First beer without a kit

[Perkt]

I'm really new to brewing and am having a blast so far! My first attempt was an English Brown (from brewers best) and it was a simple introduction to the field. The primary fermentation ended as anticipated and after bottling on Saturday I started the next brew on Sunday.
This time I followed a more vague recipe for a pumpkin spice beer, and after chatting with a brewer at the local shop decided to further modify the recipe by swapping out part of the LME in favor of more grain. Everything went over well on brew day and by the next morning it appeared that fermentation had started. However, the very next evening there were no signs of fermentation as the lock was as still as could be, and remained so for the next 2 days. So here I am, 72 hours later. The OG on this batch was 1.054, and is now reading at 1.022...so if my math is right the alcohol content is right at 4.0, but I'm not certain that it's time to cut bait and siphon off to secondary fermentation. I anticipate taking another SG reading to see if anything is happening without the CO2 showing up in my fermentation lock, but am unclear of what the best step from here would be.

Any advice would be great (aside from "relax, don't worry, have a homebrew"...got that one covered).

 

[ozzy1038]

What temp is your wort/beer at? How did you utilize the grains? what temp water did you put the grains in and for how long? What was the grain bill? What is it supposed to finish at?

 

[Perkt]

Thanks for the quick response.

The following grains were used, steeped with about 6 pounds of baked pumpkin for 45 minutes @ 155*, then removed.
1.5 lb 2-row, 1 lb Vienna, .5 lb Crystal 60L, 1.5 lb Cara-Munich.
The wort was then brought to boil for an hour, the first 45min it boiled with 0.6 oz of the bittering hops (first gold, UK kent), the remaining 0.4 oz of the hops were added with 10 minutes remaining for flavor, then with 5 minutes left in the boil I added the spices (pumpkin pie spice, brown sugar, sweet orange peel). Once the boil was over and done with the batch was put into an ice bath, dropped to <80*, siphoned off to the carboy and brought to just over 5gal before being mixed. I took an OG reading (the 1.054), pitched the yeast (Windsor Ale - dry yeast) and let it set in a dark closet where it has stayed between 68 and 70* (according to an adhesive temp strip attached to the carboy).

The target SG is 1.012, ending around 4.5% ABV. My current SG is 1.023, giving an ABV of closer to 3.255.

This brew started out Sunday evening and has sat for around 72 hours, I wouldn't expect the primary fermentation to be done for another 4-5 days, but being that the fermentation lock has been stationary I'm not sure if things are continuing as they should, or if further action is needed.

 

[iron_city_ap]

Just wait it out for a few more weeks. 3-4 weeks total is a good rule of thumb ALOT of people use.

Try giving the beer a gentle swirling and then let it go. You may have a stuck fermentation. Even if its done fermenting, just let it sit rather than transfering to a secondary. You'll get the same results and less risk of an infection. If you have a second vessel to ferment in, get your next batch going.

 

[unionrdr]

It def isn't done after 3 days. Only just past initial,vigorous fermentation would be done at this point. Initial fermentation is where most of the fermenting takes place,making the airlock bubble like crazy,but not always.
Airlocks are just a one way pressure relief valve. The rest of fermentation is rather slow & uneventful. You may rarely see the airlock bubble,if at all. It's just past the point where it makes so much co2,that you see it venting in the form of bubbles.
So let it be,it may well finish up on it's own. If not,gently swirl the fermenter to rouse some yeast off the bottom to get it going again.

 

[nunyafnb]

In order to be sure primary fermentation is done, you have to take at least 2 final gravity readings over the span of a couple of days and make sure that they are the same. If your final gravity changes, it's not done fermenting.

Patience is key... I let most of my beers sit for at least 3 weeks to a month in primary, and I don't even bother with a secondary unless I am adding something to the secondary.

Be patient, and you'll end up with better beer!