Pale Ale home brew kit off amazon 8 days in

[jom22ort]

Hi- new member -Dave from Moyock North Carolina - first brew - 8 days in - (only light on it to take a picture) - any suggestions. bought a kit on amazon and gave it a shot - do i scrape off the sides and shake it up or does it look like I'm in trouble?

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

do i scrape off the sides?

Cleaning the outside of the jug is prudent.

... shake it up

No

does it look like I'm in trouble?

No.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

... and welcome to HomeBrewTalk @jom22ort !

 

[jom22ort]

Cleaning the outside of the jug is prudent.


No


No.

thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Broken Crow]

Looking good! Just don't move or agitate it... it takes a long time to settle. If that's sunlight though, do draw a curtain and keep UV exposure to a minimum if at all.
Welcome to the fun!

 

[fuzzybee]

It doesn't look to me like that stopper has a good seal. I'd imagine the airlock would be full of krausen if it did.

 

[Broken Crow]

It doesn't look to me like that stopper has a good seal. I'd imagine the airlock would be full of krausen if it did.

Good point.. I just assumed it had been pulled and cleaned for the picture.. If not, then yeah I agree; Tighten it down! If you're using Star San, that can be really slippery, what I usually do with an airlock stopper though is use rubbing alcohol on a lint-free paper (like a coffee filter) on the stopper and carboy mouth..makes for a nice non-slip fitting.

 

[Jag75]

Is there water in that airlock?

 

[rburrelli]

Is there water in that airlock?

Does not look like it to me.

 

[pauljHBOregon]

Looks like no water in the airlock, and the stopper was not tight enough... the batch should still ferment, but push the stopper in tighter in the catboy, and pop the top off the airlock, add a little water to the max water line in the airlock, and place the top on the airlock; that should fix it

 

[hotbeer]

Looks like a silicone rubber stopper. They don't stay snug in a glass jug very well. They loosen up on their own just sitting there.

Along with all the other suggestions, it might be reasonable to wrap some wide vinyl tape around the stopper to hold it in place. Or whatever you have available. Duct tape, shipping tape, electrical tape and etc.

Tip: wait more than eight days.

 

[TkmLinus]

If the stopper keeps sliding out I have had luck with cleaning it with vodka instead of star san.

 

[szap]

When I fermented in similar carboys with the narrow neck and the wort came close to the top, I always used a blow off tube. I felt there just wasn't enough room for the carboy to contain it without creating too much pressure. I learned this from blown corks. Now there's a fun mess to clean up.

 

[mashpaddled]

Confused about the empty airlock and trub exploding out of the sides but not through the airlock. I've been brewing in these types of jugs for closing in on fifteen years and never seen anything like that. Is this partially cleaned? Did you swap out stoppers with an airlock?

After years of fighting blowoff in those 4l/1gal jugs IMO fermcap in the jug will make your life a lot easier by avoiding these issues. I still use a blowoff on any high gravity or overfilled jug as a precaution because fermcap is not an absolute solution.

 

[jom22ort]

thans to k everyone for the responses - i had the tube in the cup of water for about 48 hours and came into the closet where it was and it had blown off , i replaced itthe rubber cap and stuck in the airlock though must not have gotten a good seal- should i clean it up and reseal and add water to the carboy?

 

[jom22ort]

added water to the fill line - resealed rubber stopper- thanks to all for the help!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[hotbeer]

should i clean it up and reseal and add water to the carboy?

I wouldn't add water to the carboy. The carboy is the jug with the beer in it fermenting. For a general use acronym, FV for fermentation vessel is appropriate for anything that you ferment in.

added water to the fill line - resealed rubber stopper-

Hopefully you are talking about the air lock and not the carboy (jug).

Though if you did add water to the FV, it wouldn't be a disaster. Just beer with less ABV. And possibly an ever so slightly more risk for infection.

 

[IslandLizard]

The main issue here is that a gallon carboy/vessel is too small for fermenting a 1 gallon batch.
Fermentation usually creates krausen (foam), and will spew out, wherever it can, sometimes in an explosive way, making a big mess.

It's therefore generally advised to leave at least 1/5th of your batch size as headspace in the fermenter, where the foam can expand into.

In your case, a gallon carboy should contain no more than 4/5th of a gallon of wort/beer. It puzzles me that the kit instructions don't mention this. Instead of en airlock, you can use a blow off tube into a jar with water or Starsan to prevent some of the mess when some blow-off occurs, but you'd still lose any beer that's being blown off.

With some fermentations/yeasts a larger headspace than 1/5th is recommended. Higher fermentation temps also tend to create more foam especially in the beginning, and also require a larger headspace.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

It puzzles me that the kit instructions don't mention this.

FWIW ...

eta: in addition to kit instructions, most retailers have "how to brew" videos available for those getting started. Back when I started, Northern Brewer had a DVD with their starter kit that contained much/most/all of the information that is helpful for the first brew day. ​