Upgraded my equipment/Worried about the cold

[kylieWylie]

Hello. I first brewed a batch of red ale with an all in one kit that i bought and it turned out sour. That was my first attempt at brewing. Since then i have upgraded my equipment and am trying to produce two more batches. The first time i had a five gallon kettle on an electric stove. Now I have a 42 quart stainless steel brewing kettle, A seafood cooker with a propane tank, A stirring paddle, a copper immersion wort chiller, an autosiphon and hose, food grade sanitizer, a hydrometer and test tube, bottle capper and bottling bucket, and two fermenting buckets with lids and airlocks, and bottles. I just cooked out the wort for two kits, one was an Irish stout and the other was an American Cream Ale. The american cream ale wort was not hard, it had no steeping. I cooked it out very well and ran the wort chiller till it hit 73 then did the add and it read around 70. Then I cooked out the Irish stout wort and wrapped the flames around the kettle till it hit 150 and then turned the flame down to low and it held at 160 F even for 20 minutes, removed and boiled out the rest of the ingredients and chillled down to 68 perfect. Autosiphoned after each and the kit said to sprinkle not rehydrate the yeast so i did. Wort looked and smelled good. Temperature was good. It is winter here in ohio and my american cream ale fermenter was sitting it a house, temperature of thermometer on top of the fermenter said 70 F but the fermentation stuck till i moved it near a warmer wall and a vent. Irish stout is at two and a half days and has not taken off yet but i know three days is normal. American cream ale took off in 8 hours then stuck then recovered. Irish stout has not started. Should i consider heating bands or when should i consider a repitch? I think it might be a slow ferment. It is kinda cold here but i am pretty sure they are at 70. What else could i have done wrong. I still have some activity in american cream ale fermenter. They are just going really slow.

 

[kylieWylie]

For more information, I used great value spring water because the tap is unreliable in my area and the kits said to use 2.5 gallons but i got word from a brewmaster that i could do all 5 gallons at once so i did and i then added to about five and a quarter for loss.

 

[ncsuwerewolf]

Buckets are notorious for not sealing. Have you verified you have no activity by removing the lid? I would swirl the bucket and verify your seal. Give it time yeast area living thing and can be fickle.

 

[mongoose33]

Buckets are notorious for not sealing. Have you verified you have no activity by removing the lid? I would swirl the bucket and verify your seal. Give it time yeast area living thing and can be fickle.

This was what I thought, too--is there a kreusen on top of the wort? If they don't seal, you're going to see little or no activity through the airlock.

I just brewed my first two batches, using S-04 and S-05 yeast, and both were fermented in my basement, where the ambient temp is 64-65, and the temp band on the fermenters indicated 68 degrees.

What yeast are you using?

 

[kylieWylie]

I have not opened the buckets but the lids snapped on pretty good, I used the nottingham ale yeast that came with a brewers best five gallon kit. The american cream ale took off quite well in ten hours but then stuck around day 2. I have them at my uncles house and will go there tomorrow and look.

 

[tennesseean_87]

You're fermenting way too warm. Try closer to 60 F ambient temp.

 

[itchygomey]

One of my buckets doesn't seal. The lid seems to snap on, but I NEVER get activity in the air lock. Forget air lock activity. Use a hydrometer. If it has krausen, it IS fermenting. The stuck fermentation you are describing was likely not stuck at all but simply slowing down as it should. Warming it up kicked yeast into overdrive and warmer temperature made the beer swell which you saw in airlock activity. RDWHAHB

 

[theseeker4]

I have not opened the buckets but the lids snapped on pretty good, I used the nottingham ale yeast that came with a brewers best five gallon kit. The american cream ale took off quite well in ten hours but then stuck around day 2. I have them at my uncles house and will go there tomorrow and look.

It can seem to be very tight when you snap it on, but still let tons of gas out. You need to look at the beer itself and check gravitates to confirm fermentation, or the lack thereof. Also, your timelines are not clear, how long are you giving the beer before you are deciding it isn't fermenting? It can take a couple days or so for fermentation to take off.

You are also fermenting too warm, you need to keep the beer in a space that is in the low to mid 60s or your beer flavor can suffer.

 

[pshankstar]

PATIENCE is key to the hobby/obsession/addiction! Wait at least a week or two after pitching the yeast before you pop the lid off your bucket and check. When you do, see if there is a krausen ring. If so, it's fermenting.

It's hard to worry about the lack of airlock activity, which I'm assuming your looking at and guessing it's not fermenting properly. I have had the last couple of batches show no airlock activity but fermented just fine. Luckily I can see if there is a krausen ring with a flash light in my FastFerment setup. Maybe you can take a flashlight and set it on the lid to see if there is a krausen ring. I've heard of others doing this with their buckets and can tell without removing the lid.

Good luck, sit back and give it time. While you're waiting drink a home brew. [emoji482]

 

[kylieWylie]

I know they are sitting at 70 so i will forego the heating bands for sure. I moved them because i thought maybe during the night the temp in the back room dropped down too far. It was a corner room in a drafty house and it is in the teens here. I also think I might have gotten a wrong impression of airlock activity cause my very first batch was sour. I will shine a flashlight in them to get an idea. Other than that i am just going to pop the top on the 17 and see what happened. Brew day was the 3, i told myself i would make crisp clean beer after the red ale went sour. I have made up my mind, they are going to sit. thanks guys

 

[kylieWylie]

Thought you might get a kick out of these. American cream ale in the one and Irish stout in the other.

 

[kylieWylie]

sorry that may have been a little excessive.

 

[ccaron93]

Hi KylieWylie - I'm as new, or newer than you at this, but i wanted to make sure you were properly aerating the wort after chilling. I might have missed that part of your story but not sure what you were siphoning for?

 

[kylieWylie]

No I have not yet aerated the wort. I have thought about buying a new fish tank pump and stone on a hose. Just cooked and autosiphoned into fermenter. I will have to level up.

 

[ccaron93]

Recommend you aerate via vigorous pours back and forth after chilling the wort and before yeast pitching to ensure the right ppm of oxygen in your wort. The yeast will grow and reproduce better with the high oxygen content.

Additionally in your stout, you may not have pitched enough yeast. Depending on the OG you may have wanted a higher cell count than your cream ale but again, only speculating.

 

[kylieWylie]

Seeing as how this is the beginners brewing forum i thought i would say this. I have learned in a short period of time that brewing is not a recipe or a process, however more like an art or a craft. If you are reading my thread as a beginner, i offer these things that i have learned. You're unfermented wort is damn near as sensitive as a petri dish and wild yeast may reside on dust in the surrounding air. Invest and educate previous. Know you're environment and adapt to your surroundings. Half the mistakes I made were situational as i was encountering the process. I hope it helps. My fermenters are stalling, they may finish with a low abv or not at all but i will reinvest. I am going to make perfect batches. Thanks to all who commented.

 

[physics911]

Unless you just want to spend money, don't go buying a bunch of equipment to make your beer better; it won't. Right now the problem is you, not your equipment. That's not meant as dig in any way. We all started at the same place. I'm just saying, don't try to buy your way out of the learning curve.

And yes, beer is an art, an a craft. It is also a recipe and a process, and specifically it is science. While the end product can transcend all the inputs, it is nothing more than biology, chemistry, and physics at work.

Read, brew, ask questions, brew some more, make mistakes, and enjoy.