Noob - First Post - Krausen disappeared in less than two days?

[debauch]

Hi,

I am brand new to brewing and decided to try the Festa Brew kit (23 L wort bag).

I started it SUnday Night around 7 pm , when I checked it yeterday there was a big foam on top. From what I understand, this is good and normal. However, when I checked it today (about 48 hour later from beginning) all the foam was completely gone.

Have I done something wrong? I thought it wasn't supposed to fade away until around 4 - 7 days?

P.S - it's a wheat beer.

 

[Loup]

Krausen could drop that quickly, I believe it did on my first brew. I'm not really sure how fast it has dropped on subsequent brews cause I haven't really paid that much attention to how quickly it drops. Give it a few days, take a gravity reading.

I'm sure other people would say something like relax, don't worry, drink beer, something like that.

 

[Yooper]

Sometimes it fades away slowly, but often it disappears abruptly. I've had beers ferment out in 24 hours, especially if it had a warm temperature along with it.

So, don't worry. Go ahead with your instructions, after 7 days. You still need to wait, even though the bulk of fermentation is finished. The yeast are still working, but more slowly. After all the fermentables are gone, the yeast will then get busy cleaning up after itself, even cleaning up their own waste products.

So, it's normal to be quietly doing its work right now. Don't worry about it- the yeast know what to do!

And, welcome to HBT!

 

[debauch]

Sometimes it fades away slowly, but often it disappears abruptly. I've had beers ferment out in 24 hours, especially if it had a warm temperature along with it.

So, don't worry. Go ahead with your instructions, after 7 days. You still need to wait, even though the bulk of fermentation is finished. The yeast are still working, but more slowly. After all the fermentables are gone, the yeast will then get busy cleaning up after itself, even cleaning up their own waste products.

So, it's normal to be quietly doing its work right now. Don't worry about it- the yeast know what to do!

And, welcome to HBT!

Good stuff - thanks.

Awesome site BTW. I just wanted to make sure that if I was doing something wrong I could try and correct it prior to waiting too long. Thanks again.

 

[kman6234]

Don't worry, I'm a noob too and it disappeared within 3 days for me so I'm pretty sure its normal.

 

[debauch]

Ok - totally paranoid.

(see photo) When I checked today, it looked like there was flakes of yeast sitting on top of the liquid?

I took a reading and it says it's at 1.01, is that odd for day 3?

I may have left something crucial out. I think I may have messed up the yeast rehydration process. In the instructions, it states "pour the yeast in luke warm water". I put it in water that was room temp (which I would assume is "luke warm" however the yeast (after letting it sit for 10 minutes as stated) still looked like dry powder sitting on top of the water. I never stirred the water and yeast until AFTER I dumped it into the wort.....critical mistake? I did mix the wort up really good though after I put the yeast in.

I hope I didn't ruin my first batch

EDIT: Photo >> ImageShack - Hosting :: p1010161yu2.jpg

 

[nukebrewer]

A beer getting to at or near target FG in a very short time is, at least in my experience pretty common, especially if it has a lower OG. All of my brews thus far except my IPA got pretty close to target FG after about 4 days. But, as stated previously, don't try to bottle as soon as target FG is reached to allow the yeast time to clean up their mess. My English Pale Ale will have been in the primary 3 weeks by time I bottle, even though I saw 1.012 after 4 days. Good luck with your brew and I'm sure you didn't ruin it.

-AJ

 

[debauch]

Did you see the pic though? What are all the little flakes?

(p.s - FG)?

TIA

 

[Yooper]

Did you see the pic though? What are all the little flakes?

(p.s - FG)?

TIA

FG= final gravity. It's the, well, gravity that is the furtherest it will ferment. When the beer is done, it's at its final gravity. The yeast are flocculating (clumping together) and most of those clumps will fall to the bottom.

Now, cover it up and leave it alone for 10 more days!

 

[nukebrewer]

I can't say as I know what the little flakes are, I've never seen them in any of my brews. Did you pour everything out of your brew pot or did you try to filter the hops out? In my first brew, I just poured everything in and had little pieces of hops floating until the day I bottled.

FG means final gravity and is indicative of the progress of fermentation. Your target FG will vary based upon the attenuation of the yeast you used.

 

[debauch]

FG= final gravity. It's the, well, gravity that is the furtherest it will ferment. When the beer is done, it's at its final gravity. The yeast are flocculating (clumping together) and most of those clumps will fall to the bottom.

Now, cover it up and leave it alone for 10 more days!

LOL - ok ok ... 10 days in the primary, really? I might just stop looking at it and do the 1-2-3 which seems reasonable for a first batch.

NukeBrewer - it's a wort bag (I just opened the bag and dumped it into the primary). I didn't to hops and all that jazz. Just the kool-aid mix, water and yeast.