keeping your beer? If it's too cold the yeast will take a while to get started.

my temp is sitting bang on at around 22 degress celsius. or about 71.6 degrees celsius. i just tasted a bit of the sample i poured. it was very carbonated,and a little sweet tasting. but it did taste like beer. didnt taste off putting or anything despite being a little on the sweet side. so im hoping everything is going well.

jeffsos3000 said:

my temp is sitting bang on at around 22 degress celsius. or about 71.6 degrees celsius. i just tasted a bit of the sample i poured. it was very carbonated,and a little sweet tasting. but it did taste like beer. didnt taste off putting or anything despite being a little on the sweet side. so im hoping everything is going well.

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It tasting sweet is just the remaining sugar in the wort that should ease off by the time the yeast have finished with it

yea thats what i was thinking. but so far i have to admit it sure smells great! im happy to see that although i never had any krausen form at all, as i had no indication of any ring left from it. things seem to be working along great. its tricky being band new to this sutff. as any little thing tends to put you into a bit of a panic mode ha ha. i head back to work tomorrow and will be on the road for 7 days. so the brew will have plenty of time to sit and do its thing. would i be able to transfer into secondary when i get home 8 days from now? or do i need to let the beer sit in primary a while still even after fermentation is done?

actually now im curious. i just tasted my beer and it was sweet de to remaining sugars still to ferment. but my gravity reading was 1.019 -1.020, according to my kit instructions in says in 3-6 days the vigourous fermenttion should subside abd when i reach a gravity reading od 1.020 or less that i should transfer ito secondary. that would mean that i should be transfering today. but my beer is still on the sweet side. would that sweetness still ferment out in secondary. or should i just leave it and transfer it when i get home in 7 days?

Usually I let it sit in the primary for 3-4 weeks, then bottle for 3 weeks. Only beer that gets put in a secondary for me are brews that you need to age, such as golden strong ale or barley wine, and they sit in a keg naturally carbing. If you secondary you increase your chances of infection and oxygenation. One reason I naturally carb beers I age, the yeast use up some of the o2. Brewers used to secondary every brew because of fear from autolysis, yeast dying and causing off flavors. However that myth has been debunked and alot of award winning brewers now use the set and forget method of 3-4 weeks primary

Ow you also risk your batch stalling in mid gravity. Some of the brew kits will still advocate the 1 2 3 method, 1 week primary, 2 week secondary, 3 week bottle but I would just leave it in primary

oh wel then maybe i wont worry about transferring it then! since i have a second glass carboy kicking around now. can one ferment beer in that as well. or will foam kind of blow the air lock off the top,lol. i have a coopers beer kit that came with my diy set so if i could get it rolling as well then that would be great.

jeffsos3000 said:

actually now im curious. i just tasted my beer and it was sweet de to remaining sugars still to ferment. but my gravity reading was 1.019 -1.020, according to my kit instructions in says in 3-6 days the vigourous fermenttion should subside abd when i reach a gravity reading od 1.020 or less that i should transfer ito secondary. that would mean that i should be transfering today. but my beer is still on the sweet side. would that sweetness still ferment out in secondary. or should i just leave it and transfer it when i get home in 7 days?

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I agree with whiskey jack I usually brew from kits I am just moving towards extract brewing and everyone I have done tells you to leave it in your primary until it is stable ad completely stopped fermenting. I barrel mine so I move it straight from the primary to my barrel add a little priming sugar leave it in a warm place for three days to a week and then let it sit somewhere cold for two to three weeks. If all of your sugars haven't finished fermenting before you bottle/barrel you will have exploding bottles/barrels I would just leave it longer. Mine tend to take 7 - 14 days to ferment out.

jeffsos3000 said:

oh wel then maybe i wont worry about transferring it then! since i have a second glass carboy kicking around now. can one ferment beer in that as well. or will foam kind of blow the air lock off the top,lol. i have a coopers beer kit that came with my diy set so if i could get it rolling as well then that would be great.

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I have seen quite a few people fermenting In glass carboys it should be fine just make sure you leave enough room at the top of it for it to foam a little.

thanks for the advice! suppose ill just leave it sit for a few weeks in primary then bottle it. only reason i was going to transfer was to cut back on the sediment and allow it to sit and clear really well before bottling. but according to what you guys are saying. that wouldnt be the best idea.

If you want to clear it more you can cold crash it a few days before you bottle then after you rack it to your bottling bucket let it sit for like 30 minute to an hour with a lid loosely on to let what ever you might have picked up while racking it fall to the bottom