Newbie Question

[stormyDaze]

Hey all,

So, I'm a total newbie to homebrew. My birthday was recently, and I had received a BrewDemon conical fermenter along with One Evil Pilsner extract enough to make two gallons. I followed the instructions step by step and when I had opened the can of extract, it seemed a bit dark. I figured it was normal. I continued with the instructions and threw everything in the fermenter. The day after I noticed a lot of activity with the yeast, but it really stopped the next day. It's been six days since I started but the brew still looks pretty dark for a pilsner, and the airlock wasn't really bubbling. There was pressure in the airlock but no bubbling that I could see.

The krausen also seems to be pretty thin and missing in the middle of the brew. It seems like a lot of sediment on the bottom though.

Is this normal? Am I overthinking things?

Thanks in advance.

Cheers,
stormyDaze

 

[mac_1103]

Is this normal?

Hard to say without actually seeing it. LME can be surprisingly dark in color to a beginner. This is because it's so concentrated. Five gallons of fermenting beer will also appear darker than a pint of the beer it eventually becomes. OTOH, LME also gets darker when it stales.

It's not all that unusual for the highly active part of fermentation to only last a day or so. Depends on so many factors - OG, yeast strain, temperature, etc. Same goes for the amount of kreusen, especially if it had already started to drop by the time you looked.

BTW, clear fermenters are great if you like to be able to see what's going on, but you should protect your beer from sunlight and fluorescent light - they can skunk the hops.

Am I overthinking things?

Maybe.

 

[hotbeer]

Usually only takes 2 - 4 days for actual fermentation. The remaining part of that two or three weeks is for other stuff to happen.

So don't get excited about not seeing bubbles in the airlock. They are just for entertainment purposes and not a indicator that it's time to do something or not.

I don't do extract brews, but just like sweetened condensed milk gets brown and caramelly looking with age, I'd expect LME being sugars, does similar. It isn't a sign of being bad. Just older than the fresher LME. But wait and see what other extract brewer's have to say.

 

[stormyDaze]

So don't get excited about not seeing bubbles in the airlock. They are just for entertainment purposes and not a indicator that it's time to do something or not.

Oh, I'm not getting excited, I was getting worried that I may have botched this.

Thank you for your advice and input!

 

[stormyDaze]

Hard to say without actually seeing it. LME can be surprisingly dark in color to a beginner. This is because it's so concentrated. Five gallons of fermenting beer will also appear darker than a pint of the beer it eventually becomes. OTOH, LME also gets darker when it stales.

It's not all that unusual for the highly active part of fermentation to only last a day or so. Depends on so many factors - OG, yeast strain, temperature, etc. Same goes for the amount of kreusen, especially if it had already started to drop by the time you looked.

BTW, clear fermenters are great if you like to be able to see what's going on, but you should protect your beer from sunlight and fluorescent light - they can skunk the hops.

Maybe.

Thank you for your reply, I will try and take a photo later.

I have my fermenter in a dark closet that hardly gets opened. And the temperature has been a steady 75F.

 

[mac_1103]

I have my fermenter in a dark closet that hardly gets opened.

That's good.

And the temperature has been a steady 75F.

That's not, especially for a lager/pilsner. Depends on the yeast though. But it's probably too late to do anything about it for this batch. Fermentation releases a good bit of heat, so the temperature inside the fermenter can easily be five or even ten degrees higher than ambient during the initial highly active part.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

I don't do extract brews, but just like sweetened condensed milk gets brown and caramelly looking with age, I'd expect LME being sugars, does similar. It isn't a sign of being bad. Just older than the fresher LME. But wait and see what other extract brewer's have to say.

I do brew extract brews (including LME on occasion).

@mac_1103 already covered what needed to be said in #2.

No need to repeat it.

 

[stormyDaze]

That's good.

That's not, especially for a lager/pilsner. Depends on the yeast though. But it's probably too late to do anything about it for this batch. Fermentation releases a good bit of heat, so the temperature inside the fermenter can easily be five or even ten degrees higher than ambient during the initial highly active part.

Dang. Alright. Do you think I should throw this batch out and start over?

 

[mac_1103]

Do you think I should throw this batch out and start over?

Absolutely not. Just think about ways to control fermentation temperature for the next batch. Doesn't necessarily have to be anything fancy or expensive. There's plenty of time for that later.

Your yeast should come with a recommended temperature range printed on the pack and/or accessible at the manufacturer's website. What strain did you use?

edit - just found the instructions for this kit; they don't say what yeast is provided but they give a temperature range of 64-82F (maybe because the company is based in Phoenix); anyway you're probably OK even though most folks here would be inclined to recommend keeping temps close to the low end of the given range.

 

[stormyDaze]

Absolutely not. Just think about ways to control fermentation temperature for the next batch. Doesn't necessarily have to be anything fancy or expensive. There's plenty of time for that later.

Your yeast should come with a recommended temperature range printed on the pack and/or accessible at the manufacturer's website. What strain did you use?

edit - just found the instructions for this kit; they don't say what yeast is provided but they give a temperature range of 64-82F (maybe because the company is based in Phoenix); anyway you're probably OK even though most folks here would be inclined to recommend keeping temps close to the low end of the given range.

Hahaha sounds good! My heart sunk a little bit. I had also received a book titled 'How to Brew' by John J. Palmer so I will be reading up on that whilst waiting for this batch. Thank you so much again!

 

[hotbeer]

I do brew extract brews (including LME on occasion).

@mac_1103 already covered what needed to be said in #2.

No need to repeat it.

I didn't know what @mac_1103 had said until I made my post. There weren't any replies when I began writing my post.

Things get repeated in the majority of threads here. If there is no need to repeat things, then there are a lot of other members in many other threads that you are going to have to go and admonish!

 

[mac_1103]

I didn't know what @mac_1103 had said until I made my post. There weren't any replies when I began writing my post.

I thought he meant that he wasn't going to repeat it.

Things get repeated in the majority of threads here.

Yeah, and I do find it annoying when it happens three days (or three months or three years) after the point has already been made. But this thread is still practically a newborn.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

I thought he meant that he wasn't going to repeat it.

That was my intent.

 

[hotbeer]

That was my intent.

Then why not talk to the OP instead of me. If @mac_1103 got it right the first time, then why are you even repeating by reference what at the end you say there is no need to repeat?

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

 

[BRbarfanTimmy]

I wasn't familiar with the fermenter so I looked it up online. Seems like people have had issues with getting it sealed, either the lid or the bung. If you did have a bit of a loose seal somewhere that would explain why the bubbling fell off so quickly. More than likely the bung crept up a bit.