Can I rescue my beer?

[drewbrew]

New brewer here - I am brewing the one gallon batch of NB's Dead Ringed IPA. Brew day was this past Saturday (four days ago), and I am a bit concerned because either primary fermentation didn't happen or it happened very quickly. I have a light ring of krausen (nothing thick or substantial) and there's a bubble in the airlock every couple minutes or so. After brew day, I checked on it every 12 hours or so and never saw a vigorous fermentation (but more than what I'm see now), which is why I'm thinking primary fermentation didn't happen at all.

I know I made a few mistakes on brew day, so any of these could have been the cause:
- I boiled the wort too vigorously and lost a lot water. I started with about 1.25 gallons of water and finished with less than one gallon.
- To make up for the water loss, I added some water to the wort to the fill line (I read on this forum that this was okay, but this easily could have been a big mistake without me knowing any better).
- I forgot to aerate before adding the yeast, so I aerated post-pitch.
- It has been warmer than probably ideal in my apartment (about 70-75°). Maybe this contributed to a quick primary fermentation, but as I said I never saw vigorous bubbling.

Does anyone have any idea of what my problem may be and what I can do to rescue my beer? Below is a picture. Thanks in advance for the help.View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1460547940.824892.jpg

 

[mucci2k]

Check your FG then check again in three days. If it hasnt changed then it's done.

 

[ncbrewer]

Seems OK to me.
- The vigorous boil should be ok
- Top-off water is fine as long as sanitation and chlorine/chloramines are addressed. These shouldn't cause a fermentation problem anyway.
- Aerating post-pitch is ok
- Probably too warm - this is probably why fermentation was fast. And actually, 4 days isn't all that fast to be mostly finished. You might get some off flavors from the high temps. Next time see if you can control fermentation temperature. A swamp cooler can help. And you need to know the beer temperature - not just ambient.

Many brewers check gravity if they're worried about fermentation happening, but it looks to me like it did happen. I open the fermenter as little as possible. But if you're bottling, I'd recommend two gravity readings two days apart to be sure gravity is stable before bottling.

 

[Likefully]

Looks ok to me. You may have diluted it more than you should have when you added the water so its a bit lighter (lower ABV) than it should be - that could be why the fermentation wasn't as vigorous as you expected. I am sure it will taste good. Leave it for another week before bottling.

 

[cegan09]

It's probably fine. The first two brews I did never had aggressive fermentation. Barely any krausen to speak of. But they both came right down to FG in a few days.

Check gravity and as long as it's down and steady you're fine.

 

[The_Bearded_Tracy]

Hey I brewed a coffee stout last month and accidentally poured in the coffee grounds which during the vigorous boil shot the grounds into my blow off tube which then clogged. All the CO2 built up and popped my stopper off beer was all over my girlfriends apartment and I was in the dog house. However I kept faith in the beer and didn't worry about the what ifs or the uh ohs, and several weeks later the beer tasted great and my girlfriend actually asked me to brew again and let me use her kitchen again. Keep the faith I'm sure it'll be fine.

 

[RM-MN]

Look at the carboy and notice how far up the krausen ring is. That is how high the krausen was. You just missed it because the temperature was probably above what it should have been and the fermentation happened quickly when you weren't watching.

 

[JonM]

Fermentation definitely occurred. With a one-gallon batch, it can go really quickly.

 

[HBWarke]

It might be a little too late at this point, but try giving it mouth-to-mouth.

Just kidding. By that pick, fermentation def. occurred. You're good.

 

[MaryB]

I have had a couple NB 1 gallon kits ferment fast. Caribou Slobber does its thing in 3 days at 68 degrees! Both barley wine kits did the same. I let it sit fr2 weeks then bottled! Caribou Slobber didn't last long after it has sat 4 weeks in the bottles! My neighbor absolutely loves it and wants me to brew a batch for her.

 

[drewbrew]

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone for their reassurances - the beer turned out great!