First ever brew question

[Pappagiorgio]

Hello,

Like so many, my first ever brew has turned out to be a great learning experience and has presented some challenges. I have a quick question regarding the fermentation of my beer and wanted to see if any of you would be interested in helping me make sense of my question.

This brew is the Amber Bock kit from Midwest. I followed all of the instructions to the best of my ability, but throughout the past 6 days since the initial brew, I have not been able to see any airlock activity whatsoever. This was the area of the brew where I initially had some questions, as I wasn't sure whether or not to put the airlock on right away or leave the cap on or off. (I have the S type airlock)

I was beginning to grow discouraged that for whatever reason, my beer was not fermenting, however, the last two days of hydrometer readings have given two straight gravity readings of 1.010 (the ideal FG per the kit's instructions). There is currently no foamy evidence of fermentation, however, I did not actually look into the fermenter until about 5 days after the brew.

Please let me know what you think about this. I apologize for the basic questions, but I guess you have to start somewhere. Thanks you for your help.

 

[Terek]

That sounds like it's done. There should be a ring of crud around the wall of your bucket from the beer level up 1-4 inches. That would indicate a krouzen was there, but they drop when it's done.

BTW airlock activity is in no way a sign of fermentation. And yes, put the lock on right away.
Most beer won't drop below1.01 FG, depending on your yeast and OG. I use us-05 most of the time, and my ferments usually end around 1.012

 

[stonecutter2]

Did you use a bucket to ferment? They have air gaps between the lid and the bucket. That can let out the CO2 instead of it flowing through your airlock, especially if the airlock is quite full.

I tend to only barely fill my airlock. Makes for more bubblin action

Trust the hydrometer, not the airlock

 

[dadshomebrew]

Congratulations and welcome to the hobby. I detect many signs of first brew impatience an jitters. RElax it will be fine, or at least beer.

Fist off did you take an OG reading. That would help.

What yeast did you use and what was your rough fermentation temperature.

Airlocks do not provide any meaningful information. I have had many brew ferment out without a bubble. It likely means there was a leak somewhere.

With a FG of 1.010 you are done or close to it, but please don't rush. give you beer a chance to finish up with a minimum of 2 weeks in primary. Many folks on here will recommend 4 weeks.

As a bock is a lager, do your kit instructions recommend any specific temperature range or cold conditioning? Scratch that. I looked up you instructions and they are bad. I should say typical for a kit beer. I would highly recommend you google how to brew by palmer, read it, and then come back with some more questions.

 

[Pappagiorgio]

Wow. Thank you to both of you. Yes, I did use the bucket & there is a ring around the bucket where krouzen was apparently present. Adding to the airlock. Yes, the airlock was pretty full. I had no idea how much to fill it. Thank you for the advice on the filling level.

Great news! I'm very excited to move toward finishing this beer.

 

[Jayhem]

Buckets never bubble like carboys because the CO2 escapes under the lid seal, it's not a perfect seal. Enjoy your beer!

 

[Pappagiorgio]

Congratulations and welcome to the hobby. I detect many signs of first brew impatience an jitters. RElax it will be fine, or at least beer.

Fist off did you take an OG reading. That would help.

What yeast did you use and what was your rough fermentation temperature.

Airlocks do not provide any meaningful information. I have had many brew ferment out without a bubble. It likely means there was a leak somewhere.

With a FG of 1.010 you are done or close to it, but please don't rush. give you beer a chance to finish up with a minimum of 2 weeks in primary. Many folks on here will recommend 4 weeks.

As a bock is a lager, do your kit instructions recommend any specific temperature range or cold conditioning? Scratch that. I looked up you instructions and they are bad. I should say typical for a kit beer. I would highly recommend you google how to brew by palmer, read it, and then come back with some more questions.

Thanks for your reply. To answer some of your questions...

My OG reading was around 1.045. I used the dry yeast that came with the kit. Finally, my fermentation temperature was around 60-65 degrees.

I am encouraged by the gravity reading and your information. I was thinking of moving the beer to the carboy tonight for secondary fermentation. Would I be better served just keeping it in the primary fermentation bucket for now?

Thanks a lot

 

[jpsmithny]

The "S" type airlocks are usually filled so that the liquid is at the halfway point in both chambers.

 

[dadshomebrew]

Yeah dont bother with the secondary, thats old school thinking. I typically only do it if i want to free up a fermenter, or add something.

The reason I asked about the yeast was every yeast strain has a prefered range of fermentation temperatures (Happy Place) But they never mention this in the crappy kit instructions. You always want to take a quick look online find out the range and set up a happy place for your yeast to live.

My big concern was that you had lager yeast for your bock, which prefer a very cool fermentation range. Still might not be a bad idea to check.

 

[Terek]

You technically can ferment lagers at ale temps. I believe it's called California steam, but that might be an ale fermented at ale temps with lager yeast. Correct me if I'm wrong everyone

 

[dstranger99]

If you're at 1.010 it's done, obviously a leak on the bucket seal or airlock seal.....And you can rack to secondary if you want, doing maneuvers like that will help you learn as you grow into the hobby.