First Brew - Should I worry / bottle early?

[morbster]

Howdy everyone, first time posting on the forum.

i brewed my first batch of beer right after the New Year (BIAB, used 5gal of water initially, probably ended up around 3gal of fermentable wort, due to operator error), and I'm experiencing the all-too-common newbie impatience about the length of my fermentation. I've searched around a bit online for a similar issue, but haven't seen anything that directly addresses what I'm experiencing.

After chilling the wort, aerating, and pitching my yeast, here's the activity that I noted:

16 hours after pitching - layer of 1/8" foam formed on top
27 hours after pitching - bubbling had begun
40 hours after pitching - bubbling stopped

My temperature hadn't exceeded 69F, so I assumed it was simply a leaky fermenter. It's now been 8 days since pitching my yeast, and the foam on the top has almost completely disappeared (see picture). The bubbling never resumed.

Now, the natural thing may be to take a hydrometer reading for my FG, but I am worried about aerating my beer too much because I can only use a 1.5L jar for my hydrometer readings (ordered a graduated cylinder online, but won't be here for 5-7 days). Should I just man up and try to siphon that much beer to the jar to get a hydrometer reading?

Question two - I have a ton of residue building up at the bottom of my fermenter. It's most likely the yeast cake and cold break precipitating out, but it shocked me at how much there was. Is this typical? (see picture below)

I appreciate any help or advice, and I'll happily provide any follow-up information if it's needed. Thanks.

 

[brewkinger]

I can't see the pics.

I would leave it alone until your test cylindr arrives. The leaky fermenter theory is a sound one.
Are you fermenting in a bucket or carboy?
If In a bucket, then just sanitize your hydrometer and test your gravity right in the bucket.
The stuff settling at the bottom is perfectly normal; yeast, hop residue and protein break. All normal.

RDWHAHB and wait the 5-7 days for your gear to arrive.
My personal solution to occupy your time is get some ingredients and another bucket and make more beer!

EDIT: I can see pics now, so forget the bucket comments, clearly yiu are in a glass or plastic carboy, so forget that part.

 

[morbster]

Thanks for the advice, brewkinger. I'll find some way to occupy my time until the graduated cylinder arrives.

 

[bajaedition]

I think yo are fine
do you have SECONDARY fermentor? if so rack the beer off the trub (stuff on the bottom. and age it a few weeks, if not bottle or keg it, you can always save an amount to test once the testing cylinder gets there.

Relax, have a beer

 

[morbster]

do you have SECONDARY fermentor?

I don't have a secondary fermenter. Unfortunately, I'm running quite the barebones operation here - I had to order my graduated cylinder from across because no place on the island I'm on sells them.

 

[RM-MN]

I don't have a secondary fermenter. Unfortunately, I'm running quite the barebones operation here - I had to order my graduated cylinder from across because no place on the island I'm on sells them.

It's probably good that you don't have a secondary fermenter. There really isn't anything that a secondary would do for this beer that the primary won't except give you an opportunity (very small) for oxidizing your beer or getting an infection in the batch. It certainly won't hurt the beer to wait for the graduated cylinder and it probably will help it. In fact, I'd hope for a backorder on the graduated cylinder to make you wait even longer before you sample. :rockin:

 

[flugelizor]

If you are asking if you should worry, you have obviously not read "The new complete Joy of Home brewing" by Charlie Papazian.
You should read it when you get a chance.
Cover to cover.

But it is an old book. Read it with the understanding that many techniques and equipment have been developed since he wrote it. Sorry off topic ...

 

[Psycotte]

Why is your beer green? That's disturbing...

 

[GilSwillBasementBrews]

I use the plastic tube my hydrometer came in for taking hydrometer samples. Works well and saves me the cost of a graduated cylinder. Just use a turkey Baster/wine thief to take a sample. I've also used the outer portion of my autosiphon as a thief before in a pinch. Just don't add the sample back to the fermenter for sanitation reasons. Besides who doesn't drink their hydro samples to see how it's progressing.

 

[unionrdr]

When the rapid bubbling slows or stops,usually only initial fermentation is done. It'll then slowly,uneventfully creep down to a stable FG from there. then at two weeks time,I take an FG sample to see how close it is to final gravity. I use the tube the hydrometer came in for testing with this blue,hard foam ring base I got from Northern Brewer for $1.60 that stablizes the tube.
Then giving the beer 3-7 days to clean up & settle out clear or slightly misty before priming & bottling. About 3 weeks total.

 

[Darwin18]

Why is your beer green? That's disturbing...

Yes...I'm not sure why no one else noticed this....

 

[brewkinger]

Yes...I'm not sure why no one else noticed this....

I noticed it but figured it was due to fluorescent lighting and the refraction of the light through the glass carboy and the color of the beer.

 

[freisste]

I thought he was experimenting with an algae fermentation vs the standard yeast fermentation.

Or it is a trick of the light.

50/50 odds on either theory.

Also, the suggestion of bottling and saving a little to test later is a horrible suggestion. Unless you want bottle bombs.

 

[Darwin18]

The OP didn't post his SG but if he doesn't have a way to collect a hydrometer sample then I think it's best to let it ride for a full three weeks of fermentation time. This would ensure that you're not bottling early and risking explosive and dangerous bottle bombs. The better option is to buy a wine thief, or use a sanitized turkey baster, to get your hydrometer sample.

 

[morbster]

I noticed it but figured it was due to fluorescent lighting and the refraction of the light through the glass carboy and the color of the beer.

I thought it would be fun to toss in a bottle of green food dye to give my beer a nice green tint. I maybe went a little overboard, but hey, St. Patrick's Day is just around the corner!

It's actually just the color of my fermenter. The most common ones to find here are a translucent green plastic.