My first homebrew problem

[res1bcb1]

so this is my very first homebrew... few things im kinda worried about a few things... one tons of sediment at the bottom i guess is from me only straining wort once.. main thing is i feel like its not fermenting heres a pic. please ask questions and ill provide my best answer maybe we can find what i did wrong.

 

[FirstAidBrewing]

Looks like a 1 gallon batch? Given the dimensions of your jug, that's probably not an overly abnormal amount of sediment. How long ago did you pitch your yeast? It can be fermenting even if you don't see airlock bubbles. Do you have a hydrometer to take a reading in a few days?

 

[unionrdr]

Wow, that's a lot of sediment! Did you use a regular kitchen strainer, or a fine mesh one? I use a dual layer fine mesh. Although, with my Hellfire IIPA, I strained it well going into the primary FV. Darn spigot still got plugged a few times racking to the bottling bucket. I guess some beers, like big ones, naturally make more trub?

 

[Pappers_]

That's pretty extreme. Tell us about your process - your recipe, what you did, run through it step-by-step, and some folks here will probably be able to point you in the right direction.

 

[unionrdr]

Wow, a three way 11:04! Booyah!

 

[res1bcb1]

fine mesh strainer was used ... literally followed and instruction pdf ill see if i can attach if not ill provide a link.

View attachment Brooklyn_Brew_Shop_Everyday_IPA_Instructions_.pdf

 

[res1bcb1]

fine mesh strainer was used ... literally followed and instruction pdf ill see if i can attach if not ill provide a link.

thats everything i did step by step.

 

[res1bcb1]

and unfortunately as of now i do not have a hydro meter best i get one

 

[mongoose33]

How long has it been since you put it in the fermenter?

What yeast did you use?

After 24-48 hours I'd expect to see a kreusen on top of that wort and there is almost nothing there.

As I look at the sediment, it looks like hot/cold break on the bottom, yeast as the next (and huge!) layer, then something else. Judging by the headspace area in the jug, it almost looks like remnants of a kreusen on the walls of the jug.

We need more info about when you did this, how you did it, how long it's been, temperature of the wort when you pitched, etc.

 

[unionrdr]

I don't like how they have you pitch the yeast before shaking it to mix the wort & top-off water. I always do that first. And two weeks in the bottles is a little short. Otherwise, it looks ok. You could also have likely stirred the wort while it was cooling, but too close to the time it got down to temp. That'd put a lot more of the finer, silty stuff back in suspension. The poofy, floury stuff goes right through even a fine mesh strainer in my experience.

 

[res1bcb1]

its been about 60 hours in fermenter with airlock temp of wort when i pitched the yeast was 68.9°F how i did it is in the PDF file i attached i followed that step by step.

 

[res1bcb1]

yeast used was from brooklyn brew shop. entire kit was.

 

[eadavis80]

I have done that kit and didn't have nearly that sediment and mine started fermenting within 18 hours. However, I had already brewed probably 50 gallons prior to that kit, so I was more experienced. Hopefully you end up with something that's drinkable and you don't get frustrated with this batch.

 

[mongoose33]

its been about 60 hours in fermenter with airlock temp of wort when i pitched the yeast was 68.9°F how i did it is in the PDF file i attached i followed that step by step.

Just as a note, it's probably more....reasonable....for you to provide information like that directly instead of expecting those responding to go someplace else to get the information.

 

[res1bcb1]

• Place brew pot in an ice bath until it cools to 70°F (21°C).
• Once cooled, place strainer over funnel and pour your beer into the glass fermenter. Yeast needs oxygen. The strainer helps aerate your wort and clarify your beer (as well as catch any sediment from going into the fermenter). Add tap water to bring wort up to 1 Gallon mark if level is low.
• “Pitch” yeast. (Toss the whole packet in.)
• Shake aggressively. You’re basically waking up the yeast and getting more air into the wort.
• Attach sanitized screw-top stopper to bottle. Slide rubber tubing no more than 1” (2.5 cm) into the stopper and place the other end in small bowl of sanitizer solution. You’ve just made a “blow-off tube”. It allows CO2 to escape.
• Let sit for two or three days or until vigorous bubbling subsides. This is when fermentation is highest. You may notice bubbles and foam at the top of the beer. After bubbling calms down, clean tubing and ready your airlock.
• Sanitize, then re-assemble airlock, filling up to line with sanitizer.
• Insert airlock into hole in stopper.
• Keep in a dark place at room temperature for two weeks without disturbing other than to show off to friends. (If beer is still bubbling, leave sitting until it stops.)

 

[res1bcb1]

i just copied and pasted for you so you didnt have to take the time to click and scroll. thats how my fermentation went. 3 days after putting wort in fermenter with blow off hose from fermenter into a bowl of sanitizer water i put airlock on... not at anytime did i see kreusen.

 

[res1bcb1]

thats why im worried... possibly thinking the dried yeast was bad. and if it doesnt ferment guess ill just have to dump it

 

[Kampenken]

Without a hydrometer you must go old school, imo, and look for bubbles before you can rule out bad yeast entirely. Did it bubble in your sanitizer bowl, if so when and how long? Did airlock bubble? It doesn't appear too much Krausen that's for sure!

Side note- your title made me laugh, keep up with the hobby and it won't be your last one! ����

Cheers, and best of luck in the future!

 

[res1bcb1]

Without a hydrometer you must go old school, imo, and look for bubbles before you can rule out bad yeast entirely. Did it bubble in your sanitizer bowl, if so when and how long? Did airlock bubble? It doesn't appear too much Krausen that's for sure!

Side note- your title made me laugh, keep up with the hobby and it won't be your last one! ����

Cheers, and best of luck in the future!

whats crazy is if i literally sit here and watch it in still bubbling from the sediment below and small bubbles are rising to the top...very small possible and its constant would prob only be able to see over video

 

[res1bcb1]

so in this pic you can see a few of the bubbles im talking about in fermenter jug

 

[AZCoolerBrewer]

I think what happened with the trub is when you sparged, all of your grains came through the strainer. Usually during that step the grains themselves would be part of the filter bed and strain other materials out. It looks like in your case it all went through. Your temps during the mash are pretty important to convert the grains to sugar. If you were too low or too high the yeast might not have much to chew on.

 

[res1bcb1]

• Place brew pot in an ice bath until it cools to 70°F (21°C).
• Once cooled, place strainer over funnel and pour your beer into the glass fermenter. Yeast needs oxygen. The strainer helps aerate your wort and clarify your beer (as well as catch any sediment from going into the fermenter). Add tap water to bring wort up to 1 Gallon mark if level is low.
• “Pitch” yeast. (Toss the whole packet in.)
• Shake aggressively. You’re basically waking up the yeast and getting more air into the wort.
• Attach sanitized screw-top stopper to bottle. Slide rubber tubing no more than 1” (2.5 cm) into the stopper and place the other end in small bowl of sanitizer solution. You’ve just made a “blow-off tube”. It allows CO2 to escape.
• Let sit for two or three days or until vigorous bubbling subsides. This is when fermentation is highest. You may notice bubbles and foam at the top of the beer. After bubbling calms down, clean tubing and ready your airlock.
• Sanitize, then re-assemble airlock, filling up to line with sanitizer.
• Insert airlock into hole in stopper.
• Keep in a dark place at room temperature for two weeks without disturbing other than to show off to friends. (If beer is still bubbling, leave sitting until it stops.)

I think what happened with the trub is when you sparged, all of your grains came through the strainer. Usually during that step the grains themselves would be part of the filter bed and strain other materials out. It looks like in your case it all went through. Your temps during the mash are pretty important to convert the grains to sugar. If you were too low or too high the yeast might not have much to chew on.

i feel as if the yeast is trapped in that sediment. but it was vigorously bubbling than it subsided and stopped as i put air lock on ever sense i put airlock on its only been slightly bubbling. a bubble will hit the air lock once every minute or so

 

[res1bcb1]

• Place brew pot in an ice bath until it cools to 70°F (21°C).
• Once cooled, place strainer over funnel and pour your beer into the glass fermenter. Yeast needs oxygen. The strainer helps aerate your wort and clarify your beer (as well as catch any sediment from going into the fermenter). Add tap water to bring wort up to 1 Gallon mark if level is low.
• “Pitch” yeast. (Toss the whole packet in.)
• Shake aggressively. You’re basically waking up the yeast and getting more air into the wort.
• Attach sanitized screw-top stopper to bottle. Slide rubber tubing no more than 1” (2.5 cm) into the stopper and place the other end in small bowl of sanitizer solution. You’ve just made a “blow-off tube”. It allows CO2 to escape.
• Let sit for two or three days or until vigorous bubbling subsides. This is when fermentation is highest. You may notice bubbles and foam at the top of the beer. After bubbling calms down, clean tubing and ready your airlock.
• Sanitize, then re-assemble airlock, filling up to line with sanitizer.
• Insert airlock into hole in stopper.
• Keep in a dark place at room temperature for two weeks without disturbing other than to show off to friends. (If beer is still bubbling, leave sitting until it stops.)

I think what happened with the trub is when you sparged, all of your grains came through the strainer. Usually during that step the grains themselves would be part of the filter bed and strain other materials out. It looks like in your case it all went through. Your temps during the mash are pretty important to convert the grains to sugar. If you were too low or too high the yeast might not have much to chew on.

i feel as if the yeast is trapped in that sediment. but it was vigorously bubbling than it subsided and stopped as i put air lock on ever sense i put airlock on its only been slightly bubbling. a bubble will hit the air lock once every minute or so. i also completely forgot that i added 3 tbsp of honey.... can that stall fermenting process?

 

[Kampenken]

What is ambient temp where you're fermenting this? If too low yeast could be sleeping. If in mid to upper 60s you're fine. And you may already, but keep away from light.

 

[res1bcb1]

What is ambient temp where you're fermenting this? If too low yeast could be sleeping. If in mid to upper 60s you're fine. And you may already, but keep away from light.

well my house temp is 73 °f maybe a little lower in my closet in the dark ... on the hard wood. im slowly raising the temp now on the fermentor. its reating on a heating pad on low.

 

[ncbrewer]

well my house temp is 73 °f maybe a little lower in my closet in the dark ... on the hard wood. im slowly raising the temp now on the fermentor. its reating on a heating pad on low.

A little off from your original question, but I should pass this along. If you're using one of the grow pads like you start seedlings on, it could be a safety problem. I emailed the company about setting a fermenter on one for heating. They advised me not to do this - not designed for this type of service.

 

[mongoose33]

I think what happened with the trub is when you sparged, all of your grains came through the strainer. Usually during that step the grains themselves would be part of the filter bed and strain other materials out. It looks like in your case it all went through. Your temps during the mash are pretty important to convert the grains to sugar. If you were too low or too high the yeast might not have much to chew on.

I'm thinking this may be what's going on. OP, when you said you used a fine mesh strainer, where did you get it from? What's fine mesh to one might be coarse to another.

Mine looks like this:



I think it would be more or less similar to a cocktail strainer. It's really a double-mesh, a coarse mesh which supports the fine mesh.

When I transfer from the boil kettle to the fermenter I strain the wort through this strainer; it catches the vast majority of cold/hot break.

I don't do all-grain, but I'm sure it would catch most of what one would transfer.

 

[AZCoolerBrewer]

i feel as if the yeast is trapped in that sediment. but it was vigorously bubbling than it subsided and stopped as i put air lock on ever sense i put airlock on its only been slightly bubbling. a bubble will hit the air lock once every minute or so. i also completely forgot that i added 3 tbsp of honey.... can that stall fermenting process?

The cloudiness you see is the yeast in suspension. Vigorous bubbling and then subdued bubbling like your talking about sounds like exactly what you would normally see. The thing that seems strange to me is that you don't have any residue around the top of your fermentor. Just let it sit for a couple more weeks until it clears up and you'll be fine. I'm a fairly new brewer, I have only made three batches. My first batch hardly bubbled at all and it was still beer, though I think it was fairly low ABV. For this last batch (#3), things were really dialed in for me. I think it will be some of the best beer I have ever had. As homebrewers, we have the opportunity to do things that would be unmanufacturable on a large scale. The learning curve on this hobby is quick too. You'll be making world class beer in just a couple more batches if you study up and learn from your mistakes. Its not brain surgery, but takes true patients (pun intended).

 

[res1bcb1]

this is the strainer i used.

 

[res1bcb1]

im not worried about the cloudiness. ive most likely drankin worse **** that can be in that fermenter lol ... but my point is .. will it turn to alcohol. will i get sick if kreusen doesnt happen... and should i rouse the yeast at this point and if i should how would i go about that