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IreWay78

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Just finished up brewing batch #2, and 3!!! They're in the brew room and coming along nicely!! Brewed a Bavarian Wheat, and a Simcoe IPA. The Bavarian wheat is already burping after about 2 hours in the fermenter, and the IPA is showing pressure, but no burps yet. I love this new hobby!! In a couple of weeks, heading over to a Polish friends place to learn the ropes with BIAB and all grain brewing!
 
Keep that enthusiasm! Homebrewing is THE best hobby I've ever had, and it's deceptively easy to do and so rewarding. All-grain is a lot easier than you may think, and there are so many more style options available with it than using extract or even partial mash. Others will say the same, but read, read, READ everything you can get your hands on and keep learning. Having a friend who's already doing all-grain is a bonus as well. Congratulations and welcome!
 
Keep that enthusiasm! Homebrewing is THE best hobby I've ever had, and it's deceptively easy to do and so rewarding. All-grain is a lot easier than you may think, and there are so many more style options available with it than using extract or even partial mash. Others will say the same, but read, read, READ everything you can get your hands on and keep learning. Having a friend who's already doing all-grain is a bonus as well. Congratulations and welcome!
I have a good question. I brewed two different beers at the same time today, same process, same everything. One is burping like crazy, the other going nothing. An hour ago (2 hours into fermentation) I checked the vessels, and one of the lids popped. EhT did I do wrong? It's a Belgian wheat, brewed from an extract bag with 1 kilo of malt, and ferme red at 1.041 OG @ 25.5°C.
 
Yeast are a living organism and they have their own schedule, I wouldn’t worry about it for a day or two then I might be a bit concerned.
 
Welcome to HBT!
It's such a wonderful and satisfying hobby. You'll never run out of things to learn and discover.

If the lid popped, that means there was pressure inside. Make sure your airlock isn't clogged or blocked. If the headspace (airspace between the beer level and the lid) is relatively small, rig up a blow off tube. Brewers have had their whole bathroom or dining room sprayed with beer due to exploding lids. Belgian yeasts especially can be very active!

Also look into controlling your fermentation temps, it is probably the single most important improvement a brewer can make after proper sanitation. Slow and steady fermentations are much better than short and explosive ones. Swamp coolers, refrigerators, fermentation chambers, etc. A simple plastic tote or large chest cooler with cold water is a tremendous heat sink to put your fermentor(s) in. You can add some frozen water bottles every day as needed to drop the temps a few more degrees. Works amazingly well.
 
Welcome to HBT!
It's such a wonderful and satisfying hobby. You'll never run out of things to learn and discover.

If the lid popped, that means there was pressure inside. Make sure your airlock isn't clogged or blocked. If the headspace (airspace between the beer level and the lid) is relatively small, rig up a blow off tube. Brewers have had their whole bathroom or dining room sprayed with beer due to exploding lids. Belgian yeasts especially can be very active!

Also look into controlling your fermentation temps, it is probably the single most important improvement a brewer can make after proper sanitation. Slow and steady fermentations are much better than short and explosive ones. Swamp coolers, refrigerators, fermentation chambers, etc. A simple plastic tote or large chest cooler with cold water is a tremendous heat sink to put your fermentor(s) in. You can add some frozen water bottles every day as needed to drop the temps a few more degrees. Works amazingly well.
I had to run an fan directly on them both all night to drop the temps. Got the ambient temp down to 25°C, and seems to be doing just fine!! Lits of pressure and steady bubbles through the airlocks but no more blowouts. Scared the daylights out if me when it happened twice!! Any negative affects this will have on the beer through fermentation cycle?
 
I had to run an fan directly on them both all night to drop the temps. Got the ambient temp down to 25°C, and seems to be doing just fine!! Lits of pressure and steady bubbles through the airlocks but no more blowouts. Scared the daylights out if me when it happened twice!! Any negative affects this will have on the beer through fermentation cycle?
A fan can only cool so much. A wet towel around the fermentors with a fan directed on them works better (essential part of a swamp cooler), but there are limits. It's too late for these, but find a cooler place for them next time.

Many new brewers say that controlling ferm temps was the single most important improvement to their beers. Keep that in mind.

25C (77F) is very high, especially in the early stages of fermentation, even for Belgian yeasts (Saisons being a notable exception). Because the yeast is binging on the sugars it doesn't do it cleanly. You'll get (unwanted) byproducts, off-flavors, and aromas from the higher fermentation temps, such as fusel alcohols, extra esters, etc. The yeast doesn't mind, but your drinkers may.
 
A fan can only cool so much. A wet towel around the fermentors with a fan directed on them works better (essential part of a swamp cooler), but there are limits. It's too late for these, but find a cooler place for them next time.

Many new brewers say that controlling ferm temps was the single most important improvement to their beers. Keep that in mind.

25C (77F) is very high, especially in the early stages of fermentation, even for Belgian yeasts (Saisons being a notable exception). Because the yeast is binging on the sugars it doesn't do it cleanly. You'll get (unwanted) byproducts, off-flavors, and aromas from the higher fermentation temps, such as fusel alcohols, extra esters, etc. The yeast doesn't mind, but your drinkers may.
I finally got the temps down to 70°f.
 
Hopefully this issue has helped you work out a method for controlling fermentation temperature. That will help you with all you future brews. As you brew and read, you'll start looking at pretty much every part of your process and wondering how to optimize. That's half the fun of brewing.
 
Hopefully this issue has helped you work out a method for controlling fermentation temperature. That will help you with all you future brews. As you brew and read, you'll start looking at pretty much every part of your process and wondering how to optimize. That's half the fun of brewing.
I agree!! Having my stepdaughter make me some cooking blankets for my fermenters as we speak!! Thank you for the I sight!!
 
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