Need a little help

[Mike1981]

Hey guys, I have posted on here in the past and you guys have been really helpful. I am currently brewing a Russian Imperial Stout but am having some problems. I brewed the beer up last Friday at my fathers camp because it has a gas stove, and all went well. Since it was at camp, I was going to check it the following day, but was unable to until a day after that. When I got there, I noticed that just the plastic lid was covered in beer, and the lock and lid were caked in yeast. I quickly sanitized the lid and lock and covered the fermentor and filled my lock with water. Almost instantly I noticed a few bubbles start to come up and I figured that I saved the batch. But my father checked it today (5 days from cooking it up), and did not see any bubbles coming up the air lock. Is there anything I can do to save my batch of beer. I know I should have used a blow off tube, but was told that you don't need to with a plastic fermentor. Any help from an expert is much appreciated. Thanks, Mike

 

[Grimace]

I don't think you need to 'save' it. It should be fine.

Take a hydrometer reading if you can, give the bucket a swirl to rouse the yeast (don't splash), and take another hydrometer reading in a day or two. If it's same as your last reading, it's done.

 

[Spyk'd]

If there are NO bubbles coming out of the airlock, I'd rack it over to the secondary. That will automatically rouse the yeast a bit. But a quick fermentation of 5 days does happen. You didn't say what temperature you had it fermenting at, but I'd guess your temperature was a little high and it finished quicker due to that reason.

If you don't have a secondary, I highly recommend getting one, especialy for more complex beers like stouts. It will improve your beer.

It's definitely not ruined. If it smells like beer, then it is beer!

 

[david_42]

Sounds like it's done, but get a reading. The times I've had major blowouts, the fermention process was done in 2-3 days.

 

[Mike1981]

Thanks guys, I'm going to check on it tommorow and take a reading.

How does a secondary fermentor work? Do I just siphon the beer into another fermentor, and then put the air lock on? How long does it have to ferment in the secondary fermentor? thanks, Mike