First brew gone bad? (not fermenting?) WITH PICS

[SkrekkOgGru]

Hey!

Just bought myself a coopers home brew set, and followed the directions, but did a few mistakes

1. I accidently left the tap open to the fermenter... Ooops so some of the sugar/brewkit ran out.. not sure how much ran out, but ended up with OG at 1034. Not a disaster?

This is the big one!

2. When stirring the 2 quarts of hot water with the sugar/brewkit, it became REALLY foamy. (excessive/too much stirring?) I wrote this off as cold break and I filled with cold water. I put the yeast in before the foam went all the way down, and it sat on top of the foam... (Not looking like the video..) I tried gently stirring, but it was too foamy. I'ts been about 16 hours now, and it seems the yeast is still on top of the foam. What to do? Open and stir? Toss it all out and start again?

pictures of yeast on top?
https://www.dropbox.com/gallery/735611/1/Home brew?h=c96f41

 

[JLem]

wort is intrinsically foamy, so that is normal. I would leave it alone for now. Eventually the foam will subside and any yeast sitting on top will then make it into the wort. Besides it can take up to 72 hours for fermentation to begin (not ideal, but it doesn't mean something is wrong or that you won't make good beer). At this point, relax and step away from the fermenter. Oh, and don't worry, have a homebrew (or something else if you don't have any homebrews yet to drink)

 

[TopherM]

1) With a starting OG of 1.034, you are going to have a pretty low alcohol beer, somewhere around 2.8-3.2%, but that's OK, it should still taste good.

2) I pitch yeast on top of the foam all the time, and that isn't going to cause any problems. The foam will subside pretty quickly, and you yeast will be in the solution. If you don't see airlock activity in 12-24 hours, give it a light swirl stir, but you should be AOK.

The one suggestion I'd make is to be VERY patient with this batch. Since the OG is low and the yeast are going to be just a few hours behind in starting fermentation, you need to be for sure that you get a full fermentation. Let it sit for at least a full 3-4 weeks before you secondary/bottle/keg.

Good luck!

 

[unionrdr]

When I add the chilled wort to the fermenter,I pour it in vigorously,dito with top off water. Then stir like mad for 5 minutes to mix the wort/water as well as can be. So it's got a few inches of foam on top when I take an OG & pitch my small starter.
Even when I pitched dry yeast onto that foam,I used a stiring/folding motion to mix the yeast & wort together. Albeit lightly. Try that if it doesn't go down & start soon.

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

RDWHAHB! Do this once a day for a couple weeks, then take a gravity reading and see where you're at. Fermentation can take a couple days to kick off, so unless you pitched your yeast when the wort was way too hot (110* or more), you should be fine.

 

[SkrekkOgGru]

Thanks guys. Seems to be going along fine. Got some additional tips from "how to brew" on my next brew! =)

 

[BradleyBrew]

I started off with a Coopers Kit! Its a great kit to start off with but I would suggest once you get the hang of it to move on to extract w/ grains and beyond

 

[AR-Josh]

Glad you worked it out. Those first couple brews take FOREVER!!!

 

[unionrdr]

i just moved to altering the cooper's cans to make other styles. Hence my epitaph,"recombinant extract muse". Just having too much fun with cooper's cans & other various additions. Good ales can be had if care is taken...

 

[birvine]

Rarely should you throw away a batch because you fear it might have been 'ruined'. Quite often not. Best to continue doing everything from then onwards to perfection and you'll probably get a good beer.

B

 

[SkrekkOgGru]

Beer tasted fine before bottling, but now..

I bottled on the 27th of July, and used coopers carbonation drops.

The room where the bottles are stored is around 21C at all times.

After about a week after bottling, I tried a beer, and it's wayyyy sweet and almost no carbonation. There were no visible signs of secondary fermenting. Is there supposed to be?

I read some online, and decided to shake the bottles a bit. A week later (today) The beer still tastes like crap.

I'm guessing the only thing to do is to go get some more yeast, hydrate it, and drop a few drops in each bottle?

 

[shawnbou]

You shouldn't have to add more yeast in the bottles. The beer should still have plenty of yeast in it to carbonate.

Carbonation "problems" result from not enough sugar, or not enough time. Since you used Coopers drops, you definitely used enough sugar.

Ruling everything else out, the problem is most likely time. You said you bottled on July 27, which was 3 weeks ago. You tasted after a week and there was no carbonation, which is completely normal. Beers usually take around 3-6 weeks to carbonate, and can take even longer before they reach their peak flavor. Even if the beer is carbonated tomorrow, it still may not taste as good as you want it to (or as good as it's going to be) for a little while longer.

The best thing to do would be to leave those beers alone and try another one every week. Pay attention to how the flavor develops over time, not just whether it's "good" or "bad", and you'll see what a difference a week of conditioning makes. I am sure that in another few weeks, you'll be happy.