A beginner question

[Steve2298]

First time kit brew with a "Brewers Best" American Cream Ale kit. On Monday 5/3/21 I brewed a batch following all procedures, starting with sanitization through time temps etc and had an OG of 1.053 I racked into my primary a 6.5 gallon bucket and inserted a sanitizer filled air lock and put it in a 67 degree room. By the next morning my fermentation was rolling along great. but by the 6th ( yesterday it had slowed to near stopped) today it is even slower, there is no blockage because if I push down gently on the lid it bubbles just fine. What should I do? Wait it out or do something? On another question when Siphoned off the wort into my primary before pithing the yeast I pulled a lot of the trub from the brewpot to the primary, How do I avoid this? Is it simply holding the siphon off the bottom and if so how much do I leave behind? Should I do a second siphon into a carboy? Are these too many questions in one post? Thanks a lot.

 

[mullet6577]

Buckets notoriously do not seal great and you lose fermentation gasses through the lid instead of the airlock. Airlock activity really doesn't mean anything in regards to fermentation. Take gravity samples to know if you have fermentation or if it is done

 

[hotbeer]

Mostly just be patient. Yeast doesn't go gung-ho but for a short time. It made me doubt my first brew too when it bubble furiously 12 hours after pitching then two days later was next to none that steadily increased to a respectable amount of bubbling... in the beer. I don't care what the bubble rate of an airlock is or isn't.

But after 4 weeks in the primary fermenter, it was a really good beer. High alcohol too, though I don't know how much because I didn't worry with SG readings on that batch. But the other two that tasted it claimed they liked it. And they, like me got a buzz off the first bottle.

 

[bailey mountain brewer]

If possible you may want get it maybe 2 degrees warmer, 70f at the most for a diacetyl rest. At 6 days most of your fermentation is done and the yeast just need to clean up after themselves. Leave it there for a couple days then consider taking a gravity reading. You will want to make note of it and take another gravity reading a day or 2 later, if they are the same it is done. As far as siphoning the trub that is battle that will always be a challenge so just keep it off the bottom and get as much as you can into the fermenter without getting to much trub, you'll develop a technique for this over time.

 

[FswBG]

Hey welcome to the board and congrats on the first brew. I find fermentation is generally done in a week's time, but if you're unsure and don't have a way to check your gravity, I would say give it a few extra days to make sure.

As far as limiting the trub in the kettle and/or fermenter here are a few suggestions.
1) Make sure to stir in the extract well at warm temps to avoid clumping
2) Use a hop spider, mesh bag, or something to keep the hop matter from sinking down to the bottom of the kettle
3) At the end of the boil, stir the wort while chilling and then give it 10 minutes or so to settle. (You're essentially whirlpooling the cast wort and the trub will settle in the center of the kettle. Draw from side if you don't have a valve to the kettle. If you do have a valve, open slowly to rack into the fermenter; don't just open full blast.)

Cheers and welcome!

 

[bailey mountain brewer]

Oh and for you last question, I would not siphon to a second carboy. let it ride for another week and then move to bottling bucket. Good choice on your first kit, excellent way to get started in the hobby.

Cheers

 

[3 Dawg Night]

It's not necessary to avoid trub in the fermenter. A lot of brewers just pour the entire contents of the kettle into the fermenter. It won't hurt your beer at all. Just try to avoid it when you rack into your bottling bucket or keg.

As far as when fermentation is complete, ignore the airlock (as others have already stated). If you have a hydrometer or refractometer, it's done when you get two constant gravity readings spaced a couple of days apart. If you don't have a hydrometer/refractometer, just let it ride 2-3 weeks before packaging.

 

[hamachi]

First time kit brew with a "Brewers Best" American Cream Ale kit...

That was my very first kit too! Back in August of last year. Since then, I have become completely hooked on homebrewing, moved to all-grain mash-in-a-bag, and brewed up about 32 batches total.

Anyway, don't worry about the bubbles slowing down. I have had some batches bubble steadily for a couple of weeks, others bubble like crazy for 2 days and then almost stop, and everything in between. Because I hate the idea of exposing the brew to oxygen in order to get a gravity reading, I leave the fermenter sealed and just make sure I give it more than enough time to finish rather than risk bottling too soon. So with bubbling already slowing, I'd say leave it alone for maybe two weeks total and it should be done.

Ignore whatever the kit says about doing a secondary. When fermentation is done. just cook up and cool your priming solution, dump it in your sanitized bottling bucket, siphon the finished beer from primary into the bucket, and bottle away.

 

[bracconiere]

LOL i just had a batch finish in a day! albeit at ~80f,,,,6 days it's probably done, the extra time the directions probably told you is for clarification....

it's a phenomena of yeast bred for making alcohol called flocculation, but it takes some time, and cooling helps too...