Hopefully I didn't screw things up.

[theduplexer]

Hello everyone, I'm an amateur brewer who just started my first homebrew this past weekend. The beer is an Irish Stout which I added 1 oz of orange extract that I soaked cloves in for a month as well as 1/4 cup of local honey (I know this probably isn't enough to add any flavor now that I've researched a bit more) in addition to what the recipe called for during the last 5 minutes of the boil.

The airlock was bubbling about once every second 24 hours after putting it into my 6.5 gallon primary fermenter, but after 48 hours the bubbling had basically ceased completely. I was worried that I didn't aerate the wort enough, depriving the yeast of oxygen, so I sloshed the bucket around a little bit, and bubbling commenced again but only for about 5 minutes. Now it's back to just sitting there.

Is this normal? Have I done something wrong? I made sure to sanitize everything very thoroughly and aside from adding my two extra ingredients, I followed the recipe to a tee. Any help you all can provide me would be greatly appreciated.

 

[BradleyBrew]

what was the original gravity? If you had a nice vigorous fermentation then its most likely done with its primary fermentation. Again, give it a week and test the gravity and see where it is at. To each their own, but I don't think you addition is keeping with a authentic Irish Stout. But hey, thats the beauty of brewing, you can do whatever the hell you want.

 

[theduplexer]

what was the original gravity? If you had a nice vigorous fermentation then its most likely done with its primary fermentation. Again, give it a week and test the gravity and see where it is at. To each their own, but I don't think you addition is keeping with a authentic Irish Stout. But hey, thats the beauty of brewing, you can do whatever the hell you want.

Unfortunately I dropped my hydrometer right before the brew, and it shattered. To say the least, I wasn't happy. Yeah I should have researched prior to adding those ingredients; like I said, I'm a newbie. I went ahead and read all of the "did I screw it up?" posts which restored my confidence a little bit since I thought the airlock was the most important thing to look at in regards to fermentation. I had a nice layer of kraussen, so I'm assuming everything is going fine. Going to pick up a glass carboy and a new hydrometer tomorrow and move my brew into it this Sunday. Hopefully everything works out!

Also, thanks for your reply. I used dry yeast which I read can often ferment fast, so you're probably right about that.

 

[kh54s10]

Keep researching. This site has lots of great information as well as some not so good.

I read everything and digest it all and make up my own mind about things.

I guess by now you have read that bubbling in the airlock is not a good indicator about fermentation.

Also read about skipping the secondary step and leaving the beer in primary for 3-4 weeks then bottle.

My $.02.. Get a couple of Better Bottles or buckets. You will soon want more than one batch going at a time. Also I like the lighter weight and fear a trip to the ER when the glass carboy breaks.

I have read the threads and most glass carboy users break one sooner or later, sometimes with disastrous results!

 

[iron_city_ap]

IMMEDIATELY ship this batch to my 'screwed up homebrew disposal facility'. Quit reading the end of this post and get to shipping !!!!! Less read, more ship!!!!!! Seriously, do you have a reading addiction? That evil beer is plotting your demise and instead of stepping to, you keep reading !?

/order a new hydrometer. Once you get it, resume as if nothing ever happened. For future reference, sloshing after pitching CAN BE a bad bad thing. Not immediately after pitching, but after the beer has fermented some and the air space between the top of the beer and the lid isn't all CO2 yet. If its all CO2, you are fine. Make sense?

 

[Xaphoeous]

Meh, you're probably fine. The airlock isn't a gauge, just a valve to let out excess CO2.

A hydrometer is absolutely necessary, so order/buy a new one.

Your additions are intriguing...what was your motivation for those additions?

 

[GTaylor]

I agree with the others, it should be fine. My first batch did the same thing, fermented like crazy for a day or two then nothing, and it turned out pretty good. Of the 5 batches I've done so far, none have had the airlock bubbling for more than a day or two.

 

[theduplexer]

Also read about skipping the secondary step and leaving the beer in primary for 3-4 weeks then bottle.

Yeah I actually just saw that thread discussing skipping secondary. I didn't use a nylon/muslin bag when I added my hops and instead just threw them right into the boil. My main reasoning for wanting a secondary was to get a little better clarity. If I let the primary settle and siphon out from the top when it comes time to bottle will my clarity be fine?

iron city ap, hahah nice try, but if I can drink a $5 bottle of gin, I'm sure I'll be able to handle a lower tier batch of homebrew

I'll be picking up a new hydrometer from my local homebrew store tomorrow as well as a case or two of bottles! Also, I just ordered a Lemon Coriander Weiss recipe kit for my second brew! Can't wait to try that one

As for my motivation for adding the extra ingredients...well...let's just say I thought oranges, cloves, and honey sounded like a great combination. What I didn't think about is, 'would they be a great combination with an Irish stout?' Oh well, I'm sure it will be drinkable. Thanks everybody for your help!

 

[iron_city_ap]

iron city ap, hahah nice try, but if I can drink a $5 bottle of gin.....

Sounds fancy. I keep telling myself to splurge and get a good bottle like that, but I'm too cheap. Plus I don't care for gin.