Festabrew kit in Fastferment

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AbsentMindedRJ

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Hey guys

New to the conical fastferment style fermenters and very little experience in general. I did a festa brew kit ages ago in a "standard" bucket style fermenter but am not sure what I should do different with a fastferment. Festabrew instructions talk about racking and secondary fermentation but I think you do it all in one step in a fast ferment? Standard instructions below, is it as easy as dumping the ingredients in and letting it sit till its time to bottle with a conical since there is no racking?

Step 1 PRIMARY FERMENTATION 1) -Empty the contents of the bag into the primary fermenter and rinse the bag with a bit of water. Before continuing, make sure the temperature of the liquid is between 21 and 25 C - Use your hydrometer to measure the gravity and compare it with the official FestaBrew sheet (O.G.) 2) - Open the yeast packet and add it to the liquid. Warning : Do not rehydrate your yeast in warm water. 3) Cover your primary fermenter with the lid and leave the beer to ferment in a room between 21 and 23 C. N.B. Every day, measure the gravity of your beer with the hydrometer and write down the results on the fermentation register.

Step 2 SECONDARY FERMENTATION Fermentation temperature will affect the time needed to reach this step. (About 3 to 5 days). When racking the beer, the gravity reading should be between 1.018 and 1.015. 1) Rack your beer into the carboy, while making sure to not disturb the deposit in the bottom of the primary fermenter. 2) Install the rubber bung and airlock assembly into the top of the carboy to close it off. Aseptox is not recommended for the airlock, a sulphite and water solution is recommended. 3) Let your beer finish fermenting at room temperature (21 to 23 C). This may take up to 8 days. 4) After 8 days, use your hydrometer to measure the gravity of your beer. Compare this reading with the F.G. on the FestaBrew sheet. 5) Two days later, measure the gravity again. If the reading is identical, your beer is now ready to bottle. If the reading is different, wait another two days and take a new reading.

Step 3 BOTTLING Prepare about 66 12-ounce (341ml) bottles. Wash them first with the chlorinated soap, rinse them well with warm water. Afterwards, you can sterilise them with aseptox (no rinsing necessary) or sulphite (rinse with sterilised water). 6) Rack your beer from the carboy to the primary fermenter without disturbing the deposit. 7) Now stir in the dextrose (corn sugar) to your primary fermenter. The required quantity is about 220 grams per 23 liters. 8) You must immediately bottle your beer, racking the beer into each bottle. Fill them up to about 4 centimeters below the rim and use the capper to close off the caps (the use of a bottle filler is recommended). 9) Let your beer referment at room temperature for another 2 weeks. You will notice an improvement in the overall quality of your beer if you let it age another month or two.
 
I don't have experience with the Fast ferment but I'd say you can definitely skip step 2. Just leave your beer in the fermenter until you get to FG, give it another 7-10 days for the yeast to clean up and settle, then go straight to your bottling bucket. Cheers!
 
Wow, what out of date instructions.
Step one: Pour the contents of the bag into the fermenter and rinse the bag with a little water (1000 to 2000ml) and pour that into the fermenter too. Add yeast (rehydrate in water if you want, makes little difference to the beer). Don't bother with the hydrometer, the OG will be what the kit says. Make sure to fill the airlock, water is fine for that. Don't open the fermenter for at least 2 weeks, no hydrometer testing, keep it cool and in a dark place.

Step 2: At some point after two weeks (could be 3 or 4 weeks) take a hydrometer sample and compare it to the kit's estimation. Wait 2 days and take another. If they match, get set to bottle.
 
Thanks! Sounds easy which is what I was shooting for. Might get fancier later but this is a good basic re-intro

Appreciate it
 
Hey guys

I started the kit last Sat and see some sediment in the catch ball but not seeing any more activity in the air lock. Any chance fermentation is done already? I would have expected it to take longer before the bubbling died down
 
If you have a conical fermenter, then removing the trub and excess yeast that is the main reason for using a conical will make it a perfect secondary FV without even having to move your beer somewhere else.

If you have the collection bottle or jar, just put it on and open the valve. When the yeast is about to finish up 3 or 4 days from pitch, then maybe a good time to start dumping the trub till you get clean beer coming down or maybe just before depending on what makes you feel good about it.

Procedures really depend on what exactly you have and whether you got any extras along with it.

Is that a new conical kit? Or something someone gave you 30 years ago?
 
Its a fastferment (FastBrewing & WineMaking Products | FastBrewing & WineMaking) I just bought. This was my first time using it

I'll try removing and cleaning the collection ball and re-attaching it. Just wasnt sure if there should be more activity still. I have a bad feeling that something went sideways (not sure how I messed up a festabrew, its pre made wort I just toss yeast into!)

If it can be messed up I will find a way
 
Depending on the recipe of what ever it is you brewed and a bunch of other stuff, you may or may not see a lot of exiting stuff. It might appear to be doing nothing when it's actually doing a lot.

Airlock activity is a poor indicator of what is going on in your beer. If you have it, then you know something is happening, but if your don't have airlock activity, then you still might have something good going on.

SG readings are really the only way to positively tell, but taking too many too often is taking risks. So relax and wait it out.
 
Its a fastferment (FastBrewing & WineMaking Products | FastBrewing & WineMaking) I just bought. This was my first time using it
Are you making wine or beer? This being the beer making part of this site all my answers were from the perspective of beer.

If you are doing wine, then that's a section or two down the list of sub-forums for this site.

I do actually have the 3 gallon fast ferment conical. The instructions you gave aren't anything like what I read in one of their suggested beer recipes.
 
As RM-MN stated above, you need to do hydrometer tests to see if it's done. A couple of consistent readings over a few days will tell you. It's not so much a time thing.
Cheers!
 
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