Holy Fermentation

[Bus06]

I have been fermenting an American Smash Session Ale for about five days. The first couple of days I was worried because I am using a new dry yeast. Now, it's fermenting so aggressively that I wished I would have gotten a blowoff hose assembly for the PET fermentor. Can't wait for this beer to be done.

 

[brew_darrymore]

Post some pictures!

What kind of dry yeast are you using? What temperature are you fermenting at?

 

[dallasdb]

Pics or it didn't happen!

 

[Bus06]

I will work on pics tonight when I get home and also try to setup the blowoff tube. By wife said that is fermenting more aggressively today(10NOV), than in the last few days. So pics to follow.

 

[kh54s10]

Blow off tube at the start of every fermentation. Especially in a PET fermenter which will not have a very large headspace. I don't even switch back to an airlock.

 

[Bus06]

Sorry that it took me so long, but here are some pictures. The gravity was 1.010 before I racked into secondary and dry hopped. Still new at this so any recommendations would be great, or constructive criticism

 

[TX_Brewing]

Make sure your racking cane hose goes to the bottom of your secondary, tha way there is less oxygen pickup. Not sure about doing a secondary in a bucket as the last time I did one was 1999 using glass carboys. I am sure others will chime in. Don't worry it's not going to ruin your beer, there just may be better options.

 

[brew_darrymore]

I agree with TX_Brewing, make sure you get that hose all the way down to the bottom of the bucket to avoid splashing. You don't want to introduce oxygen to beer that's already fermented and from you picture it looks like your hose is long enough to get to the bottom of your bucket.

Also, you want to leave a bit more headspace in your fermenter. I'd go an inch or two below your level. You were lucky this time but many yeasts ferment so vigorously that you'll end up with a big mess to clean. Don't be greedy, leave an extra 1-2 inches of headspace!

 

[GPP33]

You can forget about your racking cane going to the bottom of the bucket because you can forget about the bucket all together. You just exposed your beer too so much oxygen it's not even funny. Dump your dry hops into primary and go straight to bottles, if you really want to do a secondary use the bucket for primary and the carboy for secondary (after purging it as best you can with CO2).

Oxygen isn't the end of the world, you'll just want to drink that baby pretty quick!

 

[Bus06]

Thanks a lot for all of the input. I really do appreciate it and that's why I'm on here, this is only my third batch, first time doing secondary. And the only reason that I used the bucket for secondary is that I was ill prepared. Didn't have a fermometer for my other PET bottle. Lesson learned. And in the short time that I have been on this forum I have learned a lot. Again, thank you. Cheers!!

 

[dallasdb]

I prefer to use buckets for fermentation. Never had an issue or infection.

 

[skraeling]

I have been fermenting an American Smash Session Ale for about five days. The first couple of days I was worried because I am using a new dry yeast. Now, it's fermenting so aggressively that I wished I would have gotten a blowoff hose assembly for the PET fermentor. Can't wait for this beer to be done.

I feel you haha.