1st brew - not sure if yeast is fermenting properly?

[Firgman]

Hello all. Been reading through posts here and can't find quite what I am looking for. I am on my first ever brew using a kit with tinned liquid malts. Everything seemed fine at first with bubbles constantly appearing on top of the beer and a lot of foam. However, now on the 8th (and in the last few days) there does not appear to be any bubbles at all, there is no foam at all (other than residue) and the beer is looking quite clean. Is this cleanliness and lack of 'bubbling' normal as I am using a liquid malt kit? Following previous advice here I was going to be leaving the beer for two weeks before putting into a pressurised plastic keg (with primer sugar). But if nothing appears to be happening should I start testing with the hyrdrometer to see if the gravity starts to remain constant and then keg it?


Firgman

 

[MBasile]

The main fermentation is complete. There is probably still some yeast activity, but no visible signs. Leave it for 2 weeks or so, and then take 3 gravity samples 24 hours apart from each other. If they are all the same, it is definitely done.

 

[Firgman]

Thankyou MBasile, I was hoping that was the case but everybody here describing their fermentations seem to have masses of activity and foam and different colours etc. I suppose that they be using real malts and hops etc. I was just hoping that the yeast supplied in the kit was not good quality due it being in a kit

Firgman

 

[MBasile]

Thankyou MBasile, I was hoping that was the case but everybody here describing their fermentations seem to have masses of activity and foam and different colours etc. I suppose that they be using real malts and hops etc. I was just hoping that the yeast supplied in the kit was not good quality due it being in a kit

Firgman

When the yeast is in suspension the beer will look lighter. However, once it finishes fermenting and the yeast drops out it'll appear darker. The foam is part of the activity people talk about, but if you look inside the carboy (if you're using a carboy rather than a bucket) you'll see the yeast chunks rising and falling, as well as co2 rising during the main fermentation. The vigorousness of the fermentation depends on many factors, not whether you're using extract vs. all grain. Those factors include the yeast strain used, the amount pitched, the health of the yeast, the original gravity of the wort, temperature, and so on.

 

[Dunerunner]

I suppose that they be using real malts and hops etc. I was just hoping that the yeast supplied in the kit was not good quality due it being in a kit.

Firgman

Frig! You are using real malts, the condensed version of what an all grain brewer makes, you just skip the mash and sparge step!

It's normal for the yeasts to slow in activity as the food source diminishes and the alcohol increases. The beer becomes a more hostile environment to the yeast and eventually they give it up and flocculate out of solution, settling to the bottom of the fermenter. This can happen 3 days into fermentation or, like my recent Heffe continue throughout the two or three week fermentation.

Cheers!

 

[Firgman]

Ho ho, thats what I meant to say Dunerunner! With all the mashing and hops etc going in I would assume that there would be a lot more 'gunge and gunk' floating around in there

Firgman

 

[ChshreCat]

Don't be afraid to check the gravity and see what it's up to. You don't want to check it every day, but if you are curious if it's fermented out or not, go ahead and take a sample. You can see how it's tasting as well.

I usually like to take a hydrometer sample about once a week just to see how it's coming along.

 

[Firgman]

Thats a good idea ChshreCat, will give that a go. The only thing I am annoyed about (a rookie error) is that although I had bought a hydrometer along with all my other equipment and read the instructions on how to read it, I did not realise that I needed to take a reading prior to any fermentation to allow me to work out the alcohol volume with a final/after conditioning reading. Doh!

Firgman

 

[Firgman]

Have checked the beer over as advised ChshreCat. The SG is at 1.008 and I think the flavours pretty good. It has a nice, strong ale flavour which I was aiming for marred only by a quite bitter taste (which I presume will improve with age) and yeasty taste (which I presume will reduce when the yeast suspension settles to the bottom of the keg on conditioning - it is quite cloudy with it at the moment

Firgman

 

[ChshreCat]

Lookin' good. Now leave it be for a couple more weeks.

Since this was an all extract recipe, you can just punch in all your ingredients in a recipe calculator like Beer Calculus and use whatever it gives you as an OG. It should be right within a point or two. Close enough to calculate your ABV at least.