I make n00bs look good... questions!

[maple_shaft]

Hi all this is my first time on this forum and my first time ever attempting to brew a simple batch of beer. I have always thought about it but it was my wife who started me off in the right direction by getting one of those Mr. Beer beginner kits.

Seemed simple enough I guess, I read all the literature that came with it front to back and got my fermenter doing its thing without a problem.

Its been sitting in there for about 5 days now and I just wanted to maybe describe what I am seeing for you guys and see if everything is going okay.

First of all if you aren't familiar with the Mr. Beer fermenter, it is a small container and it is filled with about 8.4 quarts of wort. It came with a yeast packet but they didn't tell me what kind anywhere, just that it should take a week to ferment and that it would ferment ideally between 70 and 76 degrees F.

After about 5 days now I notice about a half centimeter of foam on the top (just looking in) and what almost looks like a bunch of stuff around the bottom of the fermenter. I imagine this is yeast? Should I be concerned about the yeast hanging out at the bottom or is this normal? I imagine that if the yeast was dead that there wouldn't be much if any foam at all.

Please be kind I am still learning the basics here and if my first batch is ruined then I wouldn't be suprised or upset. I realize how bad I suck! ^_^

 

[McKBrew]

Yep, it's yeast and other stuff (trub) on the bottom. It's supposed to settle and the foam on top is from fermentation. Everything will work out fine, and you'll be moving on to bigger and better things.

 

[maple_shaft]

Thanks for your reply! Its good to know that things are working out smoothly.

I was trying to be meticulous with sanitization.

 

[david_42]

We call "the foam on the top" a Krausen and one of the signs of a completed ferment is when the krausen falls, leaving a lot of crud on the sides of the fermenter.

 

[Evan!]

I think you'll find that, as long as you're not some underage punk trying to make prison hooch out of table sugar and welch's, most people around here are really nice and helpful and won't think anything less of someone for making a mistake or being a beginner. Hell, we were ALL beginners at one point in time ('Cept for maybe Brewpastor; I think he was immaculately conceived by the goddess of grain, and popped out of the womb talking about decoction mashing...but I digress).

I do think that you'll discover that the Mr. Beer kits are severely limiting, and if you like the hobby in the least, you'll be dropping some cash on a more standard homebrew kit in the near future. Good luck!