New Brewer in Columbia, SC

[brewerdave]

Hello all. I have been brewing for only a short time, about 4 months, but I have really taken to it. My brother gave me a Mr. Beer kit for Christmas, which was good to learn the basics, and I was able to make some decent beer with it. I have recently bought a bucket kit from my local homebrew shop and just brewed my first 5 gallon batch, an Anchor Steam clone. I have a question since this was my first large batch - it fermented to final gravity in just two days! Is this normal? And was it a bad idea to go ahead and bottle it? I used the Muntons ale yeast (6 gram) packet that came with the kit. I rehydrated it in warm water for about 15 min. and pitched at 80 deg. F. When I got up the next morning, the airlock was bubbling away and the fermentation must have been quite explosive, as there was kraeusen in the airlock as well as a little spillage on top of the bucket. I let it sit until there was no more airlock activity and took a gravity reading, and it had reached 1.015, the final gravity listed on the kit instructions. This happened in 2 days. My Mr. Beer kits took much longer to ferment, like 7-8 days. Anybody have any input on this? Thanks, and I look forward to being a part of the forum!

 

[sause]

First off Welcome! Dry yeast can ferment beer in 2 days. Home Brew is one of things that gets better with time. Personally I would let it age for at least 2 weeks. Same in the bottle but 4 weeks would be better. I would watch out because there could have been some sugars still in the beer and it could over carb the bottles and cause exploding bottles. Beware of the bottle bombs! If they are move them to a free frig or a wood crate and dump some ice in it to cool it down to get the yeast dormant and the beer to absorb more CO2. But if it was where it's suppose to be there shouldn't much of a problem.

 

[brewerdave]

Thanks for the reply! I will definitely put them in the fridge, because I really don't want the bottles to explode, which is something I was afraid of because I bottled it so soon. It had reached final gravity, but I think I will age them in the cold just to be on the safe side. I'll let you know how it is in about a month!