Is this normal? Or did we do something wrong?

[DiamondDriller]

We brewed our first batch last weekend. We brewed a Honey Wheat from a kit. In less then 24 hours we our airlock was bubbling away. On day 6 all the kraussen that had formed was gone and the airlock bubbles had slowed down a significant amount. My husband racked the brew to a new carboy and still the bubbling is very slow. Is this normal? We are total virgins here and want to make sure we are doing this right.

 

[HappyHeadBrew]

You are just fine!

 

[Stan341]

Very normal. Be patient with it. When we started with our first kits the general instructions with them never steered us wrong. Welcome to our addiction...err I mean hobby. Yea hobby.

 

[DiamondDriller]

So then should we let it sit in the fermentor for another week and then go ahead with bottling?

 

[Flomaster]

next brew you make leave it in the primary for minimum of 3 weeks preferably 4. most of the instructions that come with the "kits" regarding how long before bottling, and primary and secondary are crap. we here on HBT believe that a longer primary and skipping a secondary produces a cleaner, clearer , better beer. you need to let the yeast clean up after them selves thus the longer primary.

to answer your question you beer will turn out, but it could have been better and yes its normal. do not let the "bubbles" tell you anything the only way to tell if the yeast are done fermemting is to use a Hydrometer they are cheap and can be had online or at your local home brew store aka LHBS. if you take a reading and record it and take a reading 3 days later and its the same your yeast are done,

example: recipe calls for a original gravity aka OG of 1.046 and a finished gravity of 1.010. the ONLY WAY to know how close you are to the recipe is to use a hydrometer or refractometer(more expensive device).

the air lock or bubbles mean nothing, it is only telling you that you have excess CO2 that is being vented. do not use that as a tool to figure out if your beer is done. use the hydrometer.

hello and welcome to HBT

-=Jason=-

 

[TANSTAAFB]

Flomaster is right but your beer will be fine. Most people do exactly what you did on their first brew (I know I did), their beer tasted fantastic (you made freakin beer!!!), and they learned from experience, reading, and HBT. The carboy I bought with my kit because every book says you have to have one to make good beer now sits lonely and empty most of the time. I use it for dry hopping and extended aging.

They will tell you to wait 2-3 weeks before tasting your beer too, but that ain't happening and we both know it! Nor should it. You should taste how it develops and how the flavors change. You should taste "green" beer and the same beer properly aged and conditioned. You should know how the carbonation develops. But don't oversample early, the last bottle will be the best and you will miss it dearly

A couple of things...

1) Those books like Palmer's and Papazian's are great resources to the new brewer, but there is a lot that has changed, especially where yeast are concerned. Back in the day brewers had to be very concerned about the vitality and viability of their yeast so it was important to get the beer off the yeast cake as soon as possible or the yeast started to die and autoloyze, creating nasty rubbery and meaty off flavors. This is no longer the case. Dry yeast has come lightyears in its consistency and we have access to professional quality, fresh liquid yeast thanks to Chris White at White labs and Wyeast. Even folks like John Palmer are going back and saying that the info is outdated and a 3-4 week primary is preferred as it gives the yeastie beasties time to clean up the byproducts they produced during the frenetic early fermentation like diacetyl (buttery flavor) or acetaldehyde (green apple). Autolysis is not really a risk on the homebrew level these days.

2) Kits are great. All but the most adventurous of us started with them. But the instructions SUCK
Get a good brewing book like How To Brew by John Palmer (there is an older version available here free) or Papa Charlie Papazian's The Complete Joy of Homebrewing. Read up on good brewing practices and get your sanitization and procedures down. Kit sellers don't want to scare off the impatient and they know they have a limited window to sell you kits. You will either start tweaking stuff, making your own recipes up, start buying from better suppliers like Austin Homebrew Supply or Northern Brewer who have fresher ingredients and more diversity, or move on to partial mash or all grain. They are interested in getting you to buy another kit right now, not making the best beer.

So buy another bucket and brew another batch!!!

Welcome to your new obsession