First Brew!

[misteradam]

Hello All, I have brewed my first beer! an all grain kit of Irish Red Ale! It's 3 days in to the fermentation, and until today it was a really active one. The foam is all but gone, and the airlock bubbles very slowly. I'm using nottingham yeast, and it's been kept in the low 60's.

I forgot to take a hydrometer reading at the start, and since I don't have a beer thief or turkey baster in the house, I'm just gonna let it ride for a week or two before bottling it.

The only thing that concerned me, is that I pitched the yeast when the wort was still a little hot.. somewhere between 80-90, so I'm wondering if the high pitch temp. can prevent them from eating all the sugars?

 

[BioBeing]

First beer an all grain? Talk about jumping in feet first! Congrats!

For the fermentation, I think you could leave it longer than two weeks. There is no harm in letting it sit on the yeast cake for a total of 3-4 weeks, and in fact the extra conditioning can help. (And go get a hydrometer and a beer thief so you'll know if it is done - stable reading for 3 days in a row).

As to the yeast: if they started, they'll finish. You might have killed a few, and stressed them a bit, but if they took off, they'll use whatever sugar they can regardless.

 

[woollybugger2]

don't try and rush the beer, let the yeast do their job, wait 3 weeks...

RDWHAHB!

 

[misteradam]

thanks! i can't wait until this batch is done so i can RDWHAB

 

[Homercidal]

From what I've read, you should be ok on the yeast. No doubt it's not ideal, but give it a few days and keep an eye on it. You can always pitch more yeast if they didn't make it.