Fermenting Questions

Hello everybody! I just brewed my first batch of beer ever. Needless to say I'm a little excited. I have a question though. I put the beer in my fermenter sunday. I couldnt get the temp as low as I wanted though. I pitched the yeast (Safale US-04) around 75 - 76 degrees. It bubble pretty decently for the first 48 hrs. Now its barely doing anything. Is this a problem? Thanks yall.

 

What was the OG, batch size and how much did you pitch? More than likely the fermentation is mostly done. That could be perfectly normal depending on several things. The really active stage generally will slow down after that amount of time.

 

I do not know the OG. That is the one step I forgot in my excitement. It is a 5gal batch. I put the whole packet of yeast in I dont know how much that is. I got an ingredient kit from my local homebrew store. My first batch I followed all directions but was haphazard with my note keeping. Things to improve on.

 

I did a batch a couple weeks ago w/ the same yeast; it bubbled pretty good for 48 hours then that was that.

I started out w/ 1.043 OG and finished with about 1.008, more or less. The attenuation was about 81 percent; that's about all I'm going to get out of that.

So there's nothing necessarily out of whack with your brew. It was pretty warm to pitch into, but I'd also ask whether you had a nice kreusen on top, and whether there's a significant trub/yeast layer on the bottom of the fermenter.

 

sounds standard. I use us04 and us05 a lot. At that temp, i could see the primary fermentation being close to over in 48 hours. I have a ferm chamber and keep mine around 61-62, and it takes 48-72 hours before major signs of fermentation to stop. I would really try to get those temps down. It may be 76 outside the vessel, but inside, that beer is probably pushing 84-86. A lot of heat is put out by the fermentation process.
When i keep my chamber at 61-62, the beer temp is more around 67-68 for the first few days. Its a good idea to get some stick on thermometers for your buckets. Lets you know what the beer temp is

 

nice kreusen on top more than an inch of trub on bottom. smells good. less sweet. I'm making a stout. I guess I'll just keep watching it. I was going to pull it out and bottle it ten days after if everything had stopped. Thank you for your response.

 

I have a stick on thermometer that came on with my kit. Says the beer is 74 right now. The 76 when it was pitched from from that thermometer. Thanks for your response!

 

plenty of time. When using that yeast, i usually bottle after a week and a half. Unless im dry hopping, then i dry hop after a week and a half.

You are going to get some really fruity flavors at that temp, not really to style, but should be good regardless.

 

sweet! thats much better temp, but still a bit high. You are one step ahead of me when i started. It took me 3 years to take fermenting temps seriously, but i promise you, it is one of the most important factors in making the beer taste like you want. And the only way to make a beer taste like one you have made before.

 

Fruity stout. Still sounds good hahah. Hey its my first brew. If its good enough to drink im goin to be dancin around like a man possesed.

 

Yeah my next step is to find a way to better cool my work. The sink **** aint workin. Not enough ice. Going to make my own cooler.

 

here is a cheap diy chiller that i built. But i work in heat ing and air, so the copper tubing was free for me. Got it out of the scrap pile

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/diy-cost-effective-immersion-wort-chiller.html

 

If I can find the copper thats exactly what I had in my head to build.