my first brew question

I just got a Williams Home Brew kit and put my first batch of wort in the fermenter on Sunday afternoon. within 4-6 hours, it started bubbling through the air lock and foam started developing. after about 20 hours, the foam grew to be about 6inches high and the air-lock was bubbling like crazy. then, between 30-40 hours after starting, the air lock stopped bubbling and the height of the foam started decreasing. as of today, the foam is about 1 inch thick and the air lock does not bubble.

I am new to this so i don't know if this is normal. i thought the foam would keep building, instead of diminishing.

Any info would be greatly appreciated

-Austin

 

Sounds perfectly normal. Leave it alone for another 2-3 weeks. After your hydrometer reads stable for a few days in a row, bottle or keg.

In the meantime, pick put your next brew and get to it

 

Its normal, Just try to remember the only way to see if a brew is done is by taking hydrometer readings. Just wait one week take a reading. You can then keep it in the same fermenter or transfer it into secondary. (You're going to get alot of back and forth on the whole secondary thing). Just take a reading every week until the reading are about the same. Roughly brews take about two week then they are done for the most part. I've been experiencing my FG to be around 1.012 or 1.009 most of them at 1.009. Good luck and hope this helps.

 

Seeing as you're from Texas, I'm assuming that the weather is still a little warm, and this would contribute to the fast start. As you read through this forum, you will see countless posts referring to airlock activity, and just as many advising not to rely on the airlock as an indicator of fermentation. The true test is the gravity readings. What type of beer did you brew, and what are the temps these days?

 

I brewed a Weizenbeer kit. if i remember correctly the OG was around 1.069( i have it written down but not near me now)

As of this morning, the temperature is 80 degrees but by the end of the day it will be about 86. My apartment is at a nice temperature of 65 for the beer but the thermometer i have in the closet the beer is in says its 68-70 degrees where the fermenter is located

 

For the average ale,68-70F is a decent temp. I get some good ones in that range,but I would like to take the cooper's ale yeast down to 64F,which is 2F above it's minimum.

 

Welcome to brewing!
Everything there sounds pretty normal depending on a whole lot of things, each fermentation is different and there are numerous factors that affect fermentation, some of these factors are out of our control. For instance: Higher temperatures will ferment faster and create more "0ff" flavors. (Depending on what style you are brewing)

A few things you may want to implement: Leave your beer alone once it starts fermenting, for about three weeks typically, the yeast know what to do. After appx. 3 weeks check the gravity and taste the sample, then leave it alone for 3 days, then check the gravity again and taste, if the gravity is the same, it is done fermenting.

After you're satisfied fermentation and clarity are good, you can proceed to bottling or secondary if adding fruit, spices, dry hopping, bourbon soaked wood chips, gelatin or some other clarifier, etc, etc.

This is very simplified and I'm sure others will add more, alot of things really depends on what beer you are creating. The best and sometimes hardest thing you can do to help your beer is: RDWHAHB, In the meantime, you can read this for more info: http://www.howtobrew.com/sitemap.html

Brew on my friend

 

Sounds like you're fine, but keep in mind that the fermentation temp will be higher than the ambient temp, so as you brew, make sure you're in the optimum range for the yeast, preferably on the low end of the range. Good luck, you'll be fired up when you taste the finished product. Don't rush it.

 

So, its been a week in the fermenter(i am trying to work on the wrole patient thing...) I took a hydrometer reading, it measured 1.0175. the kit said the FG should be 1.019. I didnt think thespecific gravity of the beer would rise, i thought it would only lower.

Is it bad that it is lower than the target FG after only a week?

Oh, and the beer lightened up a lot. Since i read the thread about bubble gum flavored beer i went ahead and tasted some. it was kinda warm and flat(as to be expected) but it tasted pretty good for its current condition.

 

A little lower on the FG is ok. Listed FG's are more like guidelines,ime. Just make sure you get a stable FG before proceeding.

 

I would also look at the temp you taking it at. Most hydrometers are calibrated to 60F.

If your beers at 70F that could throw it off one point (instead of 1.0175 it may be 1.0185).

But I would also agree its more of a guideline.