Fermentation Issue

[TheFrenchDude]

Hi guys!

My name's Charles I live in Canada and I am 36.

So I'm in the brewing familly now and I just brewed 2 batches from unhoped extract.
The first one was an Amercian Pale Ale Alfred's recipe kit. This one is on it's second fermentation period and all seems good. Looking forward to taste it actually.


And the second one was a local shop's recipe. An Altbier exactly. I brewed it one week ago with a liquid yeast, it started to show activity the day after and presently it still make bubbles 8 days after the brewing day.

So is it normal? I Thought that fist fermentation is 4 to 7 days. I am a little bit worried about.


Thank you for your help!

 

[kombat]

Perfectly normal, yeast don't work on a schedule, they go their own pace. Keep the temperatures in check (keep the beer between 62 - 68° F), leave them alone until at least the 2 week mark. Check the gravity, then check it again 3-4 days later. If it's unchanged, you're ready to bottle. If it's still dropping, wait 3-4 more days then check again.

Also, in regards to a secondary fermentation, many of those kits instruct you to rack the beer to another carboy, calling it a "secondary." If your instructions mention this, don't do it. Just leave it alone in the main fermenter (bucket?) for 2-3 weeks, then go directly to bottling.

 

[kev211]

I dont know if there actually is a "normal" fermentation time. I guess there is typical fermentation times but its all different for everyone. Usually my beers start fermenting within 24 hours and finish up 5 days after that. That being said, I pretty much always use WLP001 so I know how it works with my beers. Either way, if its still going at 8 days thats fine! That just means the yeast is doing its job.

Also, one thing that you will eventually get "learned" about on this site is that generally speaking, secondary fermentation is not necessary. In the case of your APA you could have just left it in the primary vessel. Secondarys were more common years ago when yeasts werent as "hi-tech" and would actually produce off flavors when leaving the beer to sit on them. Now days really the only reason people secondary is when they want to age their beer on wood chips or fruit or otherwise. Other than that dont secondary, it only adds potential to oxidize or infection your beer. Just a thought. Good luck and welcome to the hobby and site!


Edit: Bah! @kombat beat me to it.

 

[TheFrenchDude]

Thanks Kombat

Yeah the instruction mention this.

The first brew is in a second fermentation bucket.

The second one is in it's "first" fermentation bucket. So you tell to let it in this bucket for 2 weeks?

What's the advantage to let it in the first bucket versus change it as kit's instructions tells?

Thank you.

 

[TheFrenchDude]

Thank you kev211!

I promise I will let my Altbier in the actual vessel!

That's being said I actually didn't understand the "second fermentation" things...

So to know if beer is ready to bottling the gravity has to be stable for few days right?

Thank you so much for help!!!

 

[kombat]

Yeah the instruction mention [secondary].

Thought so, most of them do, I believe.

The first brew is in a second fermentation bucket.

That's fine, any damage (if any, and that's not to say there is, I'm just saying) will already be done. Don't disturb it again until you're ready to bottle it.

The second one is in it's "first" fermentation bucket. So you tell to let it in this bucket for 2 weeks?

Absolutely.

What's the advantage to let it in the first bucket versus change it as kit's instructions tells?

As kev211 mentioned, the advantages are minimizing risk of infection and oxidation. Every time you disturb your beer, you risk contaminating it and infecting it. Every time you expose it to the air, you risk oxidizing it. There are no real advantages to racking to secondary, in the majority of cases.

So why do the instructions say to do it?

Well, frankly, because they're outdated, and the companies making them can't be bothered to update their information. In the past (again, as mentioned by kev211), the yeast strains weren't as sophisticated as they are today. If left for long periods, they'd die off (yeast autolysis) and produce nasty, rubbery off-flavours.

Another reason they instruct you to transfer the beer off the yeast ASAP is because that's what big breweries do. But big breweries are concerned about crushing the yeast under the huge volumes of beer they're producting (hydrostatic pressure). Simply put, those same pressures don't exist at the homebrew scale, and thus we're not "crushing" our yeast to death.

There are a few good reasons for transferring the beer to another vessel. Here are some:

• You only have one good fermenter (like a temperature controlled conical or something) and you need to get the beer out of it so you can brew another batch, but the beer inside isn't quite ready for packaging yet.
• You want to re-use the yeast, but the beer isn't ready yet, so you transfer the beer to another vessel and harvest the yeast cake.
• You want to re-use the yeast, but you plan on adding spices, dry hops, or fruit to the beer after fermentation finishes, and you don't want to contaminate the yeast cake.
• You plan on bulk aging the beer for an extended period (several months), in which case yeast autolysis could actually be a potential threat.

I'm assuming none of these reasons apply in your case, at least not yet at this point in your brewing adventure, so there's no reason to incur the risk of spoiling your batch by needlessly transferring it between buckets.

 

[seabrew8]

Personally i would check the gravity today and again in 2 days. My ales rarely stay in the bucket for 2 weeks anymore but its still a good generic guideline.

However, 2 days to see activity is a longtime IME.
I start to worry - unnecessarily - if its been over 12 hours.

 

[kev211]

Personally i would check the gravity today and again in 2 days. My ales rarely stay in the bucket for 2 weeks anymore but its still a good generic guideline.

However, 2 days to see activity is a longtime IME.
I start to worry - unnecessarily - if its been over 12 hours.

Nah, Ive had plenty of yeast take off after 2 days! Any longer than 72 hours and you may want to repitch, but after only 48 hours? Meh, let it ride

 

[TheFrenchDude]

Personally i would check the gravity today and again in 2 days. My ales rarely stay in the bucket for 2 weeks anymore but its still a good generic guideline.

However, 2 days to see activity is a longtime IME.
I start to worry - unnecessarily - if its been over 12 hours.

Oh I corrected the information. Actually it started to show activity the day after.

Thank you!

 

[Sailingeric]

I did saison recently and had little krausen on day two and by mid week it was a monster krausen head, then I check it last night, all gone and the FG was right where I was expecting it to be. So like said before, 2 days to start up would be fine. Bubbles after 8 days could be off gasing from the beer, with that, don't rely on bubbles in the airlock as how to judge if fermentation is happening or not. My buckets don't seal tight and I rarely get bubbles.

 

[seabrew8]

Nah, Ive had plenty of yeast take off after 2 days! Any longer than 72 hours and you may want to repitch, but after only 48 hours? Meh, let it ride

Since i started pitching re-used yeast slurry its usually rock'in within 6 hours.

 

[kev211]

Since i started pitching re-used yeast slurry its usually rock'in within 6 hours.

Well aint you fancy?