First time brewer here, question about hydrometer reading.

Hey everyone,
I've finally started my first ever beer brew using the Young Brewbuddy starter kit.
I followed all instructions and it seems to be going well. I am 4 days into my brew and it smells alcoholic and is kicking out plenty of gases (I had to open one edge of my brewing barrel as it was inflating the lid!)
I had the krausen (apologies is spelt wrong) form at about day 2 but by the end of day 3 it had gone back down. The temperature has been a constant 20 degrees Celsius.
Now my only concern is that I took a hydrometer each day and it has stayed the same since day one. I is consistently reading 1.040. I fear that nothing is happening as the reading is the same for day 4. As I said it definitely seems to be doing something and is bubbling away like a soft drink. Is this normal or should I be worried that something is wrong?

 

Hi Andy I am not familiar with the Young's system but I'd say it was too early to start taking hydrometer readings. Here is the advice from Young's website:

"When the beer starts to ferment a thick foam will normally form on the top. This is quite normal and will protect the beer during fermentation. This should form within 24 hrs of the yeast being added. If nothing has happened within this time you may need to check the temperature of the room as it may be too cold. If the temperature is okay, leave for a bit more time. If nothing has happened after 48 hours then you may need to add yeast nutrient but have patience before taking this step.

The foam should die down after a couple of days, after which you should take a hydrometer reading. Bottle or barrel when the hydrometer readings have remained stable for a couple of days."

When you opened the barrel and took your sample did you see thick foam like described above? Something like this?


Normally no need to take hydrometer readings until that foamy stuff falls back into the beer. The fact that you did take three hydrometer readings and they are not showing any change over three days is a little troubling. What temperature is your beer fermenting at? -- too cold and maybe like Young's says above you need to bring that beer inside. What temperature was the beer when you added the yeast? --- if it was too hot you may have killed the yeast and should get some more ASAP. I'd ignore Young's suggestion for yeast nutrient.

Hope we can help.

 

Heya, sorry I did edit my post to try and include more information.

I had that foam appear around the start of day 2 and it died down by the end of day 3.
It has been sitting and a consistent 20 degrees Celsius.
It definitely smells like it's doing something. For some reason it smells kind of like cider. But definitely seems to smell of alcohol. It is fizzing and producing plenty of co2.

 

It sounds like it is fermenting, it looks like it is feremnting, walk away. For two weeks. Compose a sonnet. Think not upon it. Then, and only then, take a reading.

 

I will do just that. I am going to resist doing anything. I will just leave it to bubble away to its hearts delight. Cheers for the help guys. Helped me stop worrying. I feel like a first time parent!