I'm reading posts and I keep seeing references to brewers opening their vats and others making comments about the horrors of allowing air in. I use 2 Cooper's Kit vats and I open mine and peek in and sniff, all the time. I tap off a hydrometer tube to check SG every day after day 6, then pour it back in (I sanitize my tubes after each use). Am I screwing-up? Is this a poor practice? BTW, I am about to mix my 4th vat worth, in a few days, so I'm not really to "on top of things", and learning what I can from ya'll. Thanks in advance.
Opening the vat...
- Thread starter TW1Kell
- Start date
Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:
rifraf
Well-Known Member
Every day might be a bit much. I think the big concerns are airborne bugs/yeast, and oxidation. Oxidation is a bigger concern after the active fermentation has stopped because your good yeast isn't producing enough CO2 to displace the O2 that comes in when you open the tub.
Odds are you aren't ruining your beer though. If you like the taste of your brew and you like checking it everyday, carry on!
Odds are you aren't ruining your beer though. If you like the taste of your brew and you like checking it everyday, carry on!
BamaRooster
Well-Known Member
CO2 is heavier than air, so exposing the fermentation vessel is of little to no risk, unless while it is open something falls in. Some breweries still use open fermentation vessels to this day.
I never return my test samples back to the FV, there is to great a risk of infection. I also do not take a reading everyday, that wastes too much beer. IMHO you do not need to check your gravity for 2-3 weeks after fermentation starts, but I also rarely use a secondary vessel.
I never return my test samples back to the FV, there is to great a risk of infection. I also do not take a reading everyday, that wastes too much beer. IMHO you do not need to check your gravity for 2-3 weeks after fermentation starts, but I also rarely use a secondary vessel.
BradleyBrew
Well-Known Member
yeah, don't pour the sample back in. They seems like it would be asking for trouble, but you should use them as sampling!
i second this. no worries about opening the fermenter if you're sanitary, the co2 should blanket the brew from o2, but i would hesitate to add the sample back. it's exposed to o2, open air, your hands, etc. not saying that every time you do it, an infection is inevitable, but the risks are increased.
k, I'll cease and desist! hehe I've been bottling at 6-9 days, after mixing, as I've been getting a steady SG, at those dates. I use Cooper's vats and equipment, and Cooper's beer packages. I have been going, pretty much, by their instructions, even tho I have been letting it ferment a day or 2 more than they recommend. I wait for 3 days of steady SG, as recommended by people in this forum, instead of the 2 days that Cooper's recommends.
I assume, then, that it is safe to drink beer that hasn't completely finished primary? WOO HOO! Sample the SG readings!
Oh, my brewing room is nothing but the brewing room, so there's not much else happening in there. Nothing else to contaminate it, so maybe that's why the beer tastes just fine! My sons and friends have all discovered new "favorite beers"! My eldest son, a die-hard Guinness drinker, actually prefers my Lager and Irish Stout to Guinness and Harp. Made me very happy since he and his wife are who gave me my 1st Cooper's kit.
I assume, then, that it is safe to drink beer that hasn't completely finished primary? WOO HOO! Sample the SG readings!
Oh, my brewing room is nothing but the brewing room, so there's not much else happening in there. Nothing else to contaminate it, so maybe that's why the beer tastes just fine! My sons and friends have all discovered new "favorite beers"! My eldest son, a die-hard Guinness drinker, actually prefers my Lager and Irish Stout to Guinness and Harp. Made me very happy since he and his wife are who gave me my 1st Cooper's kit.
Leave your beer in primary longer. The yeast are still working cleaning things up after the fermentation has ended.
Even in your brewing room there are all sorts of contaminates! They float in the air. You are probably OK. But be aware that there are nasties present.
Even in your brewing room there are all sorts of contaminates! They float in the air. You are probably OK. But be aware that there are nasties present.
OOPS! I meant bottling at 9-12 days! Huge typo, there. Hard to get a steady 3-day SG at 6 days, when I don't start reading it until day 6. Drank 2 25's of the 2 week in the bottle Lager, yesterday (my 2nd batch of that starter kit from Cooper's), it tasted much like the other did at 2 weeks; just a tad seltzer-ish, so I expect it to clean-up by week 3. That's what it did, last time. Thanks for all the advice. I'll put it to good use, as soon as I start another batch. Darn once a month paychecks make it hard for me to sneak a "kit" past my Wifey...hahaha! j/k
