Advice for a Beginner

[batinovichb]

First off I'm new to this forum, and I live in a city where there are no home shops or people to ask advice on certain brews. So if anybody would help answer a question to a problem of mine, I would appreciate it greatly.
I made my first brew using all grain, specifically 8lbs for a 5gal yield of beer. I added the yeast and within 5hrs I hate a violent fermentation. Just constant bubbling. After a day, 26hrs approximately. My airlock stopped bubbling. I think I have a stuck fermentation however, doing smell tests, the wert smells strong if beer and carbonation. So my question is did fermentation halt or is it just extremely slow now?

 

[jro238]

At what temperature did the fermentation take place?

With only 8lbs of grain/5 gal you probably had a relatively low original gravity so it is likely that your fermentation is already pretty much complete. I would leave it alone for a week or so then take a hydrometer reading to see if you're where you should be in terms of final gravity. If you are, I would leave it alone for another week or so then bottle it (maybe leave it longer depending on the style).

 

[mhurst111]

Bubbles in air lock mean nothing...

Only way to tell for sure is hydrometer. Wait another 2-4 days, take a hydro sample and see where it compares to the estimated FG of the recipe. If it's close, take another hydro reading 3 days after the first hydro reading. If they are the same, you are fine.

What I would do, is let it sit for 7 days, take a hydro reading. If higher than what you expect, give the fermenter a swirl and wait another 5-7 days and take another hydro reading.

This is classic RDWHAHB..

Patience, grasshopper.

 

[Devilsnight]

probly done. Did you take a gravity reading, what kind of yeast did you use, what was the fermentation temp?

 

[batinovichb]

I also added a bag of malt dextrose and about 1 cup of brown sugar to help boost the gravity level because it was low. Final gravity was about 1.035. And temperature was 89f when I pitched my yeast.

 

[ThatOneGuy]

Do you mean original gravity? Also, 89 is a high pitch temp. The yeast could have went nuts until the beer cooled and dropped out at room temp, or just fermented the beer quickly due to the high temp and low gravity.

 

[BugHunter]

89*F, dextrose, and brown sugar? Damn, that'd explain your violent fermentation right there. Given that temperature (if you fermented at that) with that sugar profile your yeast very well could have burned through all of the available sugar. The only real way to tell is with a gravity test, but if you're looking at standard efficiency you probably probably got mid 1.060-range OG with 20% simple sugars. (I can't imagine you really only scored a 30% efficiency to get 1.035. You sure on that number?) Your yeast would go to town on that. Give it a test 3 days apart to tell if fermentation has stopped and, if you can't test it, give it another week in the carboy at cooler temperatures before you even consider bottling it. You don't want bottle bombs.

 

[batinovichb]

To be honest I do not remember the reading I did from the hydrometer just that it read 15%.

 

[batinovichb]

I'm sorry not 15% abv. I didn't get the 1.000 number. Like I said beginner here.

 

[KepowOb]

Well to know if it's done, you need to check the gravity. If it's stable for three days, it's probably done.

As others have said, with that much simple sugar and at that high a temp, chances are your fermentation went fast. Once the initial stages of fermentation are done, there is some stuff that still goes on though, and airlock activity won't keep you very savvy as to what's going on in there.

My first suggestion, wait until it's been around 10 days since fermentation started and take a gravity reading. Take another two days later and if they're the same, it's ready to bottle/keg.

My second suggestion would be to invest in some sort of temperature control. You need to keep the temps down in the 60s for most ales (this can be done on the cheap, I just use a large bucket with water in it, which I put my fermentor in, and rotate frozen water bottles).

 

[Denny's Evil Concoctions]

check the SG now. What is it?

 

[batinovichb]

Sorry, it read .990 should I rack it or let sit in its filth for a couple more days?

 

[BigFloyd]

Do you want the good news or the bad news?

The good news is that you don't have a stuck fermentation. You had a really fast fermentation and it's mostly done. Let it go in the primary another 10 days, take another gravity reading (are you using a beer/wine hydrometer or one for distilled spirits?)

The bad news is that, by pitching and fermenting at such a very high temperature, it's probably not going to taste good at all. You can give it a few months in the bottles at room temp to see if it mellows out, but I'm not going to give you false hope by telling you that it's going to be OK. I suspect that you stressed the yeast so badly that you've got lots of undesirable by-products (aka, "yucky yeast sweat")

The right temperatures at pitching and during the first 4-5 days of fermentation is right up there with proper sanitation as being the most important part of brewing. Much more significant than doing all-grain vs. extract. Before your next attempt at this, take some time to read around the HBT forums about ways to chill ale wort into the low 60's and to keep the ferment temp in the same range at least until it settles down.

 

[batinovichb]

I will keep in mind thank you for the advice. I think I will cut my loss and move on. Fortunate I kept some notes. Unfortunate that where I live I can't exactly go out and buy a wert chiller at my local brew store because there isn't one. So I'm learning by trial and error. Is there a recipe that would be easy to do with the lack of proper equipment? I had to make my own mash tun and I had a hard time finding parts to make it.

 

[BigFloyd]

I will keep in mind thank you for the advice. I think I will cut my loss and move on. Fortunate I kept some notes. Unfortunate that where I live I can't exactly go out and buy a wert chiller at my local brew store because there isn't one. So I'm learning by trial and error. Is there a recipe that would be easy to do with the lack of proper equipment? I had to make my own mash tun and I had a hard time finding parts to make it.

Until you can properly chill 5.5 gallons of boiling-hot wort to 18*c or so, I would suggest doing partial-boil (2.75 gallon) extract batches. Cool what is in the kettle to 80-85*F, top off with almost freezing bottled water. That will get it pretty cool (about 60-62*F).

 

[batinovichb]

Can I do that with a full recipe of all grain or am I only restricted to extract this way?

 

[Denny's Evil Concoctions]

What yeast strain did you use?

You might want to get some mauribrew ale yeast (dry) and use that. That yeast is very very heat tolerant.

Another thing. You can always seal your fermenter and wait till it has cooled down then pitch the yeast.

Depending on yeast strain your beer is likely to be very fruity. I'd likely still drink it over megaswill. lol

 

[batinovichb]

I used a Yeast Strain 510. Kicker, I also used about 3oz of sweet orange peel from a package during the boil process,to take away that natural bitterness when making ales.

 

[Denny's Evil Concoctions]

Yikes. That's going to be one estery beer!

 

[batinovichb]

I tried the same thing with another beer I made which was a partial extract. I just doubled up on hops and it came out really good. So i thought I would try it again.

 

[ACbrewer]

if you are handy, you can make a copper wort chiller from copper piping at the hardware store. There are other chiller designs out there besides the basic copper chiller connected to your faucet.

One really cool one that works well for hot areas - I don't see your area - has the beer run through the chiller while the chiller sits in a bucket of ice water. One disadvantage is you have to sterilize the chiller. One advantage is you shouldn't need as much copper, or talent to build the rig - maybe.

Also you can order chiller from the Internet stores.

Lastly you can use the 'ice tub' method. With 5 gallons, doing a sink with ice is impracticle, you need more ice, but a bathtub should hold 30 to 50 lb of ice and some water and speed your chilling....

Ok one last idea, and this is in the minds of some people crazier, but look up no chill brewing.

PS based on on your FG of your first batch, it sounds like you made malt wine, not beer (wines usually have high simple non malt sugars, and have FG's that finish in the .990 to 1.000 range)

 

[batinovichb]

@ACbrewer,
I think I would have better luck ordering a wert chiller. I wouldn't have thought of using a bathtub to chill wert. Thank you for the tip.

 

[ACbrewer]

@ACbrewer,
I think I would have better luck ordering a wert chiller. I wouldn't have thought of using a bathtub to chill wert. Thank you for the tip.

No problem. Btw, using the tub over the long run is less efficient than a wort chiller, BUT it has the advantage that you probably have a tub and can buy 30lb of ice today if you want to brew, but the chiller might take a week to show up.