Nervous about my 1st batch

[Kobrew]

Hi everyone! I have brewed two batches of Mr Beer within the last couple of months and decided to move to a half plastic half glass kit with real grains and malt extract. After boiling and cooling the wort, adding it to the primary and pitched the yeast, I added my stopper and airlock. The next morning I did not notice any activity in the airlock, so I waited and waited and waited. I never saw much of any activity, however the inside of the airlock looked like it was a little damp from condensation? A good amount of krausen built up in the primary the 1st couple days, and by the time I transferred the brew(6 days) to the secondary there was not to much anymore. It smelled good, it made me happy that it seemed like beer. haha. Now that its in the carboy its basically still, nothing going on. Should there be anything? It looks like there is a little bit of bubbles on the top of the beer, but not a lot at all. It doesnt look like mold, so I dont know what else it would be.. How does this all sounds? Does it seem like its going as it should, or does it sound like I ruined my batch somehow? BTW, its an IPA, if that helps.


Thank you so much!

 

[jonnyp1980]

Hi everyone! I have brewed two batches of Mr Beer within the last couple of months and decided to move to a half plastic half glass kit with real grains and malt extract. After boiling and cooling the wort, adding it to the primary and pitched the yeast, I added my stopper and airlock. The next morning I did not notice any activity in the airlock, so I waited and waited and waited. I never saw much of any activity, however the inside of the airlock looked like it was a little damp from condensation? A good amount of krausen built up in the primary the 1st couple days, and by the time I transferred the brew(6 days) to the secondary there was not to much anymore. It smelled good, it made me happy that it seemed like beer. haha. Now that its in the carboy its basically still, nothing going on. Should there be anything? It looks like there is a little bit of bubbles on the top of the beer, but not a lot at all. It doesnt look like mold, so I dont know what else it would be.. How does this all sounds? Does it seem like its going as it should, or does it sound like I ruined my batch somehow? BTW, its an IPA, if that helps.

Thank you so much!

Did you take any hydrometer readings?

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

Sounds like you made beer. There shouldn't be activity in secondary. Read all the Stickies at the top of this forum. Welcome to HBT!!!

 

[Nubster]

Keep in mind that the seals on the buckets pretty much suck so likely much of the activity you were expecting to see in the airlock was escaping from the poorly sealed lid. I'm in the exact same boat. Even though there is some bubbles in my airlock, not as much as I expected, I'm letting it ride for 10-14 days and I'll let my hydrometer tell me what's actually happened over that time period. This is my first batch too and it is kinda stressful worrying about whether we did things right.

 

[unionrdr]

Racking after only 6 days might've been too soon. Never rack out of primary till FG is reached. Secondaries were normaly used as a bright tank. In other words,to clear the beer. Many of us don't secondary unless adding something we don't want the yeast cake to effect.
Many just leave it in primary till it cleans up & settles out clear.

 

[arnoldk2]

Racking after only 6 days might've been too soon. Never rack out of primary till FG is reached. Secondaries were normaly used as a bright tank. In other words,to clear the beer. Many of us don't secondary unless adding something we don't want the yeast cake to effect.
Many just leave it in primary till it cleans up & settles out clear.

+1
Bubbling doesn't mean anything. Hydrometer readings is what your looking for. Just remember that when you transfer to a secondary that that step is another possibility for infection. Unless you're brewing on a 7 bbl system and plan on serving that beer to costumers you shouldn't have to do a secondary.

By your description of what happened it sounds like you made your first batch of beer! Congratulations!

 

[Kobrew]

Racking after only 6 days might've been too soon. Never rack out of primary till FG is reached. Secondaries were normaly used as a bright tank. In other words,to clear the beer. Many of us don't secondary unless adding something we don't want the yeast cake to effect.
Many just leave it in primary till it cleans up & settles out clear.

Thank you all so much!

Jonnyp1980, no I havent taken any hydrometer reading, unfortunately, I was not aware of what a hydrometer was until about last week. But I definitely will be using it now. How would I take a reading out of the secondary?

Unionrdr, the only reason I racked after six days was because thats what the directions the brew store I got my kit from said. Since im letting it sit in the secondary for 10-14 days will my beer do the same thing as if it were sitting in the primary for that long?

 

[unionrdr]

Maybe,maybe not,it's a 50/50 chance it'll have enough yeast in suspension after racking to secondary. They can stall out at this time. Instructions given generally aren't very accurate. I also got better advice on here when I started after thinking those times were a bit too quick.

 

[tre9er]

Get a wine thief from a homebrew store or online, or do what I do and get a turkey baster, sanitize it (soak in star san for a few minutes) then suck out enough wort to fill a test-jar (also can be found at HBS or online) about 2/3 full. Then take temp of the sample. If possible, chill it to 60*. Then spin the hydrometer into the sample so it doesn't get stuck to sides or pick up too much Co2 in solution. Read the "Beer" readings, which should be something like 1.015 during fermentation (for instance).

Knowing your gravity is key to knowing if you did everything right, if the beer is done, and what the ABV is.

 

[Kobrew]

Maybe,maybe not,it's a 50/50 chance it'll have enough yeast in suspension after racking to secondary. They can stall out at this time. Instructions given generally aren't very accurate. I also got better advice on here when I started after thinking those times were a bit too quick.

Okay. What do you mean by stall out? I definitely feel that I would rather go with directions from this site than the paper I got. Do you think I should let it sit longer? Or should I take a hydrometer reading to see where it's at?

 

[tre9er]

Okay. What do you mean by stall out? I definitely feel that I would rather go with directions from this site than the paper I got. Do you think I should let it sit longer? Or should I take a hydrometer reading to see where it's at?

Take hydrometer reading now and one in 2-3 days. If it's the same, it's done. If it changes, wait a few more days then take another.

After it's stable, you should consider cold-crashing, ie. putting it in the fridge for 3+ days. Just something a lot of us do to help settle it out clear...but not necessary.

 

[unionrdr]

I just let mine sit another 3-7 days after FG is reached to clean up & settle out clear. But I use highly flocculant yeasts too. YRMV...

 

[Kobrew]

Get a wine thief from a homebrew store or online, or do what I do and get a turkey baster, sanitize it (soak in star san for a few minutes) then suck out enough wort to fill a test-jar (also can be found at HBS or online) about 2/3 full. Then take temp of the sample. If possible, chill it to 60*. Then spin the hydrometer into the sample so it doesn't get stuck to sides or pick up too much Co2 in solution. Read the "Beer" readings, which should be something like 1.015 during fermentation (for instance).

Knowing your gravity is key to knowing if you did everything right, if the beer is done, and what the ABV is.

I have a test jar, I'll go grab a baster after work and ill test it! I wish I could do it now, stupid work.. Haha. On my next batch ill record the OG and FG and what not. thanks for the help!

 

[Kobrew]

Just took my hydrometer reading for the first time. First, my hydrometer reads from top to bottom 990, 1000, then 10, 20, 30, etc etc. So when I took the reading it was at 10 does that mean it's at .1010?

 

[arnoldk2]

Just took my hydrometer reading for the first time. First, my hydrometer reads from top to bottom 990, 1000, then 10, 20, 30, etc etc. So when I took the reading it was at 10 does that mean it's at .1010?

Yup, take another reading the next day. If they are the same then your beer is done fermenting. Most final gravities won't go much below that.

 

[Kobrew]

Yup, take another reading the next day. If they are the same then your beer is done fermenting. Most final gravities won't go much below that.

Awesome, thank you!

 

[arnoldk2]

Sorry, just to clarify. The gravity is 1.010 and not .1010.

 

[jonnyp1980]

Thank you all so much!

Jonnyp1980, no I havent taken any hydrometer reading, unfortunately, I was not aware of what a hydrometer was until about last week. But I definitely will be using it now. How would I take a reading out of the secondary?

Unionrdr, the only reason I racked after six days was because thats what the directions the brew store I got my kit from said. Since im letting it sit in the secondary for 10-14 days will my beer do the same thing as if it were sitting in the primary for that long?

After a week would be a great start to take a reading for three days. If the reading is the same for the three days you should be good to go to bottle

 

[unionrdr]

I never take a reading before the 2nd week of primary...usually. I did after 2 days with this PM,since it started & stopped in that time. But I may wait till 2 1/2 weeks this time to see if it's closer to done at test time to get a feel for how fast my PM's will finish. It's also a real good idea to give it another 3-7 days after FG is reached to let it clean up & settle out clear.