Noob issues here!!

[chandler71]

Hi all..


I am so glad that I found this resource. I have a question or two on my first brew. I brewed a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale clone from midwest supplies on Saturday night. I cooled the wort using a ice bath to about 70 degrees. Everything was going great until i went to place the airlock into the bucket. The little black rubber gromet fell into the beer, and it does not float, so I had to dig it out with a sanatized spoon.It had me fraziled so i did not get a starting O.G. I placed it back in and set the bucket in the closet. I used a liquid California ale yeast, and warmed it up from fridge for about 6 hours. 48 hours later, no bubbles, and i have read that you wont always see bubbles, but i decided to check my temp. The temp in the closet was at 62 degrees. I moved the bucket into the area between the first and second story of the house where temp is around 70 degrees. The next morning had bubble, but it only lasted for 24 hours. So today I thought i would check SG to see where it was and document it. I began to take the lid off, and thought I should remove airlock.. Well dang if the gromet did not fall in again. I had to fish it out with a sanatized spoon again. So my question is this. Why no fermentation for 48 hours, then only 24 hours of fermentation? did i mess up beer by dropping gromet into it? I am going to just leave it be from now on, and not secondary it at all. I will bottle it in about 3 weeks. Anything else that I should do? I still did not get a SG. going to buy a 6.5 gallon carboy so i do not have to deal with that little black rubber gromt anymore, and i can see my beer working. Thanks for any help.

 

[breez7]

lol this post is awesome, made me laugh! Pitching a vial of white labs yeast is only about 100 billion cells if it is a perfect new vial, so in any case you under pitched your yeast. Not only was your beer under pitched but the temps were low so it took the yeast a long time to get going. It is possible the yeast ate the $hit out of the sugars real fast in the 24 hrs but we dont know without a reading. Buy a few glass carboys and use your buckets for...well what buckets should be used for. Just let it be for a few weeks then take a gravity reading, if it doesn't clock in at what it is supposed to be let us know and we can help you from there.

Glad you like the forum.



www.brewersnotepad.blogspot.com

 

[lumpher]

check the gravity, and see what it is. it might have fermented "silently" for the first few hours, then more when you moved it, and that might be all. it might only ferment with bubbles for 24-48 hours. since you fished out the grommet with a sanitized spoon, it should be ok, unless the grommet was polluted, but you should be ok there too. don't sweat it. the yeasties know their job, and do it pretty danged well. relax, have a craft brew (since you don't have homebrew yet), and think about the beer you will have. sierra nevada pale ale is 1 of my favorite craft brews, so good choice

 

[passedpawn]

It doesn't take much of a gap to allow the CO2 to escape and, hence, no bubbles.

At room temp, fermentation can go very fast. I've never had one finish in 1 day, but maybe 2 or close to it.

You're going to like a carboy much better. When you've got 50 batches under your belt, it won't matter, but I think all new brewers should get to watch the action.

RWDHAHB

 

[Warped04]

Take a deep breath next time before you try to take your gravity reading.

 

[pkeeler]

I would bet the grommet that was loose was not air tight. CO2 was escaping through there and not through the air lock. 62 is plenty warm for that yeast. You can take a hydrometer reading now and see what it is at. Since it is a kit, you could just assume the OG the kit gives you. Unless you poured a bunch of extract on the floor instead of in the pot or you think you added too much or too little top up water.

 

[D0ug]

Buckets work fine, you don't need a carboy. If your grommet is falling in to your beer, put the airlock in the grommet before you put the lid on the bucket.

There are several posts on here regarding dropping grommets in the beer, many people have left it in the beer with no problems.

Some people drill out an over sized hole in their lid to accept a proper bung.

You don't need to remove the airlock to take the lid off your pail.

If you're just starting out, you might want to consider a quality dry yeast, such as those offered by Fermentis (Safale US-05, for instance), for your first few brews until you have your process down. They are much easier to use as they require no starter.

Try not to eff with your beer any more than absolutely necessary.

Finally, read all the stickies in the various forums, especially the Beginner's forum and the Extract forum. They offer a wealth of good, solid advice.

Welcome to the club

 

[chandler71]

So if I under pitched my yeast what should I do? Do I need to pitch more? My kit also came with a dry yeast as well. Nothing appears to be going on with the brew right now, by looking at the airlock. The kit came with instructions on what my final S.G. should be. Should I check a SG now, and compare it to the instructions. My plan is to move it to a secondary glass carboy on Saturday, which will be 7 days, and that will free up my primary for another batch. I was then going to leave it in there for 2 weeks then bottle for 3 weeks. Any suggestions since i under pitched, and had a very rapid fermentation?

 

[D0ug]

Under-pitching can stress the yeast, lead to long lag times, and possibly produce off flavors.

It sounds like you probably had fermentation, so you're past all that now. Pitching more yeast will not help at this point, the yeast have reproduced by this point and you should have plenty in there. Some times fermentations go fast.

By all means check your gravity and compare it to the expected FG for your recipe. I would not transfer to a secondary until the gravity is the same for three days.

Next time use a dry yeast, they have a higher cell count than the liquid yeasts, hence no need for a starter, and you won't have the concerns about under-pitching. Once you have the rest of your process nailed down you will be able to focus on making starters if you want.

BY the way, the temperature in the fermenter can be 5-10*F above ambient temperatures, so for most ale yeasts an ambient temp of 62*F is fine and 70*F is starting to get a little warm.

 

[chandler71]

Okay,, got home from work and checked the SG of my batch. It was at 1.010 so I racked to my secondary fermenter. I think I am going to be okay. It sure did smell good!! I will definitely try a good quality dry yeast next time, and I am going to buy a 6.5 gallon carboy and worth chiller as my next purchases! Thanks for all the help! I feel so much better now!! Who would have thought I would be so preoccupied worried about a beer!!

 

[Warped04]

Glad to hear it all worked out.

 

[Fuzzywumpers]

[/QUOTE]Who would have thought I would be so preoccupied worried about a beer!![/QUOTE]

Welcome to the club.

 

[Hockeyhunter99]

Who would have thought I would be so preoccupied worried about a beer!![/QUOTE]

Welcome to the club.[/QUOTE]

I have actually lost sleep the night before brew day. worried about the process, do i have all the ingredients, do i have enough beer on hand, will i enjoy this type, excitement for the process.

after brewday, i have worried and worried about infection and dry-hopping and airlock and beer gods and skunking,

AND I LOVE EVERY MINUTE OF IT!!!!