missed fermentation?

[Aberrix]

So I brewed my first extract kit last Thursday, in the rush of getting a OG reading before pitching my yeast I realized I didn't really know how to read my hydrometer... I figured it out and have since converted the reading I recorded to the reading I needed. I believe my OG was 1.038, however my recipe kit called for an OG of 1.047. Does this mean I added too much water? or had too little?

My next problem was I didn't really anticipate my basement being as cool as it was, the stick-on thermometer on the carboy read 64F, So I put some blankets around it and hoped for the best.

About 24-36 hours later it appeared fermentation had started! yay! The temp had risen to about 68F which I thought to be optimum temp. The wort was moving and grooving and I had beautiful krausen.

site note: using Wyeast 1968 London ESB Yeast

However now it appears to have stopped... (about 48 hours-ish after it "started") it's been about 5 days now and the temp fell back to 64F degrees and the krausen is gone...

What happened?

I have since moved the carboy to a warmer room and as of this morning its back to about 68F (no signs though of fermentation, air lock stopped bubbling) and I am hoping maybe it'll kick off again, will it?

I'm at a loss as to what happened and what it means for my beer, any insight is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[TheWeeb]

Me thinks your brew is just fine! Leave it alone for another week and then take a gravity reading to gauge where you are.

 

[dave5155]

That seems to be a pretty low gravity beer. Fermentation is probably finished. Take another hydrometer reading, that will tell you for sure. Even if it is finished, leave it set on the yeast cake for another week or two so the yeast can clean up any byproducts that they may have left behind.

 

[Revvy]

First about your gravity, although the amount you are off by is really insignificant, one thing to realize is the it is hard to miss your OG in an extract batch, and in reality you more than likely DIDN'T.....It's just that it is USUALLY difficult for the original gravity to actually REFLECT this fact.

It's a pretty common issue for ANYONE topping off with water in the fermenter (and that includes partial mashes, extract or all grain revcipes) to have an error in reading the OG...In fact, it is actually nearly impossible to mix the wort and the top off water in a way to get an accurate OG reading...

Brewers get a low reading if they get more of the top off water than the wort, conversely they get a higher number if they grabbed more of the extract than the top off water in their sample.

When I am doing an extract with grain recipe I make sure to stir for a minimum of 5 minutes (whipping up a froth to aerate as well) before I draw a grav sample and pitch my yeast....It really is an effort to integrate the wort with the top off water...This is a fairly common new brewer issue we get on here...unless you under or over topped off or the final volume for the kit was 5 gallons and you topped off to 5.5, then the issue, sorry to say, is "operator error"

If your target volume was correct, then it will be fine.

More than likely your true OG is really what it's supposed to be. And it will mix itself fine during fermentation.

Now I'm a little confused about why you think you have fermentation not happenning, just because of your stupid airlock???

You have a beautiful fermentation happening there, gorgeous krausen..that is your fermentation happing in glorious detail NOT your airlock activity or lack of it.

This is where guys who instantly equate a bubbling airlock with "FERMENTATION" seem to miss...An airlock is simply a valve, a vent to release excess co2, to keep your lid on your fermenter and your beer off the ceiling.

It's always going to slow down eventually. The yeast are going to have less fermentables to consume, than they did in the first few days, so they are not going to produce that much EXTRA co2, and therefore the airlock is not going to NEED to blip as fast, if at all.

But that DOESN'T mean the yeast has stopped doing their job....they just don't have that much food to chew....but they're not going to stop, they just don't go to sleep unless the temp dips down to the low 50's, and they just don't die....they MAY eat all the consumables they can in the case of a high grav wort and shut down, like in a barlewine.

But in your NORMAL beer, they are just going to keep working. They are going to slowly slug away until the job is done. Just not as dynamically as they do when they are having the gluttonous orgy of sex and food....it's just like us on thanksgiving....we start slowing down eventually...but we more than likely keep eating. At least until we get to the pumpkin pie...or the midnight snack......

Besides, fermenting the beer is just a part of what the yeast do. If you leave the beer alone, they will go back and clean up the byproducts of fermentation that often lead to off flavors. That's why many brewers skip secondary and leave our beers alone in primary for a month. It leaves plenty of time for the yeast to ferment, clean up after themselves and then fall out, leveing our beers crystal clear, with a tight yeast cake.

Your HYDROMETER is the only BEST indicator of fermentation activity. Nothing else is accurate or consistent...

Unless you take a gravity reading you don't know what's really going on, not by airlock bubbling or by krausen formation. Neither of those signs are effective, they don't tell you exactly where on the fermentation process you are.

The amount of krausen can vary for whatever reason, it can come quick and depart quickly or it can linger long after fermentation is complete, and it all be normal.

And airlocks sometimes bubble or they don't. And airlock is a valve, a vent to release excess co2...NOT a fermentation gauge. It's important to make that distinction, or you'll be panicking everytime a an airlock doesn't bubble, or stops bubbling.

Fermentation is not always "dynamic," just because you don't SEE anything happening, doesn't mean that any-thing's wrong,, and also doesn't mean that the yeast are still not working diligently away, doing what they've been doing for over 4,000 years.

That's why you need to take a gravity reading to know how your fermentation is going, NOT go by airlocks, or size of krausen, or a calendar, the horoscope or the phases of the moon (those things in my mind are equally accurate).

The most important tool you can use is a hydrometer. It's the only way you will truly know when your beer is ready...airlock bubbles and other things are faulty.

The only way to truly know what is going on in your fermenter is with your hydrometer. Like I said here in my blog, which I encourage you to read, Think evaluation before action you sure as HELL wouldn't want a doctor to start cutting on you unless he used the proper diagnostic instuments like x-rays first, right? You wouldn't want him to just take a look in your eyes briefly and say "I'm cutting into your chest first thing in the morning." You would want them to use the right diagnostic tools before the slice and dice, right? You'd cry malpractice, I would hope, if they didn't say they were sending you for an MRI and other things before going in....

Thinking about "doing anything" like repitching, or bottling, or racking, without first taking a hydrometer reading is tantamount to the doctor deciding to cut you open without running any diagnostic tests....Taking one look at you and saying, "Yeah I'm going in." You would really want the doctor to use all means to properly diagnose what's going on?

Just leave you beer alone, it is doing what it needs to be doing....The krausen is receading as it is finishing, like it is supposed to be.

It looks all good to me.

 

[juslod]

Looks like a healthy fermentation! I have had some lower gravity beers (1.045 range) die out within the first 48 hours. Like others have said I would leave it sit in the fermenter for another week at minimum for the yeast to clean up any byproducts they left behind.

Relax, drink a beer for now. Then while you're waiting for your next brew to finish fermenting you can enjoy a home brew and relax!

 

[BierMuncher]

That looks like a pretty hefty krausen for a 1038 beer. Could be you took a reading sample from the top of the wort that was not thoroughly mixed and was "thinner" than the rest of the wort.

At any rate what you have is a healthy beer going on.

 

[rycov]

yeah. i've definately had a brew reach FG in a couple days. i just let it sit a bit longer to clear up. don't worry about it.

 

[Aberrix]

Thanks for the reassurance guys, I appreciate it.

What I didn't take a picture of is the current state, the krausen currently has receded and it now looks much like my first picture.

Anyways, sounds like I shouldn't be too worried. I'll just leave it sit and proceed as normal.

Again, thanks.

 

[Aberrix]

So I racked my beer to the secondary fermenter and took a hydrometer reading... 1.008

does that at all seem right?

 

[juslod]

So I racked my beer to the secondary fermenter and took a hydrometer reading... 1.008

does that at all seem right?

Sounds like it is finished, some people even leave their beers in the primary fermenter for another 3 weeks after it has finished so the yeast can do their job cleaning up any off-flavors produced while fermenting. I usually do 1 month total and they have all been delicious!

Edit: There has been a big debate about using a secondary at all, for the sake of being lazy. If you were planning on adding fruit or anything similar you could use a secondary, but you won't gain much benefit besides clearer beer by using a secondary over using a primary for a longer period of time!

 

[Aberrix]

Here is my main concern, my Extra Special Bitter recipe kit was suppose to have an OG of 1047 and I came in at 1038 for OG reading.

I noticed Northern Brewer has a British Bitter kit with an OG of 1035, I wonder if the contents were somehow mixed up... I know the box said ESB.

Otherwise can someone explain why I had such a low OG?

Thanks in advance.

 

[juslod]

When you boiled your batch, did you do a partial boil then top up the fermenter with clean water, or did you boil the full amount?

There seems to be a problem of getting an accurate reading when you use water to top up a fermenter, it is almost impossible to mix 100% and you can get an off reading.

While using extract if you use all the ingredients you will almost always be within 1-2 points of your target, so I wouldn't worry about it. Either you misread the hydrometer, or the water wasn't mixed thoroughly!

 

[Aberrix]

the recipe called for a 2.5 gallon boil, 2 gallons in the primary, add the boil to the primary (already containing the 2 gallons of cool water) and then top off to 5 gallons.

 

[juslod]

Most likely it just wasn't mixed properly with the water and your reading was incorrect. Don't worry though, extract brews are really hard to miss the gravity on unless you spill some LME or DME on the floor or forget to add something! I bet it is fine and it will taste great when you finally crack open that first bottle or tap the keg.