Normal yeast?(First Brew)

[sacstatebrew]

Hey Guys, this is my first stab at brewing and im kinda of stuck after searching the boards.
OK, Im brewing a California Pale Ale from Home Brew Outlet and everything seemed to be fine with my brew after I pitched the yeast. The airlock was getting some action within an hour, but after about 6-8 hours the airlock clogged and nearly turned into a missile(had brown brew bubbles coming out from under the lid). So I unclogged and cleaned it, then after about 15 hours the airlock stopped bubbling and I have a thick layer of sediment at the bottom about an inch 1 1/2. Is this typical, did I mess up my brew, or did my yeast die out?

Specs:
6lb malt kit with 2 oz of hops
5 gal of brew
Rehydrated yeast at 75-80f for 15min
Pitched into wort at 80f
OG was 1064
After 24hrs SG is 1021
Fermenter temp is 74f

Cheers

 

[rsmith179]

You'll be fine, just a typical blowoff. What size primary are you using? I would just ride it out and let it do its thing for another week or two. Exploding lids, bottles, etc. are quite common around here really. And believe it or not, almost all of the exploding lid cases turn out good beer regardless.

 

[velotech]

yes, leave it for a couple weeks. just because there's no activity in the air lock doesn't mean it's not fermenting: it is. btw, welcome! i'm a sac state grad!

 

[sacstatebrew]

Its a 6 gal container...So im fine eventhough there is no more airlock action?
It was kinda violent for awhile

 

[sacstatebrew]

yes, leave it for a couple weeks. just because there's no activity in the air lock doesn't mean it's not fermenting: it is. btw, welcome! i'm a sac state grad!

Thanks...Cool

 

[Yooper]

Its a 6 gal container...So im fine eventhough there is no more airlock action?
It was kinda violent for awhile

Yes, if you pitched the yeast at 80 degrees, you had a very "hot" fermentation, and if it's still at 74 degrees, it was probably more than 10 degrees higher than that during the most active part of the fermentation. That's probably why it went so fast and explosively. It'll be fine, I was just explaining why it may have gone so fast.

Next time, pitch the yeast when the wort is under 70 degrees, and try to keep the fermenter temperature in the mid-60s if you can. It'll make for a "cleaner" ale with less hot alcohol or fruity flavors.

 

[sacstatebrew]

!!Update!!
I was checking my fermenter temp today and its at 70/69f, while I was doing that I noticed that my 3-piece airlock had some pressure in it again and was bubbling slowly at about 1 bubble per 25 sec's. Im glad to see some action again.
:rockin:

 

[cryokinetic]

Thank god someone else posted this first. I had the exact same problem with my batch over the weekend.
Pitched thurs night. Was fermenting extremely vigorously on friday and sat mornings. No activity in the airlock and no krausen on sunday evening. Was about to run to the homebrew shop to buy a new packet of yeast.

 

[rsmith179]

Nine times out of ten, you won't have to ever repitch yeast. If you run into a situation where the temps have fallen drastically, the yeast may just be taking a break until the temps come back up. I always keep my "fermenting room" anywhere from 60-70F to keep a consistent fermentation temp. Never had a problem with a stalled fermentation. If you do run across this, just bring it to a place with a higher temp and you should start seeing bubbling again. Also, just check your hydro readings. Although 2-3 days is a little quick to see terminal gravity, depending on your beer, you may just get there that quickly. I don't know what I'd do without my hydro...

 

[cryokinetic]

Just thought of a followup question...

Would now (while the yeast appears to be inactive) be a good time to transfer to the secondary fermentor?

 

[llazy_llama]

I don't know, what is your hydrometer telling you?

Actually, I do know, I was just testing you. No, now is not a good time. If you don't have/won't use a hydrometer, you can follow the 1-2-3 rule. 1 week in primary, 2 weeks in secondary, 3 weeks in bottles. Or, you can just leave it in the primary for a month and bottle after that. Secondary is not really needed, and plenty of us don't use it at all. I do for some batches, some I don't. Sometimes it's because I want more clarity, sometimes it's laziness.

If you do have a hydrometer, which you should, you'll know it's time to rack to secondary when you get consistant readings over a period of about 3 days. Within 1 hour, someone else will chime in and tell you 2 days. Neither answer is wrong, but I prefer to err on the side of caution.

 

[cryokinetic]

Cool cool. I'll take a hydrometer reading as soon as I get home from class (about 20min).

 

[llazy_llama]

If it's been only 2-3 days, don't bother. If you just can't wait a whole week, at least wait a few more days. Your beer is begging to be great, don't let your nerves make it mediocre.

 

[sacstatebrew]

Thanks for all of the feed back.
One more question, when the temp settles does the yeast come back and eat up the rest of the sugar?

 

[cryokinetic]

It's been about 5 days since i pitched. But I can wait a fw more days to check. Not in any rush.

 

[zman]

Did it resemble this? I did a not so Blond Ale this past weekend and accidentally added #1 more of Crystal 15 than needed per the recipe. These pics are from last night. Fermentation slowed down a bit so I cleaned the are around the airlock with some cooled boiled water I had left over from a Yeast wash. I sanitized a new stopper and air lock and stuck it in there. I am still getting some Kraussen in the airlock but not nearly as much as I was last night.

 

[Yooper]

Thanks for all of the feed back.
One more question, when the temp settles does the yeast come back and eat up the rest of the sugar?

If there are fermentable sugars present, the yeast will finish it. But, as long as it's between 60-70 (maybe 64-70 for some yeast strains) degrees, it's fine and there isn't any reason to adjust the temperature.

 

[sacstatebrew]

Did it resemble this? I did a not so Blond Ale this past weekend and accidentally added #1 more of Crystal 15 than needed per the recipe. These pics are from last night. Fermentation slowed down a bit so I cleaned the are around the airlock with some cooled boiled water I had left over from a Yeast wash. I sanitized a new stopper and air lock and stuck it in there. I am still getting some Kraussen in the airlock but not nearly as much as I was last night.

Yea just like that, was yours hissing and blowing crazy bubbles everywhere too?

 

[zman]

Yeah it was gassing like crazy. I am thinking that it could be related to the temp in the house since it is a 5g batch in a 6.5g carboy. I am a miser when it comes to heating the house so I wrapped it in a blanket. It was 73 here in Denver yesterday so that might have had something to do with it. So far it smells like beer and not some foul funkiness. I am really interested to see how this turns out.

 

[cryokinetic]

Just took a gravity measurement on mine.

OG was 1.029 (assuming I didn't **** up the measurement... seems a little low for a stout)
measured 1.022 today (6 days later).

Looked like the airlock was about to start going again when I moved the carboy to a warmer room.. but it's gone back to sitting idle.

Comments/suggestions?

 

[sacstatebrew]

Update!
My fermenter temp has fallen to 66f and has held steady my most recent gravity test was at 1020.