Help

[ribsmasherau]

Hi i am new to doing home brews my 1st brew that came with the kit i bought turned out great but my last 2 attempts have failed the first failed brew was a tooheys extra dry morgans recipe kit Australian lagar 1kg booster blend 12g pride of ringwood it started fermenting about 2 days after mixing and went for about 6 hours then stopped i used the hydrometer on the 5th day and was around 1040 waited another 4 days with no change when i opened it up was a real off fruity smell so i discarded it, the 2nd failed mix was corona morgans recipe kit canadian light 1kg dry body blend 12g supa alpha and i got the same result as the 1st failed one. these are the instructions i been following any idea what im doing wrong?
1. place can in hot water for 15mins to soften
2. boil 2ltrs of water and pour contents of can into fermenter
3. add the hot water
4. add dextrose or suger mallt blend stir well to dissolve
5. pour cold water into fermenter to bring contents upto 19ltrs check temp add 4ltrs of hot or cold water as req bringing temp to between 20 & 25
6. sprinkle the yeast on the surface and stir attach lid with airlock half filled with water

temp of brew been keeping at around 18-20

 

[Captain Damage]

Don't dump your beer! Let me repeat that for emphasis: DON'T DUMP YOUR BEER! You're not waiting anywhere near long enough for fermentation to complete. The vigorous, foaming, churning stage of fermentation ("kraeusen") only lasts for a day or two. But the beer is still fermenting. You should wait at least a week after fermentation starts before you even bother take a gravity reading. Many of us more experienced brewers leave our beer s for 3 weeks to a month before messing with it. You just smelled the beer before it was beer, so a non-beer smell is normal and expected.

 

[dfc]

Ouch. It's painful to read that.

 

[FlyinBrewer]

yep

 

[ribsmasherau]

So even after 5 days from when it starts fermenting the hydrometer reading aint changed the brew is still fine sorry i am new to this.

 

[Justibone]

Yeah.

Sucks you dumped, b/c those probably would have been fine in time.

Never, ever dump. And if you think of dumping, forget it. If you really need to dump, you probably need to throw away the bucket the beer was in as well... that's the only time to dump. And even then, be very, VERY sure.

Beer is great, but it can take time sometimes. Keep it slightly below room temperature (high 60's) for a week, then let it sit at room temperature (low 70's) for another two weeks, and THEN check to see if it's ready to bottle.

Patience is a virtue, and good brewers are the most virtuous people you'll ever meet.

In two professions/vocations/hobbies I've experienced does laziness help tremendously:
-computer programming (makes you efficient at recycling code)
-brewing (awww... I'm too lazy to bottle today, another week of "batch conditioning" it is!)