First brew. How's it look?

[iTMart]

First time brewer from Kalamazoo, Michigan. My wonderful girlfriend got me a brewing kit from Bell's Brewery here In Kalamazoo for Valentine's day. I am now into day 3 and was just wondering if everything looked normal. I feel like I have a lot of extra sediment at the top of my carboy. The recipe is a starter kit box and is English Brown Ale. Is the brown cloudy color normal looking?

Also, last night it started to bubble over and some sediment has seemed to make it into the air lock. It eventually slowed down a bit and I just added a bit of sanitary filtered water to the top of the air lock and it seems to be back to normal.

Any and all input/tips is greatly appreciated!

 

[jaycount]

Looks like a good, healthy fermentation to me. You might pull that airlock off and clean it real well so that it doesn't get clogged up from all of the krausen, otherwise it might blow off and make a mess.

 

[chickypad]

Yep, looks good. Next time use a blow off tube (and I would add one now if the fermentation is still going strong).

I miss Bell's! Spent some years in Michigan, hard to get now on the left coast.

 

[iTMart]

Thanks for the positive feedback guys! I wasn't too worried that something was wrong with it but just wanted a direct opinion on actual pictures of my brew instead of just my description of it. A picture's worth a thousand words as they say!

As far as the fermentation goes it isn't nearly as strong as it was but it is definitely still bubbling slowly. Going into day 4 I am pretty eager for bottling day but am in no hurry to jump the gun on this one. I feel that for my first brew I am doing pretty well so far. I made sure to sanitize EVERYTHING that came into contact with my wort as this was my biggest worry during the whole process.

Now when I pull off the airlock to clean it out should I put something over the top of my carboy so no contaminants or oxygen can get inside of it? Like a rubber water balloon or something? Or will it be fine just in the time it takes me to clean out the airlock, fill it back up with water and stick it back on. Sorry if that's a dumb question but just being pre cautious here.

Its only a 5 minute drive from where I live to the Bell's Brewery! The only thing better would be if I got a job there. Now that would be awesome, haha!
Cheers,
-Tyler

 

[AdamPag]

If its in full swing fermentation you can just take the air lock off and the CO2 escaping will prevent anything from getting in there. Make sure you clean, sanitize and replace the airlock fluid (I use vodka), and Yes the cloudiness is perfectly normal. You're actually watching the millions of yeasties doing what they do best, eat O2 and sugar and poop out alcohol and CO2, magical isnt it? The cloudiness will clear and fall out to the bottom over the next week or so. Looks just fine man, welcome!!

 

[iTMart]

Took some new pics after I cleaned the airlock. Nice and clean now and still fermenting and bubbling healthily.

I don't know if you guys can tell but in a couple of the photos I posted there are still pieces of yeast around the top of the rim in the sediment. Should I just leave it be or would it be okay to scrape it off and let it fall into my fermenting wort?

 

[AdamPag]

Leave it be, just clean it really really well when you're done bottling

 

[homebrewdad]

Perfectly normal. It'll turn out fine.

 

[jaycount]

lol @ all of these pics, you making a fermenter-family photo album?

Leave it be for now.

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/blowoff-hose-3-5-foot-section.html Buy some of this before your next batch and start the primary off with this in lieu of an airlock, it will prevent a mess if you have a super active fermentation like you did this time.

 

[helibrewer]

Looks like it's starting to clarify a bit for ya....nice job!

 

[iTMart]

Haha well I always like it when people who start threads add a lot of photos to go along with whatever it is they're talking about. It allows you guys to see what I see and give me better advice.

 

[iTMart]

So I took a gravity reading sample tonight and it read 1.10. Going to try again in a few days and see if its around the same. Not really in that much of a hurry but there really hasn't been much activity lately so I figured why not take a reading.

The sample tasted a lot like Bell's Hopslam even though the kit is English brown ale. It was very hoppy and smelled very good too. I'm considering adding some honey to it to make it taste even more like Hopslam. Now to do this would I combine a certain amount of honey with the wort in a secondary fermenter?

 

[chickypad]

Adding the honey may not do what you think. Honey like other sugars is pretty much all fermentable, and may not add a lot of taste like you might be expecting. Beers like big american IPA's and certain Belgians use simple sugars to boost the alcohol but dry the beer out so it's not too sweet. That's what I suspect it's doing in Hopslam. That's a 10% beer though, I don't think you want to do that to your brown.

 

[iTMart]

Good point. I think I'll just leave it be. It already tastes really good the way it is.