Fess up! How often do you check your fermentation?

[jbsg02]

I set my fermenter in a bathtub that is not used. When I have something fermenting I purposely use that bathroom so I can check on it

 

[Clann]

I will check once a day until fermentation starts then I'll leave it alone for at least 2 weeks. I don't trust anyone to do their job while I'm not looking.

 

[beerloaf]

I generally do not check on it as far as gravity readings or opening the fermentor. I trust my process as well as the yeast and do not bother until it's time to bottle.

beerloaf

 

[Grossy]

I set my fermenter in a bathtub that is not used. When I have something fermenting I purposely use that bathroom so I can check on it

Fermentation! The new reason to take a bath.

 

[PimpHandBrew]

I just did my first batch. I found myself laying on the floor watching fermentation in full swing. just awesome. i guess after a few batches i will let nature take its course and go about business.

 

[kh54s10]

Usually just twice a day.

I have been brewing in the afternoon and fermentation has started by the next morning when I check the temperature in my swamp cooler, then off to work. In the evening I check the temperature. The fermenters are in the same room as my TV so I can look over and see if the blowoff/airlock is bubbling.

 

[alexdagrate]

I never check.

I boil, chill, pitch, wait, then bottle.

 

[LandoLincoln]

The main reason I have glass carboys is so I can watch the yeast dance. I go watch them do their thing a lot. We brewed a Citra Pale Ale yesterday and I must have gone down there six times to take a look at them.

 

[Montanaandy]

Depends on what I am brewing. If it is a Saison using 3724, I check daily to make certain that the yeast are doing their job. With just about anything else that I brew, once the initial fermentation subsides, I leave it alone for 3-4 weeks.

 

[overdbus]

been checking once a day , just checked an the temp is
at 61 so i pulled the blue ice and wet towel out an off
and closed the window in that room left the carboy in
the bucket of water but will not turn the heat on in
that room, three more weeks of temp control.

 

[copyright1997]

I check at least 2x a day for the first few days. My main reason is to make sure the temperature is correct, and I use a "laser" temperature gun to do so. I am also curious as to when "visible" fermentation has started. (I know it is going on before hand because the temperature of plastic fermentation bucket is higher than the ambient temperature).

Now that fall/winter is here in the northeast, my temperature check is more complicated. I want the fermentation temperature to be in the low 60's (using s-04), so warmer than ambient temperature but not too warm. The ambient temperature of my basement is about 60 degrees. I have the fermentation bucket in an old refrigerator (turned off). Since I am a cheap bastard, the upstairs room temperature is 63 in the day, 57 at night so bringing it upstairs is not an answer.

I just checked a batch I brewed yesterday (English style IPA), and it is busy bubbling away with the bucket temperature at 65 degrees while the ambient temperature is 59.5. I have the refrigerator door open trying to keep the temperature down.

Once visible fermentation activity subsides, I will pretty much ignore it for at least another week or two before I get around to checking the SG level.

 

[JimTheHick]

I confess. I love bubbles. And I constantly wonder how much lighter the bucket is getting - you know that whole conservation of mass thing.

Then I fret over the greenhouse gas emission...ok not really.

But I rationalize it all with the time it takes to start fermenting and the length of ferment/temp to be important variables in reproducing any (accidental) masterpieces.

 

[JonM]

Yep, me too. I even hold a flashlight up against the fermenter for a few seconds so I can see the swirling and whirling of the little bubbles in the wort. It's pretty cool.

Plus, I test the limits of my headspace. I do 2.75 gals in 3 gallon fermenters and I'm always cutting it close, but I never have a blowoff. But I still check 2x a day at least during the most active fermentation. I use the almost-blowing-off thing as my excuse for checking the fermenter so often.

 

[Bigcorona]

I look at it 5 or 6 times a day. In a glass carboy, so not opening it up. New I guess, just like to see what is going on. It is all still interesting to me.

 

[insurgus]

Once a day. Sometimes I leave them a couple weeks if I'm not going to secondary.

 

[bottlebomber]

I figure once I put the yeast in I did my part... I might check it once the next day to verify that beer is being made.

 

[zepolmot]

I don't open to look inside, but I do enjoy checking the airlock every other day or so and taking a bit nose-full of what comes out of the airlock. Watching apfelwein ferment is a good time too.

 

[sunvalleylaw]

Once I see it is going, probably in the morning and again at night when I get home, then maybe once before bed.

Tonight it was more often when I thought it was going to blow the top of my primary, and had to figure out how to make a blowoff tube, when I did not have a lid that accepts normal blow off tubes. Now that a blowoff tube out of smaller tubing is in, I just like to go hear it go "galump".

 

[Quietandsimple]

First day, ten times at least. Second day 20 times at least. After the third day I stop being so paranoid and it goes down to about two or three times a day for a week.

 

[Ogri]

Seem to be with the, slight, majority here.

Put the fermenter in the garage sitting in a swamp cooler and check a few times over the next 24 hours to check initial fermentation has started then it's twice a day, morning and evening, to swap out frozen bottles of water until the vigorous attenuation stage is complete. I put my OG sample into a PET bottle and sit that next to the fermenter so that I can test for FG quite a few times without having to take any more from the fermenter. Love releasing the pressure from the sample bottle and getting a whiff of the fermentation aroma.:rockin: Always have 4 different batches on the go, staggered, so there's always one batch that's in need of temperature control

 

[andyhat]

I tend to brew lots of big beers and I had one plug up the airlock. For some reason ... I never learned to just rig up the blow off every time.

I probably check 2 or 3 times a day. I also just think it's cool. Brewing is an adults version of a child's chemistry set ... and then you get to drink it

 

[Homercidal]

I brewed two batches this weekend. The first one got done Sunday morning (no chill that sat in the garage overnight to cool down.)

The second batch I boiled Sunday morning and left in the garage to chill.

I plumb forgot to put the second one in the ferm chamber! I guess that's called being "unconcerned"!

Tonight when it's reached the proper temp I'll throw the yeast in there and maybe swap the microbe filter for an airlock.

 

[BrewingRugger]

I check my carboys at least 3-5 times a day

 

[Piratwolf]

Woke up at 2:47 this morning coughing. Thought, "Well, since I'm awake...." and I went to check on my new batch. Already had a thin layer of krausen. If it wasn't so cold, I probably would have sat and watched a while longer. Cool stuff!

"All your home brew are belong to us!"

 

[Chuginator]

Watching the yeast activity and their "swimming" is intriguing. Highly recommended cheap entertainment.

 

[emjay]

I check it a few times the first few days, and then don't check it again until I plan to transfer it. If I see signs of fermentation - krausen, krausen rings, and/or prolonged, rapid bubbling - I won't really check gravity at all unless I'm transferring it anyways. And since I rarely secondary, that means I usually only check final gravity (except for pre-boil and post-boil during the brewing process, of course). I feel comfortable doing this because I give my beers *plenty* of time to finish... I'd rather not deal with the hassle and issues with ensuring that "gravity remains unchanged 3+ days in a row." In fact, of all the brewers I know personally, I don't think ANY of the experienced ones still do that to ensure fermentation has actual problems.

Ample time, and the experience/knowledge to use the final gravity reading (and other observations) to know when there might be a problem, is sufficient, and IMO is preferable to opening up the fermentor, both disturbing the settled material and exposing the beer to oxygen and potential contaminants. However, with a conical or some other fermentation vessel that allows samples to be taken without compromising sanitation, you might as well take regular samples to measure and observe.

I'm really not a patient person, and was even diagnosed with ADHD in adulthood (2 years ago). And yet I quickly got over the need to constantly be checking on my fermentors. Watching the airlock for 10 minutes to see if a bubble comes (and then AT LEAST another 10 to determine the time between each bubble!) is just not something I'm capable of. So, it's not really a struggle to be patient with my beers that allows me to let them sit in the fermentor for ages... it has much more to do with general laziness, and the fact that I likely drink less than 98%+ of the people on this site - meaning that unless I'm dealing with a competition deadline, getting it to the glass is rarely an urgent matter.

 

[DGibb]

I have a brew sheet that I take notes on, and I designed it to say I check on day 1, 3, 7, and on every week after. Who am I kidding though, I check every time I do laundry.

 

[HopSong]

Mine is sitting on a plywood sheet on the tub rim. I check mine every morning when I do my "thing". Lift up the towel and there's the head.. as viewed from .. the head.

 

[weirdboy]

I check on it a couple of times a day because I have to swap out ice bottles. But I never open the fermenter. I just check the temperature and make sure it's where I want it to be, and take appropriate action if it isn't.

On the rare occasions that I am fermenting something in my kegerator, I don't even think about it.

 

[nickmv]

I check way more often DURING fermentation. Prob 3-4 times a day. I have a Son of a Ferm Chiller, and I like to make sure the temp is holding steady as the yeast really gets to chugging hard. Typically, I'll transfer wort at 68 to the fermenter, then set my chiller to 60 or 55, I'll wait til it gets the wort to around 63, then I gradually raise the thermostat as ferm begins, til I can level it out at 65.

Not to mention, I HAVE to look at it, since I gotta change the ice usually every 24-30hrs.

 

[ThickHead]

It depends entirely upon which style I am brewing. Not all brews are alike. Some styles require more attention than others during fermentation. Thus, a single method (set and forget à la Revvy) is not always the most effective approach for maximizing the quality of your beer.

Beer styles such as the Saison and Belgian Strong Ale, as specific examples, often require fermentation temperature adjustments and multiple yeast strain additions at various intervals during the fermentation process depending on the flavors you are looking for. When brewing these styles I check my fermentation often. Having said that, I use the "set and forget à la Revvy" method probably 90% of the time. Cheers!

 

[Shuznuts]

At least once a day. Day two I need to be sure it's going, day three I need to clean up the blow off and day four I need to warm it up. Not long after that fermentation is over.

I'm totaly there with you, Malticulous. I'll check the air lock at least once a day the 1st few days of fermenation. Mainly to see if it's properly going and also to deal with fermenter blow ups. When will I learn...

I confess. I love bubbles. And I constantly wonder how much lighter the bucket is getting - you know that whole conservation of mass thing.

Then I fret over the greenhouse gas emission...ok not really.

That's some funny $$$$!

 

[scottland]

I ferment my ales rather cool (60-62), and once fermentation is winding down I ramp the temp, usually all the way to 70*, so I check once to twice per day to see how the ferment is progessing. I usually only open the lid when adding dry hops, or to check if the krausen has fallen before I pull the bucket out of my ferm chamber.

 

[BamaRooster]

I have been known to take some beers down to the basement and have long meaningful conversations with the airlock.

 

[ArrowheadAles]

I brewed a Belgian strong ale this weekend and kept checking every few hrs because the blow off tubes were filling my blow off container with foam

 

[Aunt_Ester]

I blindfold myself during the entire brewing process. After I'm through guesstimating my grain bill by the amount of grain dust I've aspirated, I check my mash temps with the skin on my forearm. If my skin does not blister I hold the mash for an hour.

The mashout is awful; I'm still working on my technique: I've discovered that if cannot submerge my hand in the wort for more than 120 seconds, then I know that the mashout water is higher than 170*.

Once all of this is complete, I conduct my bittering charges by weight; I balance them on the back of my elbow. If I am successful then I proceed with weighing out my flavoring and aroma hops-- of course, I conduct this by smell. If I am not, however, successful balancing my bittering charge then I have one less dog to worry about. Good riddance, I say. (I don't say this around Mom, of course. Or she will curse me.)

I cool the wort in the traditional way. Some of you are probably thinking that I blow of the wort to cool it like a hot soup. Well, Mom didn't raise no fool-- I sit the fan in front of it to hurry the process. Sometimes, I take my clothes off and lie in front of the fan. Sometimes, while I'm lying there, I invent that I'm a single yeast cell transcending new ambient temperatures.

When my penis is as tall as a stack of dimes from the draft, I scrape whatever yeast is left from my last carboy and slap it in there. It's usually about this time I remove my blindfold since I'm already naked. After this, I bring the carboy into my dark room that I use to develop film.

Here I'll stay for the entire three weeks. For entertainment, I'll bring my Mom's lipstick in with me and, pretending it's a Mousterian tool, paint images of The Great Mammal on the carboy. I never take my eyes off the aberration that takes place in the carboy. Never.

Brewing is a séance.

 

[coastwx]

I usually check in the morning while brushing teeth and in the evening while brushing teeth before bed, mostly to switch out ice bottles to control fermentation. However, I still enjoy a quick look for airlock activity and the cool sprits/squirts that come out of the yeast cake

 

[BrewPilot74]

I've been brewing for about 2 years now and I keep waiting for the day when I no longer want to check the carboy every 10 minutes but so far that day has never come. I hope it never does. I love watching the bubbling and churning. It's like staring at a campfire. Fascinating.

 

[david_42]

This batch is sitting in the kitchen about 15 feet away from the computer, so every time the dogs want a biscuit or I need a hit of caffeine. I can just turn around and see it chugging. I won't check the gravity for a week or so.

 

[passedpawn]

I blindfold myself during the entire brewing process. After I'm through guesstimating my grain bill by the amount of grain dust I've aspirated, I check my mash temps with the skin on my forearm. If my skin does not blister I hold the mash for an hour.

The mashout is awful; I'm still working on my technique: I've discovered that if cannot submerge my hand in the wort for more than 120 seconds, then I know that the mashout water is higher than 170*.

Once all of this is complete, I conduct my bittering charges by weight; I balance them on the back of my elbow. If I am successful then I proceed with weighing out my flavoring and aroma hops-- of course, I conduct this by smell. If I am not, however, successful balancing my bittering charge then I have one less dog to worry about. Good riddance, I say. (I don't say this around Mom, of course. Or she will curse me.)

I cool the wort in the traditional way. Some of you are probably thinking that I blow of the wort to cool it like a hot soup. Well, Mom didn't raise no fool-- I sit the fan in front of it to hurry the process. Sometimes, I take my clothes off and lie in front of the fan. Sometimes, while I'm lying there, I invent that I'm a single yeast cell transcending new ambient temperatures.

When my penis is as tall as a stack of dimes from the draft, I scrape whatever yeast is left from my last carboy and slap it in there. It's usually about this time I remove my blindfold since I'm already naked. After this, I bring the carboy into my dark room that I use to develop film.

Here I'll stay for the entire three weeks. For entertainment, I'll bring my Mom's lipstick in with me and, pretending it's a Mousterian tool, paint images of The Great Mammal on the carboy. I never take my eyes off the aberration that takes place in the carboy. Never.

Brewing is a séance.

ditto :rockin: My process is similar except for the one very odd thing in your process: the mash duration. 45 minutes is what I do.