Length of brew

[plasma1010]

Hello everyone, I have brewed beer for the first time. My mixture is in a glass jug and it's been going for about 6 days, the foam is gone and it looks pretty stagnant. I taste tested it and it doesn't seem that alcoholic. I'm not sure if its completely done fermenting yet, but it certainly doesn't look very mean anymore. Is it common for a batch to be done after 6 days when fermenting in ~ 70 degree room ?

For reference I have experience making mead and other fermented products (food) but this is the firs time I've done beer.

 

[GilSwillBasementBrews]

Totally normal. Usually very active first few days then everything settles and drops clear. I usually wait 10-14 days before bottling/kegging check your final gravity with a hydrometer to see if it's finished.

 

[Gravity]

If the "foam" is gone (i'm assuming you mean krausen), the most active part of fermentation is done

Some people bottle/keg after 14 days, I usually wait about 3/4 weeks

I'd give it a couple of more day before you begin to take measurements, then if your FG is on target, bottle/keg from there

 

[Sammy86]

Definitely common after six days...I would let it sit 10-14 days then dry hop if you want/need and then package it

 

[Stretch1991]

One big thing I didn't do when I first started years ago was measure gravity. You can always bottle/keg to soon but you'll be to impatient to ever wait to long. 10-14 days is the safe bet, even if it looks stagnant. If you don't open it then it's formed a co2 barrier that won't really let anything harmful in so you've go nothing to worry about just letting it stay.

 

[plasma1010]

If the "foam" is gone (i'm assuming you mean krausen),

The Bryggjemann of course

I do not have a hydrometer, I'm just gonna wait 14 days then bottle. My container doesn't have a spigot so Im gonna have to open the top when I go to bottle. Im also experimenting in old-world Ale's so Im not using hops and the fancy stuff, I'm bittering with Yarrow.

 

[Stretch1991]

I've done beers like that, I love to make an amber style flavored/bittered with mugwort

One final note is you still have to be careful, at 14 days you should be okay with the amount of residual sugar left but without taking gravity readings you always run the risk of the fermentation still being active

 

[Gravity]

I've done beers like that, I love to make an amber style flavored/bittered with mugwort

One final note is you still have to be careful, at 14 days you should be okay with the amount of residual sugar left but without taking gravity readings you always run the risk of the fermentation still being active

14 days is on safe side, however, you still risk bombers at that stage without proper readings

Invest in a hydrometer, they're like 4$ for peace of mind

 

[Lefou]

14 days is on safe side, however, you still risk bombers at that stage without proper readings

Invest in a hydrometer, they're like 4$ for peace of mind

Very true.
Assuming can cause trouble.
One of my winter brews went from 1.060 to 1.016 - and stayed there, so I went ahead and bottled. More than a month passed after priming and carbonation was still pitiful. A portion of the brew was saved and I'd considered uncapping bottles to re-pitch with fresh yeast later.
Just last week I opened up a case to find one bottle shattered. It's now summer and temperatures rose to over 80F where the beer was stored.
The remaining beer is over carbed and in need of refrigeration.
So what does this little lesson show?
Don't assume the yeast has "pooped out". A few days at a higher ferment temperature may improve your beer, and third, temperature control is important.

 

[corkybstewart]

It depends completely on the recipe. A big imperial stout won't be ready in 6 days, a nice session hefeweizen probably will be. So since you didn't mention what kind of beer or a recipe who knows?

 

[plasma1010]

It depends completely on the recipe. A big imperial stout won't be ready in 6 days, a nice session hefeweizen probably will be. So since you didn't mention what kind of beer or a recipe who knows?

Bavarian Wheat Extract, Water, Yarrow, Rose Pedals, Danstar Ale Yeast.

I'm making Ale

$4 is a lot of money ... does someone suggest a hydrometer brand ?

 

[johnwpowell]

There is still alot of clean up done by the yeast after visible active fermentation. Don't rush it. Id go for at least 2-3 weeks, checking gravity of course.

 

[plasma1010]

Im gonna start doing what the Norse did and brew full moon to full moon.

On a side note, I tested out 1 lb of malt yesterday and made mash. I am wondering, how does one find out if there is sufficient sugars to ferment the wort ? meaning I wantbto make sure the sugar - water ratio is good enough, or if I have to simmer it down a little.

 

[corkybstewart]

Bavarian Wheat Extract, Water, Yarrow, Rose Pedals, Danstar Ale Yeast.

I'm making Ale

$4 is a lot of money ... does someone suggest a hydrometer brand ?

Assuming it doesn't have 20 pounds of extract a few days and it's probably finished. But if 4 dollars is too much for a hydrometer how are you gonna feel when you pour out $20 worth of semi-fermented beer, or even worse when you've had 50 bottles of beer explode in your kitchen cabinets? Buy one from any homebrew store, I'm not sure there are brands of hydrometers.

 

[stodds]

Im gonna start doing what the Norse did and brew full moon to full moon.

On a side note, I tested out 1 lb of malt yesterday and made mash. I am wondering, how does one find out if there is sufficient sugars to ferment the wort ? meaning I wantbto make sure the sugar - water ratio is good enough, or if I have to simmer it down a little.

I'd say you've got a good bit of reading to do. But, if you had a hydrometer, you'd test your "1lb malt test" with the hydrometer, pitch yeast, wait, and measure again. You'd then know how much sugar you had and how fermentable it was.

 

[Stretch1991]

I borrowed this from Homebrew exchange. All conversions are 1lb to 1 gallon and the grains are assumed at 75% efficiency

Fermentable
PPG
Light Liquid Malt Extract (LME)
1.036
Light Dry Malt Extract (DME)
1.044
Corn Sugar (dexrose)
1.046
Molasses
1.036
Sugar (sucrose, cane, etc.)
1.046
2-row Pale Malt
1.027
Wheat Malt
1.029
Wheat, Torrefied
1.027

Realistically if you have a gravity of 1.005 and add EC1118 yeast you'll still make alcohol. Each yeast strain has different tolerances as to what it can and will produce. You beer may start at 1.070 and finish at 1.014 with one yeast strain but finish higher or lower with the next.

A hydro will be the best $4 you spend in this hobby. If you reuse the yeast from this batch on your next 1 or two batches you've just saved enough money from the yeast cost to make that hydro free anyways

Win win

 

[rmyurick]

Just FYI--when people talk about brew "length", they usually mean the batch size, e.g. 5 gallons.

 

[plasma1010]

I'd say you've got a good bit of reading to do. But, if you had a hydrometer, you'd test your "1lb malt test" with the hydrometer, pitch yeast, wait, and measure again. You'd then know how much sugar you had and how fermentable it was.

Thats asking a lot of me. I tasted it and it tasted sweet enough. The good news is that I pitched some Ale yeast last night and t start to ferment by this AM. Now I dont think I filtered it as well, its a bit cloudy so Ill see how the taste goes. Call me an old school backwoods farmer, a bastard, or just plain crazy, but I love doing things without modern technology. Ive made krauts, yogurts, mead, cider for years without thermometers and fancy stuff ...

But I may buy a hydrometer this weekend just to please the Gods ...

 

[Stretch1991]

Yes but the old school you talk about fermented in oak, served from the same oak cask into flagons of sorts

By the time people started putting stuff in glass bottles they did tests for gravity and stuff. The hydrometer was invented around the time of the American revolution... just saying

Reuse your yeast several times (super easy to do without any fancy tools) and it'll more than cover the few dollars for a hydro and you'll never get sent to the hospital with a face full of glass (a lot more expensive that a hydrometer!)

 

[plasma1010]

Sweet deal.

So is it true I can mash with a portion of unmalted grain, and the diastase will be able to convert that portion of unmalted grains starch to sugar ?