New brewer questions

[Chris Honey]

Hey everyone,

I’m a new brewer with a few questions. I bought my first ingredient kit and had my brew day on Sunday (07-22-19). The bubbles in the airlock started on that night and now have stopped. I’m attaching photos because I took a crack in the lid to see if everything was going good. I don’t see much krausen and cooled it down the way it was suppose to be. If some people could give me advice and see if I’m good, I would appreciate it! Thanks!

 

[ABI Brewery]

Welcome to the Homebrew hobby, at first look I would say that you had a successful fermentation, there is a line on the side where the Krausen was so I would say let us sit a couple weeks then package............. cheers

 

[RM-MN]

The bubbles stopping means that the initial part of the fermentation is over and the beer is either in the second, silent part of fermentation or is in the time where the yeast is done and is ready to clump up and settle out. This settling can take some time. It's best not to rush it. A couple weeks would be good before bottling, more won't hurt.

http://www.brewgeeks.com/the-life-cycle-of-yeast.html

 

[ApolloSimcoe]

Take a gravity reading. Wait 3 days. Take a gravity reading. If there is no change then your fermentation should be complete

 

[Faraz]

My first brew day was also 7/22, I popped the lid yesterday and though it looks like your picture, mine has a lot more foam on the head space. I am assuming it's just part of it. If otherwise, please advise.

I am brewing a Listermann's American IPA, I plan on leaving it in the primary for 2 weeks (I'll check the gravity readings to make sure fermenting has stopped), then I was going to dry hop it in a secondary fermenter for a week. I want to use the secondary mainly because of the dry hopping and wanting a clearer beer. Bottling would be next and I would give that about 2 weeks. Hope I am on the right track.

Thanks.

 

[RM-MN]

My first brew day was also 7/22, I popped the lid yesterday and though it looks like your picture, mine has a lot more foam on the head space. I am assuming it's just part of it. If otherwise, please advise.

I am brewing a Listermann's American IPA, I plan on leaving it in the primary for 2 weeks (I'll check the gravity readings to make sure fermenting has stopped), then I was going to dry hop it in a secondary fermenter for a week. I want to use the secondary mainly because of the dry hopping and wanting a clearer beer. Bottling would be next and I would give that about 2 weeks. Hope I am on the right track.

Thanks.

Every fermentation is different but the foam you see on top is a good indicator your beer is progressing just fine.

Leave your beer in the primary for dry hopping. Moving it to secondary opens the possibility of infection and/or oxidation and does little to nothing to improve clarity. One week for dry hopping is plenty, then bottle. Leave the bottles in a warm area for 3 weeks to carbonate fully and develop the heading compounds. Then chill for at least 24 hours in the refrigerator before opening.

 

[Faraz]

Every fermentation is different but the foam you see on top is a good indicator your beer is progressing just fine.

Leave your beer in the primary for dry hopping. Moving it to secondary opens the possibility of infection and/or oxidation and does little to nothing to improve clarity. One week for dry hopping is plenty, then bottle. Leave the bottles in a warm area for 3 weeks to carbonate fully and develop the heading compounds. Then chill for at least 24 hours in the refrigerator before opening.

Thanks for your response, I'll cut out the secondary. 2 follow up questions, when should I add the dry hops (cascade)? My original plan was after 2 weeks, should I stick with it?

Secondly, my instructions state to just toss the hops in the fermenter, I was thinking of placing it in a sanitized brewbag and dropping it in there. What do you think?

Also, should I add any type of fruit in there or just follow the instructions for this first batch?

 

[mtnbrwr]

Thanks for your response, I'll cut out the secondary. 2 follow up questions, when should I add the dry hops (cascade)? My original plan was after 2 weeks, should I stick with it?

Secondly, my instructions state to just toss the hops in the fermenter, I was thinking of placing it in a sanitized brewbag and dropping it in there. What do you think?

Also, should I add any type of fruit in there or just follow the instructions for this first batch?

You can certainly wait to dry hop after 2 weeks, but I typically will dry hop around day 8 or 9 or so. You can also take a gravity sample and if you are at your final gravity then go ahead and hop. I wouldn't leave the hops in the fermenter for more than a week though as you could start extracting more grassy type flavors.

Are you using pellet or whole leaf hops for dry hopping? You will have better contact between the beer and hops, and therefore more flavor extraction, by just tossing them in loose. If you are using pellet hops, they will just turn into a mushy mess in the bag anyway, but if you are using whole leaf hops then a sanitized bag would keep them contained to keep your beer a bit clearer.

 

[Faraz]

You can certainly wait to dry hop after 2 weeks, but I typically will dry hop around day 8 or 9 or so. You can also take a gravity sample and if you are at your final gravity then go ahead and hop. I wouldn't leave the hops in the fermenter for more than a week though as you could start extracting more grassy type flavors.

Are you using pellet or whole leaf hops for dry hopping? You will have better contact between the beer and hops, and therefore more flavor extraction, by just tossing them in loose. If you are using pellet hops, they will just turn into a mushy mess in the bag anyway, but if you are using whole leaf hops then a sanitized bag would keep them contained to keep your beer a bit clearer.

Ahh, thank you very much! The hops are pellets. This is definitely helping my time line, I'll check gravity on day 8, wait a few days and check again to see if it has changed. If it has not changed, I'll add the hops and wait a week before bottling. This info is very helpful. Cheers!

 

[Morrey]

Some brewers actually toss in the dry hops during high krausen to do a dry hopping process called biotransformation. I am not 100% sold on this process while others are, but the point to be made is that dry hopping can be done successfully even if Final Gravity (FG) has not successfully been met. The fewer times you open and close your fermenter lid, the better off you are in regards to oxygen exposure which is not your friend at this stage of beer making.

Then the discussion whether to contain the hops in a hop bag or not: Some will argue that putting pellets into a bag or strainer tube will limit the amount of utilization the hops offer into the beer. Others will say to increase the amount of hops slightly to compensate for the loss if you use a bag. My solution is to always contain hops so there is not a ton of trub in my fermenter. I use muslin bags but only put one ounce per bag as not to crowd the bag. Depending on the hop addition, you may end up with several bags. They are easy to fish out when you are ready to move into your racking phase.

 

[Jtk78]

So what @Morrey was saying (please correct me if I'm wrong) is to add the dry hops when you open the fermenter on day 8 and take a gravity reading. Then leave them 3-5 days. Take a second gravity reading after those 3-5 days, if it's the same, package it up and let it carb!

 

[Faraz]

Hmm, I'm doing a mixture between morrey, mtnbrwr, and RM-MN. On day 9, I'll check gravity, then check it again on day 11 or 12, if gravity has not changed, then pitch the hops and let it sit for a week before racking.

 

[RM-MN]

Making beer is a quite forgiving process. I've dry hopped on day 10 and other times dry hopped at 3 weeks. Both made beer. I've left the hops for a week, I've left hops for 2 weeks. I got approximately the same results. The biggest factor to be concerned with is that your beer really at final gravity before you bottle.

 

[Kickass]

Try not to focus so much what day you do what. If you understand why you're doing certain things at certain stages, i.e. bottling when you have a stable final gravity vs bottling on day 12 you'll be much more at peace with yourself and your brews. Read, brew as much as practical and listen to your beer then you'll begin to get a good feel for how to proceed

 

[mtnbrwr]

All very good points here. There are 10,000 ways to dry hop and 12,000 reasons for those ways and all make good beer. The biggest thing I would recommend is take lots of notes. Record everything you do to your beer and then take tasting notes. Next time try something different (or don't) and see what changes. Like RM-MN and Kickass said, just make sure you are at your final gravity.