Beer not giving off signs of fermentation?

[Link45]

Hi all, i have a brew currently on, 3 weeks its been on, temps have risen to 28 deg C, and yet no bubbles from the airlock.

Is this normal, or should i use a hydrometer to check where its at?

Any advice appreciated, thanks.

 

[BarrelAgedForrest]

Pull a sample, check with hydrometer. What was your OG and what is it after you test. Also just a reminder keep super sanitary and don't dump your sample back in!

 

[Link45]

Pull a sample, check with hydrometer. What was your OG and what is it after you test. Also just a reminder keep super sanitary and don't dump your sample back in!

Thanks BAF, i didnt do a gravity test on the brew at the start unfortunately, would you recommend that i do so in future?

Yep, i dont ever dump the sample back either, it goes down the drain.

 

[BarrelAgedForrest]

Well you should be tasting your samples as well! No need to waste! Lol as for gravity, some people I seem to see don't seem to worry about it. This makes no sense to me because without it you won't know what your abv is, I mean you could backwards math it with all the equations of your malt and fefmentabkes etc etc. Or just use your hydrometer before you pitch your yeast! That may also be due to my lack of love for math though too! Lol however throw up your recipe and take a sample and through your current SG. I'm sure someone here with way more knowledge then me will help!

 

[Link45]

Well you should be tasting your samples as well! No need to waste! Lol as for gravity, some people I seem to see don't seem to worry about it. This makes no sense to me because without it you won't know what your abv is, I mean you could backwards math it with all the equations of your malt and fefmentabkes etc etc. Or just use your hydrometer before you pitch your yeast! That may also be due to my lack of love for math though too! Lol however throw up your recipe and take a sample and through your current SG. I'm sure someone here with way more knowledge then me will help!

Cheers mate. I do sometimes taste the samples, but they arent always the best, and im probably not the best taste tester for knowing whats what. I noticed that my taste grew fonder of the batches i drank after they were done, whereas if i grabbed them off a shelf i probably would not have liked them.

Thing is, i have tried some other peoples home brews which were better than anythign i have ever drunk from the store. Some beers from the store im not sure how they continue to sell them tbh, taste very yeasty or no taste at all, but i suppose we all have different tastes as well.

 

[RM-MN]

An airlock is a device to allow the release of excess gas. It is not a gauge of fermentation, only a way to allow the excess gas to escape without blowing the top off the fermenter. Krausen or the ring left behind from the krausen is an indicator that fermentation has taken place but the hydrometer is the final word on it. If the gravity has gone down, it fermented. If it has gone down and is now stable over a 2 or 3 day period, fermentation is stopped, usually because the yeast has eaten all it can and the beer is now ready to bottle or keg.

 

[Link45]

An airlock is a device to allow the release of excess gas. It is not a gauge of fermentation, only a way to allow the excess gas to escape without blowing the top off the fermenter. Krausen or the ring left behind from the krausen is an indicator that fermentation has taken place but the hydrometer is the final word on it. If the gravity has gone down, it fermented. If it has gone down and is now stable over a 2 or 3 day period, fermentation is stopped, usually because the yeast has eaten all it can and the beer is now ready to bottle or keg.

ok, that makes sense thanks. I have had others which didnt show much airlock activity, this one a complete zero, so i was wondering if others had noticed the same. We had some warm days here and i thought once the temp went up on my brewer bucket that surely id see some bubbling from the airlock but nope.

I really do need to start doing gravity tests on the batch before i yeast it tbh, still got a lot to learn.

 

[RM-MN]

If you are doing extract kits, use the OG that the kit specifies. It is really difficult to get proper mixing between the wort and the top off water and most new brewers panic when the gravity is way low. It really isn't low, they just got a sample from an area with more water than wort. With and extract kit you can't miss the gravity unless you really mess up and add way too little or way to much water.

 

[Link45]

If you are doing extract kits, use the OG that the kit specifies. It is really difficult to get proper mixing between the wort and the top off water and most new brewers panic when the gravity is way low. It really isn't low, they just got a sample from an area with more water than wort. With and extract kit you can't miss the gravity unless you really mess up and add way too little or way to much water.

Great, thanks once again, still trying to get the terminology worked out, not sure what an 'extract kit' is, i am currently using the canned goo that comes with its own yeast packet and just add in a kg of the Mangrove Jacks Brew Blend No 15 to replace dextrose or otherwise at the moment. It all gets mixed up really well up to the 23ltr mark so i think ill have a true depiction of the OG from the wort before yeast is in. I follow the instructions on the can to a tee usually (yes im a bloke not a girl lol), because i just dont want to waste money, but i know i will progress into taking leaps out there in future, and will probably want to understand the raw ingredient brewing in future. thanks again.

 

[RM-MN]

OK, when barley is harvested it contains starches and protein in each kernel. We don't want to eat barley most of the time, we want to drink beer. To get the starches and proteins in that kernel into a form that can be fermenter takes a few steps. Malting is the first. The grain is wetted and kept warm until it begins the sprouting process. Now, we don't want to raise another crop of barley, we want to make beer so the barley that has begun sprouting is dried (kilned) to stop the sprouting. That has activated the enzymes that can convert the starch to a form of sugar called maltose (and a bunch of other things). If the temperature becomes too high during the drying process it destroys the enzymes but makes the malted grain different colors and flavors.

The malting house then can bag up the grains and ship them to brewers (like me for instance) and I will mash the grains (no, not with a potato masher, its a process of grains in water that is between about 145 and 150F.) which will allow the enzymes to make the sugars that the yeast work on to provide alcohol. For some of the grain, instead of shipping the whole grain, the will do the mash right there, collect the sweet wort that has been extracted, and concentrate it. Some of that will be packaged with some water remaining, some will be dried completely and these are sold as malt extract or simply extract.

Home brew supply places will take this extract and add some specialty grains, some variety or varieties of hops, and a recommended yeast and give the resulting package a name. That defines an extract kit, a complete recipe kit in a box. There are others who will mix the specialty grains and hops and sell the resulting liquid as a hopped extract, needing only water and yeast to be added to create beer.

I hope that helps you understand the terminology better. It took me much longer to learn all that than it did to type it.

 

[Link45]

OK, when barley is harvested it contains starches and protein in each kernel. We don't want to eat barley most of the time, we want to drink beer. To get the starches and proteins in that kernel into a form that can be fermenter takes a few steps. Malting is the first. The grain is wetted and kept warm until it begins the sprouting process. Now, we don't want to raise another crop of barley, we want to make beer so the barley that has begun sprouting is dried (kilned) to stop the sprouting. That has activated the enzymes that can convert the starch to a form of sugar called maltose (and a bunch of other things). If the temperature becomes too high during the drying process it destroys the enzymes but makes the malted grain different colors and flavors.

The malting house then can bag up the grains and ship them to brewers (like me for instance) and I will mash the grains (no, not with a potato masher, its a process of grains in water that is between about 145 and 150F.) which will allow the enzymes to make the sugars that the yeast work on to provide alcohol. For some of the grain, instead of shipping the whole grain, the will do the mash right there, collect the sweet wort that has been extracted, and concentrate it. Some of that will be packaged with some water remaining, some will be dried completely and these are sold as malt extract or simply extract.

Home brew supply places will take this extract and add some specialty grains, some variety or varieties of hops, and a recommended yeast and give the resulting package a name. That defines an extract kit, a complete recipe kit in a box. There are others who will mix the specialty grains and hops and sell the resulting liquid as a hopped extract, needing only water and yeast to be added to create beer.

I hope that helps you understand the terminology better. It took me much longer to learn all that than it did to type it.

oh wow! thanks heaps for that, i knew about the basic ingredients in all grain, like the barley and the hops and yeast but i have not studied up on the processes. Currently im using the hopped malt extracts and working my way through various recommended cans, whilst trying others from my brew supplier. The best tasting brew ive done yet was the Mangrove Jacks Munich Lager, but have a Coopers Mexican cervasa on atm.

Would you recommend giving the extract kits a go? Whats the differences? thanks again, ill have to read your post a few times to lock it all in.

 

[RM-MN]

The hopped malt extracts have the bitterness that offsets the sweetness of the beer so it comes out the way we like it but you are limited to the type of hop use by the company that made the hopped malt extract and you are missing a lot of the flavors that hops bring if you use them late in the boil or for dry hopping. For instance, I made a light colored ale but used Cascade hops late in the boil and dry hopped with Cascade and Citra hops. I thought it tasted like carbonated grapefruit juice with an alcoholic kick. Substituting Amarillo hops for the Citra made it more like orange. Some hops will taste like a pine woods smells.

After you discover what the hops bring, then you can start exploring specialty grains. Many of them will give your beer a caramel sweetness and maybe some toffee if you go to the higher number of the caramels. Adding in a chocolate malt and/or black malt may give the beer a hint of chocolate or coffee. If you go to all grain brewing, you get even more choices. Mashing a brewers malt with some rice and corn, I can get a beer that is lighter in color than most of the big names...but with flavor.

Yeast is another place to explore. Some ferment with almost no added flavor, some are quite strong. Some quit fermenting without getting all the possible sugars and leave you with a malty beer while others can eat most of the sugars.

When you go to all grain you also get to choose how fermentable the wort will be by manipulating the mix of grains and the temperature that they are mashed at.

I hope you are young and interested in the science of beers and their varying flavors as you can spend a long time exploring the combinations.

 

[RM-MN]

Here's a list of some of the hops that this particular supplier stocks. Note that this isn't the whole array of hops, just what this supplier has. http://www.ritebrew.com/category-s/1941.htm

This is a listing of the grains this supplier has. http://www.ritebrew.com/category-s/1954.htm

I mentioned the variations in yeasts. Take a look through this list. http://www.ritebrew.com/category-s/1834.htm

Then there are things you don't see in many commercial beers but can be fun to experiment with too. http://www.ritebrew.com/category-s/1833.htm

You have a whole world of brewing to learn about. Go try some things and enjoy the hobby.

 

[BeerChef17]

Also 28c is too warm to be fermenting at. Try to get it down to 20c for the next brew

 

[Link45]

Here's a list of some of the hops that this particular supplier stocks. Note that this isn't the whole array of hops, just what this supplier has. http://www.ritebrew.com/category-s/1941.htm

This is a listing of the grains this supplier has. http://www.ritebrew.com/category-s/1954.htm

I mentioned the variations in yeasts. Take a look through this list. http://www.ritebrew.com/category-s/1834.htm

Then there are things you don't see in many commercial beers but can be fun to experiment with too. http://www.ritebrew.com/category-s/1833.htm

You have a whole world of brewing to learn about. Go try some things and enjoy the hobby.

fantastic info, thanks so much RM, much appreciated.

 

[Link45]

Also 28c is too warm to be fermenting at. Try to get it down to 20c for the next brew

Thanks BC, yer it only gets up there when the day hits 39 and up deg C, most of the time im sitting above 18deg c to 22 deg c.

 

[BeerChef17]

Thanks BC, yer it only gets up there when the day hits 39 and up deg C, most of the time im sitting above 18deg c to 22 deg c.

Good to know. You can sit the fermenter in a big tub of water and swap in frozen water bottles to keep the temp down