No Patience AHHHHH!!!!!

[Lusch]

OK here goes, I made an oatmeal stout the other night..Guy at store said just to sprinkle yeast on top cover and LET IT BE. Ya right.. I know I know patience..BTW its an all in one kit, all 23 litres in one big bag.I never got any bubbling from my airlock yet, but there may a small leak in the system..The top had lots of foam ect. action goin on..ANYWAY the lack of bubbling drives me crazy.And no smell as well..

I have the primary in the furnace room where temps are around 19-20 degrees c. constantly.. hopefully this is good enough.

Here goes, today I remove the top and stirred the wort, hoping to maybe reenergize the yeast and get things going..Have I just ruined a batch..??
Anyway thanks again folks
\Andy

 

[Walker]

The foam on top is the indication that your fermentation is going on. If the gass is not coming through the water in your airlock (you *do* have water in it, right? ) then it's proibably leaking out from around the lid (you are using a bucket, right?)

You probably have not ruined it yet, but if you keep opening it up and stirring it, you probably will eventually ruin it.

If there had been foam, and now it's gone, the beer is probably just about done fermenting and you can do whatever you planned to do next (rack to a secondary fermenter, or bottle it.)

-walker

OK here goes, I made an oatmeal stout the other night..Guy at store said just to sprinkle yeast on top cover and LET IT BE. Ya right.. I know I know patience..BTW its an all in one kit, all 23 litres in one big bag.I never got any bubbling from my airlock yet, but there may a small leak in the system..The top had lots of foam ect. action goin on..ANYWAY the lack of bubbling drives me crazy.And no smell as well..

I have the primary in the furnace room where temps are around 19-20 degrees c. constantly.. hopefully this is good enough.

Here goes, today I remove the top and stirred the wort, hoping to maybe reenergize the yeast and get things going..Have I just ruined a batch..??
Anyway thanks again folks
\Andy

 

[Evan!]

OK here goes, I made an oatmeal stout the other night..Guy at store said just to sprinkle yeast on top cover and LET IT BE. Ya right.. I know I know patience..BTW its an all in one kit, all 23 litres in one big bag.I never got any bubbling from my airlock yet, but there may a small leak in the system..The top had lots of foam ect. action goin on..ANYWAY the lack of bubbling drives me crazy.And no smell as well..

I have the primary in the furnace room where temps are around 19-20 degrees c. constantly.. hopefully this is good enough.

Here goes, today I remove the top and stirred the wort, hoping to maybe reenergize the yeast and get things going..Have I just ruined a batch..??
Anyway thanks again folks
\Andy

• If you had a bunch of krausen (foam) on top of the beer, then fermentation was definitely underway. If you didn't have airlock bubbles, you probably didn't have a great seal.
• 19-20C is fine.
• You shouldn't stir the wort once you pitch the yeast. It introduces oxygen that could end up oxidizing your final product, depending on how much fermentation has already taken place. I just hope, I really hope, that you sanitized the utensil that you used to stir it with. If so, then no, you probably didn't ruin anything.
• Take a hydrometer reading, that's the only way to know what's going on.

Next time:

Take a hydrometer reading before pitching the yeast. Sprinkle the dry yeast on top (or, better yet, get liquid yeast), make sure you have a seal, and let it be. If you don't see any airlock activity or krausen within 2 days, THEN you can start to worry. Otherwise, just be patient, and take hydrometer readings when it seems done.

 

[Lusch]

Thanks Walker-san for the super fast reply, ya thats what i thought, Should I leave things alone now..How long, if its done fermentating, should i leave it now, long enough to clear? Its only been in the primary since Monday, not really long enough I would think
Thx

 

[Walker]

Thanks Walker-san for the super fast reply, ya thats what i thought, Should I leave things alone now..How long, if its done fermentating, should i leave it now, long enough to clear? Its only been in the primary since Monday, not really long enough I would think
Thx

I always leave my beer in the primary for at least a full week.

 

[Torchiest]

Yes, I'm getting to the point that I recommend at least ten days in primary, as seven days just doesn't seem to be enough to complete fermentation, in my experience. In fact, I'd say a 10-10-10 rule might work well for beers, with ten days each in primary, secondary, and bottles before sampling a bottle.

 

[Lusch]

you think this batch is ruined because of the stirr?,

 

[Torchiest]

If you sanitized whatever you stirred with, you don't have a contamination risk, but you may have introduced a little oxygen, but probably not. After fermentation, there is a blanket of CO2 on top of the beer, and that protects the beer from oxygen getting back in. Unless you stirred the hell out of it, in which case the "shelf life" of the beer will be shortened. You'll have to drink it sooner in order to avoid the off-flavors associated with oxygenation.

However, all that aside, more than likely everything is fine. One thing I've learned is that it's pretty damn hard to mess up a batch of beer.