Is my primary finished?

[tconnation]

First off - Unfortunately, I do not have a hydrometer.

I brewed my first batch about ~4 days ago. It was a Caribou Slobber extract kit with Danstar Windsor Ale Yest. The first 2.5 days there was A LOT of blowoff which I think I handled OK for my first time.. actually scared the **** out of me when I heard a 'THUMP' as it launched the airlock off. But after those first couple days there hasn't been much goin on.. I looked at the yeast manufactures website it says "Quick start to fermentation, which can be completed in 3 days above 17°C." under 'brewing properties'.
http://www.danstaryeast.com/products/windsor-ale-yeast

Is it done fermenting and ready for racking?

I haven't seen any bubbles recently. (I know this is NOT a good indication of fermentation). There's a lot of dried up krausen at the top of the carboy and it looks like a layer of yeast at the bottom.

Any advice would be appreciated, thanks guys.

 

[J187]

No. Not for all intensive purposes anyway. Sure, it may be done fermenting, but many other things will occur thereafter - yeast will clean up so to speak. It's best to leave your primary fermentation for ales for at LEAST 10 days - I go 14 for every ale. And honestly, get a hydrometer. Get one in the next week or so, so you can test the gravity before racking from primary. A stable FG for 3 days, within a couple points of what you expect it to, means your beer is done fermenting and can be racked. A hydrometer is more important to own than your next pair of socks, so get one even if you have to pillage or prostitute yourself.

 

[sweetcell]

you definitely want to give it longer. a week minimum, two would be better. fermentation might have slowed but not stopped. also, yeast will clean up after themselves once fermentation is complete and that takes about 2 days.

yeast manufacturers say some silly things, sometimes. note that they wrote "can be complete in 3 days", not WILL be complete. to me, sounds more like they were boasting the yeast's "personal best", as opposed to typical performance.

 

[unionrdr]

In 3 days,the only thing that's done is initial fermentation. It'll slow down or stop bubbling,due to the vast decrease in co2 production from the wild orgy the yeast have with all those yummy malt sugars (what I named initial fermentation).v I wait till the 2 week mark to take a 1st FG sample to see hoe close it is to being done. Then proceed from there.
I've also found through more than a year of obsevation that the beer cleans up by products of fermentation as it slowly settles out on an average of 3-7 days. The yeasties eat that stuff up since the sugars are gone & they're hell bent on self preservation.

 

[gr8shandini]

What was your fermentation temperature? Although it's not unusual for an average gravity ale to be "done" in 48 hours (in terms of hitting FG, not ready to package), it normally indicates that you're fermenting toward (or above) the upper end of the temperature range. Of course, not having a hydrometer, you don't know if it's "done" yet or not. Either way, J187 has it right. You'll still want a bit of conditioning time after reaching FG. Typically, you're looking at being ready to package in 7-10 days, but a little extra time won't hurt. 14 days is convenient as you'll be packaging on the same day of the week that you had free time to brew in the first place.

And by the way, it's not too late to get yourself a hydrometer. Being an extract batch, you're pretty much guaranteed to hit your OG, so you're not missing much by not having that reading.

 

[jerrodm]

Put it in your closet and forget about it for a month (I know, gasp!) and then come back to it. For sure it'll be done by then.

Don't want to wait that long? Get a hydrometer, and follow J187's instructions. Cheers!

 

[homebrewdad]

Put it in your closet and forget about it for a month (I know, gasp!) and then come back to it. For sure it'll be done by then.

Don't want to wait that long? Get a hydrometer, and follow J187's instructions. Cheers!

+1 to this.

May I be the first one to point out that if you're going to invest the cash for ingredients, fermenters bottles, etc... drop another $8 and get a hydrometer.

 

[J187]

+1 to this.

May I be the first one to point out that if you're going to invest the cash for ingredients, fermenters bottles, etc... drop another $8 and get a hydrometer.

I think almost everyone in the thread has that lol....

 

[tconnation]

Good to know, thanks for the advice guys. I'm clearly just being a nervous nancy over my first batch. Fermentation temp was about ~65F. This was as about as cold as I could get it (should it be colder?). I'll be ordering a hydrometer ASAP.

 

[twistr25]

Overall, the ferment temp depends on the yeast, but you should be good with that. Try to keep it stable there. And just to reiterate, get a hydrometer!

 

[J187]

Thats a brown ale right? No, 65-68 is perfect. Even 70 would be ok. Colder is totally unnecessary.

 

[jerrodm]

Yes, 65F is fine for most ale styles--the main thing is to prevent temperature swings, which yeast don't like.

Also, you should really think about getting a hydrometer(!)