Muntons Bock Kit - Newbie Questions

[serhatozan]

Hello to everyone,

3 days ago I used Muntons Bock kit to brew.

I added 500 grams DARK DME (1.1lb), 500 grams WHEAT DME (1.1lb), 200 grams of brown sugar (0,44lb). Completed with 21 liters (5,5 gallons). OG is 1052. Air lock was working in the morning of the first day.

Yesterday night I noticed that air lock stopped bubbling. I think it is too early to complate all fermantation process in just 3 days.

I opened the cap and smell a bit bad with C02. then closed the cap back and shake the bucket a bit and air lock started to bubble again for 15-20 minutes. and the same, it stopped bubbling.

Do you have any idea about what is going on? Bucket stays in 19C (66F) temperatured room. And the temperature of bucket is 20C (68F).

Please see attached photo of my beer when the cap is opened.
I am new on home brewing. Before this bock kit, I used coopers lager kit and it was OK, I had no problem with it.

çoklu resim upload

 

[Kent88]

Obligatory "you need to take gravity readings to know what is happening". A hydrometer is a good thing to have. If you have one, sanitize your stuff and take a reading.

If not, keep in mind that airlock activity isn't a great indicator of fermentation once krausen (most active part of fermentation) is finished. It is probably fine. Keep it closed, give it time, quit shaking it up.

Do you remember what kind of yeast you used? If it was dry yeast, did you rehydrate or make a starter?

 

[serhatozan]

Obligatory "you need to take gravity readings to know what is happening". A hydrometer is a good thing to have. If you have one, sanitize your stuff and take a reading.

If not, keep in mind that airlock activity isn't a great indicator of fermentation once krausen (most active part of fermentation) is finished. It is probably fine. Keep it closed, give it time, quit shaking it up.

Do you remember what kind of yeast you used? If it was dry yeast, did you rehydrate or make a starter?

thanks you for your fast answer. I have hydrometer. I had read 1052 just before adding yeast. I will check the gravity today again.

I used the yeast which comes with the kit (6 grams pack). It is dry yeast. and I did not rehdrate or made a starter. Just pour the pack of yeast into the bucket.

What about the smell? it smells a bit bad, kinda sourish. Is it OK?
I didnot noticed that smell when I was brewing Lager kit.

 

[RM-MN]

It's not at all uncommon for ales to stop making the airlock bubble within 3 days. If you pitched an adequate amount of yeast they will eat through the sugars quite quickly, especially if you let it ferment in a warm place. Once the sugars are gone, the yeast quit producing CO2 and work on cleaning up the intermediate products of fermentation. Here's a good explanation of the life cycle of yeast. I find the timeline listed is shorter than what I usually see. http://www.brewgeeks.com/the-life-cycle-of-yeast.html

Different varieties of yeast give off different smells during fermentation. Don't worry about a funny smell now. If you need more verification, look up the term "rhino farts" on this forum.

 

[Kent88]

The smell is probably fine. I should have read your original post better, you did include the gravity reading.

Your beer will probably turn out as well as the kit makers want it to. A couple things to keep in mind for next time:

• About 95% of the time you can improve your beer kit by substituting refined sugar for dry malt extract (DME), probably Light DME.
• Re-hydrating dry yeast in a sanitized vessel with boiled water (preferably filtered to remove chlorine) that has been cooled to 95F for 10 minutes will improve the yeast you use. If you leave it in plain water for much longer than that the yeast might start to starve.
• If you want a more authentic lager you can get proper dry lager yeast, like saflager. Keep the packet in the fridge until a few hours before you mix up and dilute your extracts. Re-hydrating also helps this. Keep the beer's temperature at right around 52F (11C) through fermentation.

 

[55chevydude]

I'd be curious to know what your gravity reading was after the krausen fell, since that is what your picture looks like. Was it near completion? A friend gave me a bunch of his homebrew stuff when he gave it up (quitter!) and he had two of these Muton's kits in there. I've never brewed from their stuff so I'd like to know how yours went.