So I recently decided to try my hand at brewing. My wife and I took a class at a local supply shop and she bought me a starter kit for Valentines day. I supplemented the kit with a few odds and ends and did my first extract brew with specialty grains over the weekend.
The brew was good, I bucketed everything up and started seeing activity in the airlock after a few hours. I did some reading the next day and started second guessing some of my decisions.
I have a sealed 6 gallon bucket, and a 6 gallon bottling bucket with a tap. I poured the wort into the sealed bucket for primary fermentation thinking I would rack to the bottling bucket after a week. I did not realize that the best way to add sugar was by transfering to the bottling bucket on bottling day. Also I did not remove any of the solids from the brew when I transfered to the primary fermentation bucket.
Given these two "errors" I figured I might as well swap buckets early. I did not want my beer sitting on the trub and solids for 3 weeks and I read that beer needs oxygen for the first 24 hours and that it was bad at any point after, so I figured better to do it early, rather than swapping buckets back and forth later.
After about 30 hours of fermentation the airlock was still bubbling once every 10 - 15 seconds. I sterilized my bottling bucket, syphon and hose and decided to gently swap buckets, leaving the solids behind.
At that point all activity in the airlock stopped. I went to another brewing supplier in town the following day and explained the situation. They recomended pitching again sooner rather than later. Last night (roughly 50 hours into fermentiation) I pitched another dry yeast and today, 24 hours after re-pitching still zero activity.
When I looked in the bucket last night there were a few white spots floating on the surface of the beer, but no real "foam". These looked more like what grease would look like if it solidified on the surface (smaller than a dime, with maybe 5 or 6 spots floating).
I tested the seal on the bucket and it seems good. (if I press down on the lid and hold constant pressure the water in the airlock moves and holds its position until I let go). Last night I placed a gallon jug of Star-San mix on top of the bucket just to ensure the seal is holding. To compound the issue, I had a hydrometer but it did not come with a tube and I did not have a container deep enough so I skipped a gravity reading on brew day. (I have a tube now)
What should I do at this point if anything?
The brew was good, I bucketed everything up and started seeing activity in the airlock after a few hours. I did some reading the next day and started second guessing some of my decisions.
I have a sealed 6 gallon bucket, and a 6 gallon bottling bucket with a tap. I poured the wort into the sealed bucket for primary fermentation thinking I would rack to the bottling bucket after a week. I did not realize that the best way to add sugar was by transfering to the bottling bucket on bottling day. Also I did not remove any of the solids from the brew when I transfered to the primary fermentation bucket.
Given these two "errors" I figured I might as well swap buckets early. I did not want my beer sitting on the trub and solids for 3 weeks and I read that beer needs oxygen for the first 24 hours and that it was bad at any point after, so I figured better to do it early, rather than swapping buckets back and forth later.
After about 30 hours of fermentation the airlock was still bubbling once every 10 - 15 seconds. I sterilized my bottling bucket, syphon and hose and decided to gently swap buckets, leaving the solids behind.
At that point all activity in the airlock stopped. I went to another brewing supplier in town the following day and explained the situation. They recomended pitching again sooner rather than later. Last night (roughly 50 hours into fermentiation) I pitched another dry yeast and today, 24 hours after re-pitching still zero activity.
When I looked in the bucket last night there were a few white spots floating on the surface of the beer, but no real "foam". These looked more like what grease would look like if it solidified on the surface (smaller than a dime, with maybe 5 or 6 spots floating).
I tested the seal on the bucket and it seems good. (if I press down on the lid and hold constant pressure the water in the airlock moves and holds its position until I let go). Last night I placed a gallon jug of Star-San mix on top of the bucket just to ensure the seal is holding. To compound the issue, I had a hydrometer but it did not come with a tube and I did not have a container deep enough so I skipped a gravity reading on brew day. (I have a tube now)
What should I do at this point if anything?