I have an odd question. I reproduced a beer that I enjoyed very much. However last time I fermented in a bucket for two weeks and the active fermentation (bubbles) in the airlock stopped at about 7-8 days if I remember correctly, ten at the most. This time around I am fermenting the same recipe beer in a glass carboy with a blow off tube. Every time I check on the beer it is bubbling once every few seconds still after 12 days. I planned to bottle after 14 days. There was one difference at the time I pitched the yeast, I forgot to aerate the way I normally do, but as I did funnel the wort in from a pitcher it was aerated somewhat and fermentation took off after a mere 4 hours. What are your thoughts?
Active Fermentation almost two weeks in...
- Thread starter Tkelly32
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I think you are mistaking airlock activity with fermentation. The airlock is to allow gasses to escape from the fermenter. The way to tell if the fermentation is done or not is through the use of your hydrometer.
Your beer will have CO2 dissolved in it during active fermentation and some of this will be outgassing for some time.
Your beer will have CO2 dissolved in it during active fermentation and some of this will be outgassing for some time.
Tkelly32
Well-Known Member
ok I had a feeling that response was coming and its cool but i really dont like the idea of testing the beer because i know it has fermented. Every time i bottle i test it & its good. I am not mistaking bubbles with fermentation however as i stated i've never experienced this bubble action this long and a layman's way is i guess to somewhat gauge when primary fermentation is done is by the lack of bubble action. Because it is a unwritten layman way of doing things there must be some truth to that rumor right? I know the beer has fermented I could test it I guess but if I'm dong that I might as well bottle it.
BrewKnurd
Well-Known Member
Why are you opposed to checking the gravity? what are you worried about?
Well, you did say "the active fermentation (bubbles) in the airlock stopped at about 7-8 days", so perhaps you'll forgive RM for thinking you were equating the two.
All other things being equal, you'll have more CO2 bubbling out when the yeast are actively fermenting that not. The downside is that may not know if "all other things are equal".
So while there is "some truth to the rumor" as you say, its just some truth. If you're fermenter is bubbling every few seconds, it may be fermenting. Or it may be offgassing. That's the point, you don't know. And there is one way to find out, but you didn't seem to like that idea.
Tkelly32
Well-Known Member
Why are you opposed to checking the gravity? what are you worried about?
Well, you did say "the active fermentation (bubbles) in the airlock stopped at about 7-8 days", so perhaps you'll forgive RM for thinking you were equating the two.
All other things being equal, you'll have more CO2 bubbling out when the yeast are actively fermenting that not. The downside is that may not know if "all other things are equal".
So while there is "some truth to the rumor" as you say, its just some truth. If you're fermenter is bubbling every few seconds, it may be fermenting. Or it may be offgassing. That's the point, you don't know. And there is one way to find out, but you didn't seem to like that idea.
Ha true enough, well what I don't like about it is I have to open up the carboy and put in the syphon there by introducing a chance for infection before bottling if indeed it is not done ferming.
phoenixs4r
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Tkelly32 said:Ha true enough, well what I don't like about it is I have to open up the carboy and put in the syphon there by introducing a chance for infection before bottling if indeed it is not done ferming.
So sanitize
The beer at this point is more resilient to infection as well due to alcohol content.
Hang Glider
Beer Drinker
Ha true enough, well what I don't like about it is I have to open up the carboy and put in the syphon there by introducing a chance for infection before bottling if indeed it is not done ferming.
a sanitized turkey baster or beer/wine thief is also a 'layman's way of doing things' when they want to collect a sample for their hydrometer.
This forum is filled with folks that have learned the craft and share their processes and experiences. Many of us consider using a hydrometer an essential tool to making good beer, and do not rely on airlock bubbling to tell us when fermentation is complete. Bubbles are gas escaping, as has been stated. That gas escaping may be fermentation, or may be dissolved CO2 in the beer that is releasing from solution. It may be due to temperature/pressure changes in the atmosphere, too.
Jus' sayin'
Tkelly32
Well-Known Member
I feel you man, thats real talk. But check it out, I feel the same way but without so much reliance on a hydrometer. Granted, I like checking the gravity, I just bottled the beer above the one I am talking about. I took the hose from the blow off tube from the beer below and replaced it with a airlock. Still had some bubbles afterwards. But I know that the beer is good, in terms of fermentation I am sure these bubbles are the offgassing that you gents speak of, I just go with what I feel which is why I have this ill recipe. I was not aware of offgassing so much before posting this but now it makes perfect sense. Its like this though, I can test the beer all day and night... but if I let it ferm for x amount of time I know relatively that the alcohol has been created, whether or not there are bubbles.... but given an airlock/blowoff setup the bubbles do create a viable window, majority of beers I have done the airlock is done poppin at 3-4 days, I ferment for 10 then bottle everything is good. Those are Hefes... now, these new brews I have been doing, this one in particular I have done a 14 day ferm to bottle, but last time I had none of these bubbles past 7 days... that is all I am saying I am not looking for who killed Kennedy or anything like that... just trying to open a discussion, this recipe is also one of a kind.
In homebrewing there is so much that we advise folks not to do, yet the one thing that EVERY book, podcast, magazine and website talks about is gravity readings....
How do you think we get them?
Do you think the advice to take them is a vast conspiracy by us old timers to ruin millions of new brewer's batches, so that they flee the hobby and give it a bad rap? Or so they make crappy beer and we kick your asses in contests?
With simple sanitization practices openning the fermenter to take a reading is perfectly safe. You won't spoil your beer.
I know it's a scary premise, but it is really silly to avoid something scientific like a gravity reading because you're afraid of that and instead rely on something faulty like counting bubbles. You have to man up, grow some stones and get over the idea that openning your fermenter to do something positive like take a gravity reading, is dangerous.
Our beer is much stronger than that.
Your HYDROMETER is the only BEST indicator of fermentation activity. Nothing else is accurate or consistent...
Unless you take a gravity reading you don't know what's really going on, not by airlock bubbling or by krausen formation. Neither of those signs are effective, they don't tell you exactly where on the fermentation process you are.
The amount of krausen can vary for whatever reason, it can come quick and depart quickly or it can linger long after fermentation is complete, and it all be normal.
Your airlock is not a fermentation gauge, it is a VALVE to release excess co2. And the peak of fermentation has already wound down, so there's simply no need to vent off any excess co2.
Sorry but that really is the only answer that is accurate or consistant, the numbers on the little stick. I have had evrey airlock bubbling/non bubbling/slow bubbling/fast bubbling/little krausen/big krausen/slow forming krausen/krausen staying 3 weeks after the hydro showed terminal gravity scenario imaginable in nearly 1,000 gallons of beer, and none of that stuff is as accurate as 30 seconds with a hydrometer.
With simple sanitization practices openning the fermenter to take a reading is perfectly safe. You won't spoil your beer.
This is what I use, and it works with both buckets and carboys.
I replaced the plastic one a year ago with an extra long stainless baster from a kitchen ware store and it is awesome. But the plastic one from any grocery store works fine.
And
Here's what I do....
1) With a spray bottle filled with starsan I spray the lid of my bucket, or the mouth of the carboy, including the bung. Then I spray my turkey baster inside and out with sanitize (or dunking it in a container of sanitizer).
2) Open fermenter.
3) Draw Sample
4) fill sample jar (usualy 2-3 turky baster draws
5)Spray bung or lid with sanitizer again
6) Close lid or bung
6) add hydrometer and take reading
It is less than 30 seconds from the time the lid is removed until it is closed again. More like 15 if you ask me.
Probably less if you have help. And unless a bird flies in your place and lets go with some poop, you should be okay.
How do you think we get them?
Do you think the advice to take them is a vast conspiracy by us old timers to ruin millions of new brewer's batches, so that they flee the hobby and give it a bad rap? Or so they make crappy beer and we kick your asses in contests?
With simple sanitization practices openning the fermenter to take a reading is perfectly safe. You won't spoil your beer.
I know it's a scary premise, but it is really silly to avoid something scientific like a gravity reading because you're afraid of that and instead rely on something faulty like counting bubbles. You have to man up, grow some stones and get over the idea that openning your fermenter to do something positive like take a gravity reading, is dangerous.
Our beer is much stronger than that.
Your HYDROMETER is the only BEST indicator of fermentation activity. Nothing else is accurate or consistent...
Unless you take a gravity reading you don't know what's really going on, not by airlock bubbling or by krausen formation. Neither of those signs are effective, they don't tell you exactly where on the fermentation process you are.
The amount of krausen can vary for whatever reason, it can come quick and depart quickly or it can linger long after fermentation is complete, and it all be normal.
Your airlock is not a fermentation gauge, it is a VALVE to release excess co2. And the peak of fermentation has already wound down, so there's simply no need to vent off any excess co2.
Sorry but that really is the only answer that is accurate or consistant, the numbers on the little stick. I have had evrey airlock bubbling/non bubbling/slow bubbling/fast bubbling/little krausen/big krausen/slow forming krausen/krausen staying 3 weeks after the hydro showed terminal gravity scenario imaginable in nearly 1,000 gallons of beer, and none of that stuff is as accurate as 30 seconds with a hydrometer.
With simple sanitization practices openning the fermenter to take a reading is perfectly safe. You won't spoil your beer.
This is what I use, and it works with both buckets and carboys.
I replaced the plastic one a year ago with an extra long stainless baster from a kitchen ware store and it is awesome. But the plastic one from any grocery store works fine.
And
Here's what I do....
1) With a spray bottle filled with starsan I spray the lid of my bucket, or the mouth of the carboy, including the bung. Then I spray my turkey baster inside and out with sanitize (or dunking it in a container of sanitizer).
2) Open fermenter.
3) Draw Sample
4) fill sample jar (usualy 2-3 turky baster draws
5)Spray bung or lid with sanitizer again
6) Close lid or bung
6) add hydrometer and take reading
It is less than 30 seconds from the time the lid is removed until it is closed again. More like 15 if you ask me.
Probably less if you have help. And unless a bird flies in your place and lets go with some poop, you should be okay.
But then why did you ask? You asked a question, got the answer that you didn't want to hear, I guess, and want to berate those trying to help?
Co2 comes out of solution for all sorts of reasons, from fermentation to barometric pressure changes. Maybe your beer is fermenting, but probably not. That's what people are saying. And the only way to know for sure is by hydrometer readings. "Discussion" is good- talking in circles is not.
Maybe your house is one degree cooler than the last time, or three degrees warmer. That will impact the "bubbles" and not really be an indicator of anything. Sometimes less yeast is pitched, and that can slow and/or inhibit fermentation. But again, it doesn't really matter if the beer ferments for 24 hours, 6 days, or 10 days. When it's done, it's done. And if it's not, it's not.
stevedasleeve
Well-Known Member
And of course you can do what I do: don't check, just wait longer! Even low gravity beers around here are not bottled (kegged actually) for 3 weeks. Most of the time it's 5. I don't ever take a gravity reading till the carboys are up and about to be siphoned and the only reason I take a sample is because I like to drink flat beer while I work.
Hey it's not like you can do very much right? let it ferment , leave it alone, wait an extra week, brew more, leave it alone. Makes the whole thing so much easier. ...
Of course YMMV and IMHO. And WTF etc. and so on.
Steve da sleeve
Hey it's not like you can do very much right? let it ferment , leave it alone, wait an extra week, brew more, leave it alone. Makes the whole thing so much easier. ...
Of course YMMV and IMHO. And WTF etc. and so on.
Steve da sleeve
Tkelly32
Well-Known Member
whoa whoa, no one is berating anyone here. I may have a way with words and I apologize but umm, no disrespect to anyone I asked the question because I've never had bubbles this long. Its not like I don't like the answer I just have my own opinion with the readings, and with the window. I get it that you do not share that viewpoint. And I appreciate your viewpoint.
Tkelly32
Well-Known Member
In homebrewing there is so much that we advise folks not to do, yet the one thing that EVERY book, podcast, magazine and website talks about is gravity readings....
How do you think we get them?
Do you think the advice to take them is a vast conspiracy by us old timers to ruin millions of new brewer's batches, so that they flee the hobby and give it a bad rap? Or so they make crappy beer and we kick your asses in contests?
With simple sanitization practices openning the fermenter to take a reading is perfectly safe. You won't spoil your beer.
I know it's a scary premise, but it is really silly to avoid something scientific like a gravity reading because you're afraid of that and instead rely on something faulty like counting bubbles. You have to man up, grow some stones and get over the idea that openning your fermenter to do something positive like take a gravity reading, is dangerous.
Our beer is much stronger than that.
Your HYDROMETER is the only BEST indicator of fermentation activity. Nothing else is accurate or consistent...
Unless you take a gravity reading you don't know what's really going on, not by airlock bubbling or by krausen formation. Neither of those signs are effective, they don't tell you exactly where on the fermentation process you are.
The amount of krausen can vary for whatever reason, it can come quick and depart quickly or it can linger long after fermentation is complete, and it all be normal.
Your airlock is not a fermentation gauge, it is a VALVE to release excess co2. And the peak of fermentation has already wound down, so there's simply no need to vent off any excess co2.
Sorry but that really is the only answer that is accurate or consistant, the numbers on the little stick. I have had evrey airlock bubbling/non bubbling/slow bubbling/fast bubbling/little krausen/big krausen/slow forming krausen/krausen staying 3 weeks after the hydro showed terminal gravity scenario imaginable in nearly 1,000 gallons of beer, and none of that stuff is as accurate as 30 seconds with a hydrometer.
With simple sanitization practices openning the fermenter to take a reading is perfectly safe. You won't spoil your beer.
This is what I use, and it works with both buckets and carboys.
I replaced the plastic one a year ago with an extra long stainless baster from a kitchen ware store and it is awesome. But the plastic one from any grocery store works fine.
And
Here's what I do....
1) With a spray bottle filled with starsan I spray the lid of my bucket, or the mouth of the carboy, including the bung. Then I spray my turkey baster inside and out with sanitize (or dunking it in a container of sanitizer).
2) Open fermenter.
3) Draw Sample
4) fill sample jar (usualy 2-3 turky baster draws
5)Spray bung or lid with sanitizer again
6) Close lid or bung
6) add hydrometer and take reading
It is less than 30 seconds from the time the lid is removed until it is closed again. More like 15 if you ask me.
Probably less if you have help. And unless a bird flies in your place and lets go with some poop, you should be okay.
Thanks revvy, and no I do not think its a vast conspiracy and I like the science behind it. Perhaps I shall attempt to harvest a pair of testicles next time around and take some readings premature to bottling. Godspeed.
Tkelly32
Well-Known Member
I agree with Steve! Steve for President!
You agree because you're a chicken and rationallizing it because he doesn't do it. The difference between he and YOU, is that he knows how to do it, and has done it repeatedly, but since he does an extended primary he knows he doesn't need to bother.
But he's also not equating a bubbling airlock with a fermentation gauge. If he felt there was something wrong, he'd be taking a reading...that's a big difference between the two of you.
He understands that a hydromter is not something to fear, but it is the most important diagnostic tool you can use in brewing. He knows that iff you want to know what's going on with your beer, then that's what you use. The only way to truly know what is going on in your fermenter is with your hydrometer. Like I said here in my blog, which I encourage you to read, Think evaluation before action you sure as HELL wouldn't want a doctor to start cutting on you unless he used the proper diagnostic instuments like x-rays first, right? You wouldn't want him to just take a look in your eyes briefly and say "I'm cutting into your chest first thing in the morning." You would want them to use the right diagnostic tools before the slice and dice, right? You'd cry malpractice, I would hope, if they didn't say they were sending you for an MRI and other things before going in....
You're opting for avoidance out of fear, and then thinking your beer is fermentating just because an airlock started blipping. He is choosing not to take one because in his process he's not monitoring it during the process, he's doing what many of us do, pitching yeast and walking away for a month.
But he already understands that airlocks bubble for many reasons Barometric changes/Temp changes/ A truck rumbling by on the street/The cat brushing against it/Vacuum Cleaner....Bubbling of an airlock, especially if it's been idle for awhile, is usually a product of changes in the environment, rather than anything else. All that more than likely happened is gas that has been present ALL THE TIME in solution got released, either from it being trapped in the yeast at the bottom of the vessel, because of some physical shaking of the vessel or the room it is being stored in, or the change in barometric pressure putting pressure on the liquid in the vessel or a rise in ambient temp causing the co2 to expand beyond the layer that was in the headspace. Or opening the fermenter to take a gravity reading....
Or because they moved the fermenter.
If you choose to opt for that technique, then first you have to have taken readings when you thought there's a problem to begin with.
JustLooking
Well-Known Member
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Damn Steve, better put on your tin foil hat. Revvy's in your head.
Bob
Well-Known Member
You're confusing your (erroneous) opinion with a factual viewpoint. Yooper and Revvy are pointing out that your viewpoint/opinion/whateveryouwannacallit is factually and demonstrably wrong. You came on these forums and asked a question. Experienced brewers, in order to help you, answered your question with demonstrable science and fact. You continue to disagree, rationalize, and write the HBT equivalent of "Nuh-uh!".
Disagreement in the face of overwhelming, demonstrable fact is petulance. You might just as well claim that the Earth is flat. Your viewpoint is without merit. To cling to it makes no one want to help you. You're either a know-nothing ingrate or a troll. I can't decide. Either way, I know I will certainly steer clear of your future posts.
Good luck to you.
Bob
Dotmo
Member
"You're either a know-nothing ingrate or a troll. I can't decide."
...because this is a good thing to say (trolling as well!!!) and a positive way to help a new brewer, even if they are hesitant to listen to time-tested advice.
I value the opinions of the senior brewers here, but a lot of the time, while the responses to easy questions are well-intended, the beer snob attitudes shine through like a lighthouse on a clear night. Unless you were born with the full knowledge of the brewing process and what to do/not to do, you were a beginning brewer yourselves at one point....my advice? rdwahahb! People getting bent out of shape because someone's process differs from their own!
Its their "crappy" beer, not yours.
Again, senior members, I value your opinion and FULLY agree with what you are saying regarding the use of a hydrometer...just that the way the 'friendly advice' comes across sometimes is quite harsh, especially to the new brewers that dont always search around for the answer before they ask their question.
Brew on! :rockin:
...because this is a good thing to say (trolling as well!!!) and a positive way to help a new brewer, even if they are hesitant to listen to time-tested advice.
I value the opinions of the senior brewers here, but a lot of the time, while the responses to easy questions are well-intended, the beer snob attitudes shine through like a lighthouse on a clear night. Unless you were born with the full knowledge of the brewing process and what to do/not to do, you were a beginning brewer yourselves at one point....my advice? rdwahahb! People getting bent out of shape because someone's process differs from their own!
Its their "crappy" beer, not yours.
Again, senior members, I value your opinion and FULLY agree with what you are saying regarding the use of a hydrometer...just that the way the 'friendly advice' comes across sometimes is quite harsh, especially to the new brewers that dont always search around for the answer before they ask their question.
Brew on! :rockin:
Bob
Well-Known Member
Did you read the entire thread? That's not what happened here. What happened here was not a new brewer raising his hand and asking a question. This was a brewer of unknown experience asking a question, getting the right answer, and arguing that his wrong answer/approach was right. It's not. That's being an ingrate.
I'm one of the experienced brewers who's sick and tired of trying to help people, because all too often when we do we get arguments from the clueless and hand-wringing from those who get freaked when righteous indignation shows forth.
Yes, at one time I was a beginning brewer. I sucked up all the knowledge I could get. I listened to experienced brewers when they answered my questions. I sure as hell didn't argue with them. I've been brewing for damn near two decades, have judged, competed, and brewed professionally. Why? Because I listened when experienced people told me stuff.
Cordially,
Bob
I'm one of the experienced brewers who's sick and tired of trying to help people, because all too often when we do we get arguments from the clueless and hand-wringing from those who get freaked when righteous indignation shows forth.
Yes, at one time I was a beginning brewer. I sucked up all the knowledge I could get. I listened to experienced brewers when they answered my questions. I sure as hell didn't argue with them. I've been brewing for damn near two decades, have judged, competed, and brewed professionally. Why? Because I listened when experienced people told me stuff.
Cordially,
Bob
Dotmo
Member
Exactly my point bob. You listened and it helped your brewing. He didn't listen so his brew process is not likely to get better until through his experience he learns.
If he choses not to listen, beating him down isn't going to help. Yes bob, I did read the whole thread....and there is quite a bit of beer snob throughout. I'm not saying its unfounded snobbery, but it's most definitely there, and as a newcomer to this forum it kinda makes me sick seeing responses like this in a lot of beginner posts.
Honestly, I don't really care how many gallons people have brewed or if they're judges not...this isn't about the validity of the suggestions made....as I have already pointed out, I agree with what was said.....it's the holier-than-thou attitude because his fermentation indicators aren't scientific and are different from the techniques of the senior members.
It's his beer, not anyone else's.
RAHAHB
If he choses not to listen, beating him down isn't going to help. Yes bob, I did read the whole thread....and there is quite a bit of beer snob throughout. I'm not saying its unfounded snobbery, but it's most definitely there, and as a newcomer to this forum it kinda makes me sick seeing responses like this in a lot of beginner posts.
Honestly, I don't really care how many gallons people have brewed or if they're judges not...this isn't about the validity of the suggestions made....as I have already pointed out, I agree with what was said.....it's the holier-than-thou attitude because his fermentation indicators aren't scientific and are different from the techniques of the senior members.
It's his beer, not anyone else's.
RAHAHB
Bob
Well-Known Member
It's not holier-than-thou, my friend, at least it didn't start that way. It got pretty heated when people who bust their asses to get people to follow basic brewing techniques are argued with from a totally untenable position. That's natural; it's not snobby, it's insisting on the right thing being done. That a decades-old, totally out of favor technique is still being promulgated is frustrating as hell, too.
When I was listening, during my formative years (which are still ongoing, mind), if I mouthed off with something stupid I got fetched a ding on the ear-hole, either figuratively or - once - literally. Why? Because I was being a know-it-all ******-canoe, talking out of my arse when I knew just enough to be dangerous. Did I go whining off to another hobby with my panties in a wad? Nope! I realized I was wrong and got over myself.
His fermentation indicators aren't just not scientific. They're not "different". They're not indicators at all! Working out how to use a refractometer to measure gravity after the ferment has started is "different". Not using any instrument to measure any established unit is stupid and a waste of time when what's desired is a measurement, a datum. Get this idea of "different strokes for different folks" out of your head. 'Cos that doesn't apply. It's not a difference in techniques. In order for it to be a difference in techniques there must be a technique to be different. What he described isn't a technique, it's a meaningless observation.*
So while I get you - bad attitudes are universal - start from the source. Don't go bustin' on Revvy and Yooper or me for responding sternly toward bad behavior. We're not the ones who pissed on the carpet. You're scolding us for saying "Bad dog!" and that's an inverted priority, IMHO.
Cheers,
Bob
* Remarkably like every single piece of Jerry Seinfeld's "humor". Odd, that.
When I was listening, during my formative years (which are still ongoing, mind), if I mouthed off with something stupid I got fetched a ding on the ear-hole, either figuratively or - once - literally. Why? Because I was being a know-it-all ******-canoe, talking out of my arse when I knew just enough to be dangerous. Did I go whining off to another hobby with my panties in a wad? Nope! I realized I was wrong and got over myself.
His fermentation indicators aren't just not scientific. They're not "different". They're not indicators at all! Working out how to use a refractometer to measure gravity after the ferment has started is "different". Not using any instrument to measure any established unit is stupid and a waste of time when what's desired is a measurement, a datum. Get this idea of "different strokes for different folks" out of your head. 'Cos that doesn't apply. It's not a difference in techniques. In order for it to be a difference in techniques there must be a technique to be different. What he described isn't a technique, it's a meaningless observation.*
So while I get you - bad attitudes are universal - start from the source. Don't go bustin' on Revvy and Yooper or me for responding sternly toward bad behavior. We're not the ones who pissed on the carpet. You're scolding us for saying "Bad dog!" and that's an inverted priority, IMHO.
Cheers,
Bob
* Remarkably like every single piece of Jerry Seinfeld's "humor". Odd, that.
Dotmo
Member
Ok. Now I'm being made to look like an ass for saying I don't agree with the belittling attitudes. I NEVER said anything against yopper or revy. Again, I SAID I AGREE WITH WHAT WAS SAID. RE-READ THAT LAST STATEMENT!!!!! And again if you need to. Sorry to "scold" someone that calls someone an idiot or a troll simply because they will not come around to brew the "right" way.
I share the same frustration as you guys when people are unwilling to TRY the right way, but there's nothing I can do about it, and being mean doesn't help it
Sorry all
I share the same frustration as you guys when people are unwilling to TRY the right way, but there's nothing I can do about it, and being mean doesn't help it
Sorry all
Bob
Well-Known Member
I apologize. My frustration with idiots splattered all over you. That was not my intent.
Bob
Bob
Fear.....fear....fear, a child when taking his first step has fear, the first day of school, fear. The first time opening up your fermenter and taking a hydro sample to see if it's done, fear. Let's not all lie the first time we all did these things and more we were scared shi#less. The reality is we all had to do these things to move forward in life and in brewing. To the op I do respect your viewpoint no matter how wrong it is but it's wrong because of fear. In your own words you said you didn't want to test as its another chance for infection, and you know what your right !!! But, if you follow those basic sanitization practices you 99.9% of the time will be FINE. There is a saying faith and fear cannot co-exist so have faith in the responses here they come from very expierenced brewers. The only way to see if it is truly done ferenting is to let go of your fear and take a damn hydro reading. Good luck !
Bob
Well-Known Member
I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.
stevedasleeve
Well-Known Member
Ah a quote from one of my favorite books - I got bored after the 4th on the series though!
To put this thread back on topic.... I understand the impulse not to open up your fermenter to check gravity. I have the same impulse - not to f@ck with the beer until it is safely packaged. Taking samples is potentially invasive for sure. One problem is that you need multiple dips to get enough in the hydrometer jar right?! Anyway the last dozen or so brews I have taken to doing a single dip and using a refractometer. I have a spreadsheet that actually has been totally accurate for finished beer - I checked it against actual hydrometer readings using a very nice hand calibrated hydrometer. It has been spot on for 6 brews so now I don't even check it against my hydrometer.
FWIW and YMMV etc.
Steve da sleeve
To put this thread back on topic.... I understand the impulse not to open up your fermenter to check gravity. I have the same impulse - not to f@ck with the beer until it is safely packaged. Taking samples is potentially invasive for sure. One problem is that you need multiple dips to get enough in the hydrometer jar right?! Anyway the last dozen or so brews I have taken to doing a single dip and using a refractometer. I have a spreadsheet that actually has been totally accurate for finished beer - I checked it against actual hydrometer readings using a very nice hand calibrated hydrometer. It has been spot on for 6 brews so now I don't even check it against my hydrometer.
FWIW and YMMV etc.
Steve da sleeve
stevedasleeve
Well-Known Member
Here is the spreadsheet:
http://seanterrill.com/2010/07/20/toward-a-better-refractometer-correlation/
http://seanterrill.com/2010/07/20/toward-a-better-refractometer-correlation/
stevedasleeve said:
Well a refratometer is a good compromise ti taking a hydro reading. Your chart looks solid..... The op still needs to open that fermenter though, that's the first step.
Tkelly32
Well-Known Member
Revvy I have taken readings, and ended up just bottling the beer without taking a reading in between. But did take one at the end. Guess what? It was spot on, just like before. That means my projected to actual is well... spot-on. Thats one reason I don't take readings like that, and did explain that I merely wasn't familiar with this off-gassing which again, I explained. I actually gave you props right before Steve as well, just saying. You calling me chicken is hilarious tho
And Bob had some real zingers for me, good luck Bobby.To you guys and all the other posters, I appreciate all the energy in here and look forward to more healthy conversations between brewers. Old and new. Happy Brewing.
Bob
Well-Known Member
That didn't even make sense.
Am I drunk already. So confused.
- infections are blown way out of proportion
- use your process, but numbers don't lie. So take numbers if looking for the real answer
- tiny bubbles why do you cause so much drama? Home brewing, we can 100% replicate the same conditions every brew unless you have $ to toss at it. So there was a difference some where in this batch.
About right?
- infections are blown way out of proportion
- use your process, but numbers don't lie. So take numbers if looking for the real answer
- tiny bubbles why do you cause so much drama? Home brewing, we can 100% replicate the same conditions every brew unless you have $ to toss at it. So there was a difference some where in this batch.
About right?
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Guy lives in the same house for 20 years. Every morning he walks out the door with a cup of coffee, crosses the street and grabs his paper from the box. Gets to know the traffic pattern pretty well. Rather than spend his stroll looking up and down the road, he takes to enjoy his surroundings, watching the squirrels jump from tree to tree, seeing all the signs of the seasons. Nothin happening that time of the morning and he can hear if the traffic is unusually heavy even though the sound is sometimes drown by the songs of the birds. A quick glance up and down just as he approaches the road is all it takes. Might have to stop short, but worse case, he spills his coffee. No one every died from a little spilled coffee and theres plenty more in the pot.
Tkelly32
Well-Known Member
Do you have to open the fermenter to use it?
Surprisingly no, I just have to open the cranium a bit and allow the elixir of free-thought to enter... then, the patient shall be open to such things as wild yeast and 'new' ways of brewing beer. o-ouch. bing-zip
Bob
Well-Known Member
Right.
It didn't make sense because I couldn't actually process your hubris until I read it the fourth time. Then it hit me: You're doing it again. You're dismissing generations of brewers who have gone before with a flippant wave of your amateur, inexperienced child-brain. Once again you arrogantly and petulantly refuse to follow basic brewing techniques because once, once, you took a reading and it was where you expected it to be. So you decided every brew you execute was always and forever going to do exactly the same thing, and discarded hundreds of years of solid brewery practice because for some reason unknown to the rest of us benighted heathens when YOU reinvent the wheel, you're right.
But no, I'm not on your level of comprehension. If that's your level of comprehension, I don't want to be on it. I'll stay down here where live the people possessed of sufficient emotional development to listen to their predecessors.
CannibalAJ
Well-Known Member
The OP must be trained in the operation of a back hoe or track shovel 'cause he seems awfully good at digging a really big hole!
I have less experience than most, so my weighing in at this point is for my own amusement/ego, but Bob is right about the process. He *might* be a little harsh, but then again the OP keeps egging him on.
At least this thread amused me while drinking coffee and going through the morning emails at work.
I have less experience than most, so my weighing in at this point is for my own amusement/ego, but Bob is right about the process. He *might* be a little harsh, but then again the OP keeps egging him on.
At least this thread amused me while drinking coffee and going through the morning emails at work.
BoShimTang
Well-Known Member
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I'd have to say that I am in the same camp as Steve and Dotmo. For me, brewing my own beer is fun. If I were brewing commercial size batches, I would most definitely take hydrometer readings on a regular basis; however, for a five gallon batch, I am not so concerned.
I am new to this forum but I have been brewing at home since 1996. This past 12 months I have brewed 35 5 gallon batches. For all of these, I take an OG reading on brew day and an FG reading on bottling day. I have not had any problems with this technique.
I am new to this forum but I have been brewing at home since 1996. This past 12 months I have brewed 35 5 gallon batches. For all of these, I take an OG reading on brew day and an FG reading on bottling day. I have not had any problems with this technique.
Hang Glider
Beer Drinker
BoShimTang - your methods are fine - The OP was using airlock bubbles to measure and wondering why two batches of the same thing were behaving differently.
Only your hydrometer can tell you the status of your beer if you really want to know the answer.
Otherwise, just like you, many of us sit back and chill out for three-four weeks.
Only your hydrometer can tell you the status of your beer if you really want to know the answer.
Otherwise, just like you, many of us sit back and chill out for three-four weeks.
