Fermenting Question

[Cubbies2585]

Hello All,

I'm new to the site and have a quick question about a batch I just started yesterday.

I have brewed 3 times before yesterday and each time has been successful. Yesterday I was showing my neighbor the ropes and we have hit a snag last night into this morning. We developed a wort for an American Red which was bought from a local Homebrew Store. after we finished the wort we moved it to our 5gallon glass carboy and waited for it cool. Normally I get the final wort in the carboy cooled in a matter of minutes but for some reason this time it took a bit longer. When I had come back to the carboy after maybe an hour and a half i noticed the temp was good (76F) and was about to pitch the yeast when I noticed that all the sediment that is usually floating around had sunk to the bottom. I was faced with a decision to either remix the sediment back in, or leave it on the bottom and pitch the yeast. I pitched the yeast WITHOUT re-stirring, placed my blowout tube on, and tucked it in goodnight. This morning there is only about a 1/4in of foam on top after only about 12 hours.

It has been about a year or two since I have brewed and I remember there being a lot of foam coming through the blowout tube in the past. We are using a California Ale Yeast if that matters.

Is it normal to have this little amount of foam? Should I attempt to lightly stir the sediment up to see if the yeast will feed off the gunk at the bottom? Any guidance sure would be appreciated!

 

[Cubbies2585]

on a side note I am new to this site and may have posted this in the completely wrong forum and for that I apologize!

 

[neilph]

I would not disturb your fermenter especially after its happily bubbling along. Different yeast strains will behave differently, and factors such as sugar content and temperature will play apart in their behavior also. If you normally have blow off and this time you don't I would attribute that to the environmental factors above.
For chilling, I would place your kettle in the sink with cold water and keep changing the water so it stays cold. This should take an hour or maybe a half hour more. Liquid cools quicker in liquid, as opposed to waiting for it to cool in the fermenter. (Hot wert in glass is dangerous too)

 

[neilph]

Also I would not be concerned with the stuff that settled to the bottom. If I had to guess its probably settled out from the grains and hops...

 

[Sarrsipius]

you're fine. RDWHAHB.

 

[Cubbies2585]

I would not disturb your fermenter especially after its happily bubbling along. Different yeast strains will behave differently, and factors such as sugar content and temperature will play apart in their behavior also. If you normally have blow off and this time you don't I would attribute that to the environmental factors above.
For chilling, I would place your kettle in the sink with cold water and keep changing the water so it stays cold. This should take an hour or maybe a half hour more. Liquid cools quicker in liquid, as opposed to waiting for it to cool in the fermenter. (Hot wert in glass is dangerous too)

Thanks for easing my mind guys. I did do the ice bath for about 20 min or so before placing the wort in the carboy. It was about 78 when I poured it and I was just worried that all the sediment (which I figured was the grains) that had settled should have been mixed rather than settled on the bottom. Keep my fingers crossed.