Is my FastFerment causing (too) fast fermentation’s?

[Datsvibe]

Hi,

First time to the forum:

I’ve read a bunch of posts regarding reasons for fast fermentation’s and can’t quite nail down what’s happening to mine..

I know people get pretty annoyed with the question. I apologize.

I’ve made three 5 gallon batches (IPA, Pumpkin Ale, and a Bavarian Hefeweizen) of all grain.. and a few batches of wine..

Each time I’ve used my FastFerment to ferment.

First time using FF- white Zinfandel wine, room temp- 74 degrees. Fermentation was vigorous and done (via hydrometer) in 3 days - FG was at .996. Tasted fine, but needed backsweetened as it was too dry.


First beer- IPA- pitched at 72 .. and FG was achieved in less than 2 days.. let it sit in fermenter for 5 more just in case.. Beer was okay, but more bitter than I had hoped for. Perhaps that was how it was supposed to be, not sure.

****.. what is happening. I figured, hmm I must be too warm, so I invested in a BrewJacket in hopes of controlling the temps more accurately.


2nd beer- pumpkin ale- pitched at 68, and kept it there for the entirety. Reached my FG in less than 3 days. Tasted fine, but I’m a newb and wasn’t positive if it had off flavors or not.

Current beer- Hefeweizen. Yeast called for fermenting between 62-72 degrees. Pitched at 68 and set the fermenter to 62 degrees. 12 hours after pitching I had an active fermentation at 62 degrees.

36 Hours later, No bubbles. Hydrometer reading is 1.010 .. my target FG.

Damn. I can’t figure out what’s happening. The instructions call for 5 days at 62, with a gradual increase to 72 but my Target FG is already reached.


Am I missing something? Is the FastFerment the culprit?

Should I still follow the 5 days at 62 and gradual increase to 72 recommendation? Or since I’m at my target FG, should I transfer to keg and carb?

I guess my question would be- if I reach the target FG in 36 hours or WELL before I anticipated should I let beer sit in fermenter for as long as directions indicate? Or is it all about the FG?

My main worry is the off-flavors due to fast fermentations I’ve read user talk about in other posts.

Thanks for the help! Apologize if this has been addressed elsewhere. I’m sure it has, I just can’t find it.

- Datsvibe

 

[marjen]

Fermentation happens at its own pace. Many recommend letting it site a couple extra days then testing OG again to see if its the same. Yeast does not always hit the intended target. Mine usually end up below. Plus the extra couple days give the yeast time to clean up from what I am told. Doesn't sound like you are dry hopping, but that usually needs a couple days as well. So even if I hit FG after 2-3 days I will usually leave it at least 7-10 just to make sure, but I also dry hop. Good luck.

 

[Datsvibe]

Thanks for the reply...

Yeah, My IPA I dry-hopped so I let it sit for 5 days after fermentation stopped.

But- the pumpkin and this Hefeweizen don’t call for dry-hopping so I wasn’t sure what to do.

Like you mentioned, can’t hurt to let it sit and let the yeast settle out so I’m gonna do that.

Just can’t figure out why my fermentation’s are done so dang quickly.

My main worry was the off-flavors, but in all honesty as a newb, I prolly wouldn’t know an off-flavor unless it was so OFF that it was undrinkable.

Thanks again!

 

[dyqik]

That sounds normal, as far as the beer batches are concerned. My hefes and ales are usually close to FG in 48 hours once the yeast takes off, in buckets, Fermonster, carboy, etc.

With my brew-pi set up, I can see how far the fridge temperature setting is below the beer temperature setting, so I can see how much heat fermentation is generating. After 12-24 hour lag, the temperature difference will rise to 4-5 degrees, and after 48-60 hours, it'll be almost nothing, as the bulk of the fermentation is done.

 

[Datsvibe]

That makes sense. Thanks for the input. Sounds like I may be overreacting a bit, not understanding the directions completely in some of these “kits” ...

Guess I’m just afraid of unwittingly screwing something up after taking all that time to brew a batch.

Ultimately I guess the true test is how the beer tastes and so far they’ve all been pretty good.

Cheers!

 

[SlitheryDee]

Most of my beers seem to finish fermenting in just a few days too. I suppose I could technically bottle them the instant they hit fg, but I'd still have to wait for them to condition to hit peak flavor. I'm told that such conditioning happens more efficiently and evenly when it's done in bulk, so I try to give all my beers 2 weeks even when apparent activity stopped inside the first week. In any case I don't think this is being caused by your fermenter, it's more the normal pattern of many fermentations regardless of what they happen in.

 

[dyqik]

Looking at the brewpi logs for the Dubbel I brewed on Saturday afternoon, pitching yeast at about 4pm, the main fermentation heat output stopped at 10pm Monday night. Tuesday night, the krausen is dropping, but there's still airlock activity going on. Whether that's fermentation or just the CO2 produced coming out of solution, I'm not sure.

It'll sit there at fermentation temps for another 12 days to get the last few gravity points, and for the yeast to clean up before I cold crash for a week (on vacation then) and then bottle.

 

[Ogroat]

With my brew-pi set up, I can see how far the fridge temperature setting is below the beer temperature setting, so I can see how much heat fermentation is generating.

Interesting! So it's got two temperature probes - does it have any other sensors hooked up to it?

 

[dyqik]

Interesting! So it's got two temperature probes - does it have any other sensors hooked up to it?

It's dorm fridge setup with a 6 inch collar on the door so a 7.9l bucket fits in front of the compressor hump. It has a beer temperature sensor on a thermowell into the fermenter, a fridge temperature sensor taped to the wall inside the fridge and an external room temperature sensor (which is just for monitoring in my setup).

The algorithm that the BrewPi runs is a two stage loop, with a PID loop controlling the beer temperature that sets the fridge temperature, and a predictive thermostat loop that controls the fridge temperature by switching the fridge compressor and a seed germination mat heater in the fridge. With a bit more hardware, I think it could optionally also use a fan to bring room air into the fridge to control the temperature with lower power consumption, based on the fridge set point and the room air temperature.

I don't have any other sensors, but I believe that people have set up Tilts and iSpindel bluetooth hydrometers to log to the BrewPi system. Personally I'm a little dubious about the bluetooth hydrometers and the BeerBug style systems. I have a dream of working out how to rig up an in-situ refractometer system for realtime gravity/alcohol content monitoring, but I need time and funds for that.