Cooked up my first batch yesturday, got a question though.

[candlejackstraw]

Ok, so yesturday i cooked up a Belgian ale. I had a recipe for 5 gallons but i did the math and made a batch for 2 gallons. Ne who, i poured in about half a packet of yeast (it was more then half a packet, i was definately generous). so yea, It started bubbling pretty quickly about once a second a few hours later. When i woke up this morning, it wasnt bubbling that often. right now it doesnt seem to be bubbling that much either. Is there something wrong?

to give some added information. the fermenter is in the closet. It's exposed to my room light when the light is on. When i woke up this morning i thought about it and closed the closet door.

 

[LordHedgie]

Don't sweat it. It's fermenting. Who can read the minds of yeast?

 

[ifishsum]

Incandescent light is no problem for beer; sunlight and fluorescent light can skunk it though.

Don't worry about the bubbling or lack thereof, just forget about it if you can for a couple of weeks and then check the gravity. The most active phase of fermentation sometimes comes and goes within 24 hours. If it did something, it's working and just needs time to finish up. Even if you're not seeing a lot of airlock bubbling, it's still doing what it's supposed to do.

In most cases you are just as well off pitching the entire package of yeast - it has to grow and reproduce before it can start fermenting anyway, and once opened the yeast package should be used within a week or so.

 

[candlejackstraw]

First off, I just gotta say thank you so much for responding so quickly! This forum is awesome. Too many times you post somewhere about something and you never get a response.

Ne who, so I have half an open packet and i plan on brewing again in the next day or 2 (I got 2 fermenters because i only plan on brewing only 2 gallons in each. I believe that the beginning stages of brewing should be an extremely experimental stage, learning how hops etc effect stuff) so yea, can i pitch a packet of one yeast while pitching the leftover packet of another type of yeast as well? (2 types of yeast in 1 fermenter?)

 

[LordHedgie]

Sure, but in most cases one yeast will overpower the other. Free market competition and all....