Noooob!

[NAUGHTYDOGBREWING]

Hello all. My names Jeremy, I'm new to these forums. I just bought my first brew kit. Right now I'm brewing a northwest pale ale. It's in primary right now. It's been 6 days and so far looking good, other than it seems to be slowing down a lot already. The "head" I cant remember what its called, correct me if you wish, is already gone and its bubbling once every 2.5 minutes as of today. not sure if that's too short of a fermentation or what, anyway, I'm glad to be brewing and my g/f totally supports me. I get my own "Toy" room where I ferment my beer, play with my computers, tune our snowboards, and all else I want to do in "My" room. In the short future I plan on brewing a Blueberry Ale or a "Ruby" clone from McMenamin's, then an IPA hopefully an Arrogant Bastard clone. Again, I'm very new and any tips anyone has for me are totally welcome. I look forward to talking with you all soon. Happy Brewing!

 

[khiddy]

Welcome, Vancouver, from a fellow brewer just across the river in NoPo!

The "head" is called "krauzen".

It's OK just to keep the beer in the primary fermenter for a few weeks even if there's no apparent activity from the airlock. It takes a while for yeasties to clean up after themselves, even if they look finished. Your beer will be better for it!

 

[NAUGHTYDOGBREWING]

Thanks for the welcome. Now that I know to call it krauzen, how do you pronounce that? also my first brew was a little low on OG It was supposed to be around 1.048 and with the corrected measurement for the temperature it was 1.043. How much lower would I be in alc. % and is that why it seems to be fermenting so fast?

 

[Professor Frink]

It's pronounced KROY-zen. The original gravity shouldn't affect how quickly it ferments, unless it's a real big beer. What was your target OG?

 

[NAUGHTYDOGBREWING]

Sorry, I thought I posted my target OG. it was 1.048, I ended up with a corrected value of 1.043 and my final is supposed to be near 1.014. I did start my first few days at about 80 degrees because I didn't have AC at the time. after that its been low to mid 70's.

 

[Kass_Brauhaus]

Biggest thing about beer is to be patient and don't worry about it. As our friend always says: "relax. have a homebrew"

Of course that doesn't work on your first batch....hm

 

[NAUGHTYDOGBREWING]

I thought it was, "Relax, Don't worry, Have a homebrew"? must be wrong j/k. Too bad it doesn't work for my first batch. Idk what is going on. :fro: haha. just had to use the rainbow afro

 

[NAUGHTYDOGBREWING]

Also, I didnt do any kind of stirring or anything to aerate the yeast. I dont know how big of deal that is. I pitched at about 78 degrees

 

[khiddy]

That's pretty warm, as you know it's been hotter than usual around here lately. Do you have the ability to put your fermenter in a bucket of water? You really want the fermentation temp to be 63-69 or so if at all possible in order to keep the yeast from producing so many off-flavors, and a water bath will help. Putting your fermenter into a water bath moderates the temperature, especially if you then put some frozen ice packs in the water to keep the outer water cool.

Get a few 1-liter or 2-liter bottles, fill them up 3/4 of the way, and stick them in your freezer. When they're frozen solid, toss two of them into the water bucket that your fermenter is sitting in. Switch them every 8 hours or so for new ones, and put the melted ones back in the freezer. This ought to keep your temperature down into the mid-60's where it ought to be.

 

[Kass_Brauhaus]

I thought it was, "Relax, Don't worry, Have a homebrew"? must be wrong j/k. Too bad it doesn't work for my first batch. Idk what is going on. :fro: haha. just had to use the rainbow afro

Could be. I was drinking a homebrew when I typed it--not reading the book!

 

[NAUGHTYDOGBREWING]

Thanks for the tips everyone. I thought it was okay for my beer to be that warm. I guess I'll turn the temp down a little more.