Fermentation differences amongst different styles.

[Andrew21213]

Hello, this will be my first post here. I just started brewing my second batch of beer last week. I’ve only ever brewed from a kit, and so I’m pretty inexperienced. I plan to get away from kits eventually when I’m more comfortable with the process. ANYWAY, the first time I brewed it was just a normal IPA. Took two weeks in the carboy and another two weeks after bottling. This time I’m brewing a wheat beer.

My question involves the fermentation process. When I was fermenting the IPA the kit made me use a glass of water and a tube for the CO2 release and the bubbles and foam on the top of the wort were much more than what I’m seeing now with my wheat beer. The wheat beer kit had me use a stopper cap filled with water rather than an entire glass, it bubbled for about 3 days, and then stopped and now I’m not seeing any activity in the co2 release, nor does the wort have a foamy top to it. The instructions say I still have another week of primary fermentation. Is this normal for a wheat beer? My IPA bubbled for well over 3 days and had a lot of foam on top.

 

[Rob2010SS]

Welcome to HBT and to the hobby!

Fermentation can differ greatly from batch to batch. There are a few variables at play. You didn't mention - are you doing all grain or extract?

Sounds like your IPA, you used a "blow off tube" for fermentation and now you're using an airlock, if I read your description right. I'm also assuming you're fermenting in a glass carboy?

Some yeast will ferment faster than others and some will ferment more violently than others. Some things that come into play are:
- How did you aerate the wort before pitching yeast (shaking, splashing, pure O2)?
- What kind of yeast did you use (liquid, dry, type)?
- What temperature is the room you have the beer sitting in?

As I've learned this myself through the experience and help of others on this forum, the only real way to tell if your fermentation is done or not is to take a couple of gravity readings spaced apart by a couple of days. If the gravity is the same on both of those readings, you're done.

My guess is your not done. People here will probably lynch me for saying this but an observation I've made is that if you look reallllllllly close at the carboy, maybe even shine a light on it, you can see that during fermentation, you'll almost have like a vortex going on in the carboy, where the particulate matter inside the beer is moving around. This is not a scientific method at all, NOR IS IT RELIABLE, but I've never had a fermentation that DIDN'T do this. You could take a look at yours and see what kind of movement you have going on.

Either way, I don't believe you're done. I'd let it go the full 2 weeks.

 

[Gnomebrewer]

Wheat yeasts (especially German ones) often ferment very fast (they are know for making a foamy/krausen mess out the top of fermenters).

As you brew more, you'll start to make your own decisions about instructions - which ones to follow and which ones to change to suit your brewing. An easy decision is blowoff tube vs airlock vs a bit of plastic film over the hole. It doesn't really matter which one (unless you're expecting a messy, erupting ferment - use a blowoff tube).

For the wheat beer, is it American wheat, or German hefeweizen (or other)? For a hefe, I'd recommend bottling as soon as your ferment is finished. It helps 'lock in' some of the yeast flavours that you want in the beer. For an American wheat, I'd go the opposite - give it another week or two to clean up the yeast flavours that you don't want in your beer.

 

[El Nino]

I'm noticing that one of the overlooked things for active fermentation is water. I've had explosive fermentations with US-05 using bottled spring water, but they were pretty tame overall using filtered tap water.

Last friday was my first wheat beer (hefeweizen with wyeast 3068), and it didn't seem any more vigorous than using US-05. For me the biggest difference maker was using the spring water vs the tap. Didn't notice a flavor difference so I just stuck with using filtered tap.

 

[Andrew21213]

Thanks for the responses everyone, and sorry I’m just getting back now. Work schedule is a mess.

Anyway, for starters I’m doing an all grain brew, I airated it by shanking it and I used dry yeast. It is in a glass carboy. I used distilled spring water but had to use some tap water after the boiling process (the instructions told me to fill with water to the gallon line if I didn’t make the one gallon mark with the finished wort, and I was out of distilled water). Lastly it’s an American wheat ale.

I haven’t gotten into testing gravity yet. I’m a little afraid to do so because I don’t want to risk contamination. Tomorrow is when I’m supposed to bottle but maybe I’ll do as gnomebrewer suggests and let it sit a little while longer.

 

[SoCal-Doug]

Wheat beer yeasts, and almost any yeast when fermented at temps above 70F, can go very fast. They can foam up and subside in 2-4 days. That doesn't always mean its "done". My common practice with wheats, is to give it no less than 7 to 10 days in the fermenter. Two primary reasons for this... (1) make sure the fermentation is complete and (2) To let the yeast get rid of a thing called diacetyl which makes the beer taste a little like butter. I have a Bavarian wheat beer going now that was brewed 4 days ago. The airlock bubbling is almost stopped but the foamy nasty looking stuff on the top is still there.

My advice is let it go ten days, then bottle up as per the instructions.