It's alive... again! Que pasa?

So I did my first all-grain batch 2 weeks ago... 15 days to be exact. It was a 1-gallon Everyday IPA kit from Brooklyn Brew Shop. Brew process went seemingly fine... no real hiccups. After putting it in the fermentor, it had a pretty quick and violent fermentation for about 20-24 hours and then it went silent (not a touch of visible activity after that first 24 hours). It cleared up within a day or two and was super clear. I told myself I wouldn't touch it for at least 2-3 weeks. Well yesterday, it was still nice and clear, but I started seeing a few bubbles forming on top (hasn't been a bubble on top or in the airlock in 14 days). Today, it is super cloudy again and I'm getting lots of bubbles on top and in the airlock again. I haven't removed the airlock or touched it since I first put it in the fermentor. The only thing that has really changed is the temperature, but just by about 2 degrees. I was keeping it at 68-70... but the past 4 or 5 days I've been keeping it at between 70-72. Will that extra 2-degrees make so much of a difference that it would cause this, or is there something else going on?

 

After fermentation is over, there will still be co2 dissolved on the beer that will slowly escape on its own. A rise in temperature can accelerate that process, sometimew referred to as off-gassing.

All is well! Bottle that brew!

 

With the way it has seemed to kick into an extended fermentation (the first one barely lasted 24 hours and this one is going on 48 and pretty strong)... would it really be advisable to bottle? Surely not right now... wouldn't it be best to hold off until this (recent) fermentation is complete? It is fermenting now like I expected it to ferment 2 weeks ago.

 

What is happening now is not fermentation, just a small amount of gas escaping. Safe to bottle so long as you have reached a steady final gravity.

 

This is the first time I've experienced this so *I* can't honestly say... it has never happened with any of my previous beers. But it sounds like you are saying it is completely normal for just a small amount of escaping CO2 to take it from an absolutely crystal clear beer after two weeks and turn it into a pea soup thick, completely opaque beer out of nowhere?

Just three days ago, I could practically read newspaper print through the jug, and now it looks like this:



In your professional opinion, that is "just a small amount of escaping gas" ?

 

That is kind of what I was thinking.

So help me out a bit if you (or anyone else) can. What would cause a violent but super fast fermentation that lasts less than 24 hours (visibly anyways), and then it seemingly goes dormant for 2 weeks and then goes right back to another visibly active fermentation? As I mentioned... I haven't touched it, opened it, or done anything to it... the only thing that has changed is that 2-ish degree swing in temp. Brooklyn Brew Shop doesn't mention the type of dry yeast they supply in their kits, so I'm not quite sure what type of yeast it is. They don't mention in the instructions at what temp to ferment, but their book says to place the fermenter in an area where the temperature is 65-70F. I was keeping it at a somewhat steady 68-70, but then went on vacation for a week and let the thermostat go up to 72 while I was out. I've been keeping it at 70-72 for the past 5 or 6 days. That extra 2 degrees is the only thing that has changed since pitching the yeast.

 

Looking at it today, as it continues to go like crazy, it appears that the yeast cake on the bottom of the fermenter is going to end up at least 2-3 times the size for a normal batch that size. Something seems definitely amiss.

 

Did you take any refractometer or hydrometer readings? What yeast did you use and how did you use it?

 

Do you have young kids?

Have you noticed any boxes of sugar cubes missing from your kitchen lately?

 

I echo yooper on that it is a rly active fermentation.

I would think that during the first 24h the yeast collapsed on itself. However, everything was not lost as the few survivors from that catastrophic global warming procreated until they could take over that left out sugar for good.

This is plausible only if the temp was too high at the end of those first 24h


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

i'm still new,

but is it possible this is another, more aggressive yeast strain taking over? i know there's wild yeast everywhere. but... that looks like textbook fermentation to me... i'd say that bottle was on day four if i didn't know any better.

 

Agreed. After seeing a picture (krausen, what looks like cloudy beer), that is definitely not just off-gassing.

I would let this settle and take a gravity reading with a hydrometer. How does it smell?

 

I haven't opened it up yet until just now. Smells like beer... nothing really smells that off. As to the brand/style of yeast... I'm not 100% sure what they supply. They suggest, in their book, that you use Safale S-05. Now I didn't re-hydrate the yeast before dumping it in. To the one that said the yeast may have fell down to the bottom on top of itself... I imagine that could happen when you don't rehydrate dry yeast first? It took off like a rocket those first 24 hours and then just went dead silent. It was super clear after probably 48 hours which is way faster than any fermentations I've witnessed in the past. I figured I would ride it out for 3 weeks and see.

I haven't taken any refractometer readings since before I pitched. I guess I could steal a few drops this evening and throw it into the conversion calculator. I'll do that here shortly.

Actually... I just took a sample and did a refractometer reading and then tasted and smelled it. Actually... it tastes fantastic. As to the smell... well, I'm getting almost a pure grapefruit... super citrusy smell. At first smell, with your eyes closed, you would think you are smelling a bottle of grapefruit juice rather than beer. That from the Cascade?

 

Let it ride
It will make beer

 

Yup that is active fermentation.

I did a sour before that looked like it was about done then got a second wind and i had to get a blow off tube.

 

It had an OG of about 11.5 brix or 1.047. It now has a gravity of 5 brix which when thrown into the northern brewer refractometer calculator with the original... it is coming out at 1.004 for the current gravity. That is giving me a current ABV of about 5.56.

 

Given the info you've provided, I can only assume there was some sort of wild yeast or bacteria that laid dormant in there, only to decide to rip through your wort when the yeast were done eating up what they could.

But I'm new to this, so I could be dead wrong.

 

Well after another 4 good, strong active days... it is tapering back off and starting to clear up again. As of right now it smells pretty good (not odd at all... yet) and tastes fantastic (not odd there either). Let's hope that continues. I'm going to give it another week before I cold crash and then bottle. We'll see how it turns out.

 

if it smells good, and you're sitting at a healthy 5.56% ... let it ride and see what it tastes like.

it MIGHT get a funky taste, but it's NOT going to be harmful for you. so don't fear and drink away : )

 

I still think someone snuck new fermentables in there without your knowledge.

 

A honey elf.