peaking under the lid

[pariah]

Well, I brewed my first batch of beer last night (an IPA using hopped muntons extract and unhopped amber ale extract). I underestimated the amount of ice needed to cool the wort (note to self: make wort cooler), so it took quite a while to cool. I'm worried about infection from this, and possibly a drop or two of water falling into the wort that hadn't been sterilized.

It's in the primary fermenter now, a plastic bucket. I'm going to rack it to a glass carboy in five days. But, I don't want to waste my time. If it has an infection, how soon will I know...and can I check by peeking under the primary fermenters lid? It was put in there twelve hours ago.

 

[budbo]

You will know in about 36hrs or so it will smell like fruity **** and there will be fuzzy crap growing on it.. I had a batch sit in the Primary for 6 hours before it was cool enough to pitch and I'm drinking one as I type..
Relax, you are probably fine if you were careful about sanitizing. I top off my brews with water straight out of the tap, no fuss no boiling and so far only one infection that turned out to be interesting..I live a couple miles from a Kellogs plant and got wild corn flakes yeast in my beer ..The brew came out really good, but with a flavor no one could identify.. we concluded since I could smell the baking corn flakes while brewing some of that yeast made it in to mix with what I pitched.

 

[pariah]

Okay, I just checked on it.

The bubbler releases one large bubble at a time, right? It's not like an airlock where I can see bubbles coming up all the time.

It's been twelve hours, and there aren't any bubblers going through the bubbler, but the water level on the side closest to the brew is significantly lower. Does that sound right?

 

[david_42]

Sounds like it's getting ready. Once the yeast are done growing, they start making CO2 and alcohol. In six years, I've only had one infected batch and that was brewed on a very windy day.

 

[Spyk'd]

I've, uh, "had a hard time cooling" a wort before when I first started and another time when I bewed at my friend's house and forgot the faucet adapter for my chiller and in both cases the beer came out fine.

Two bits of advice for you. First, get a chiller. It will make brewing MUCH more enjoyable. Second, use a yeast starter. Even if you use the ice bath cooling method, the starter will get yourt batch going quicker and possibly take over with 'good' yeast before the wild ones come in.

Just my thoughts.

 

[Cap'n Jewbeard]

I could probably ask this elsewhere, but would it hurt the beer if I just took the brew pot over to the shower and ran cold water on it? (closed up tight, of course).

Or would that not chill the wort fast enough to be helpful?

I've never done a beer before, will do my first this weekend.

 

[rod]

I could probably ask this elsewhere, but would it hurt the beer if I just took the brew pot over to the shower and ran cold water on it? (closed up tight, of course).

Or would that not chill the wort fast enough to be helpful?

I've never done a beer before, will do my first this weekend.

i wouldn't think the lid on your brewpot would be water tight so you would run the risk of contaminating your wort.
i would stick with the ice bath method until you build a chiller(which is really easy by the way)

 

[pariah]

Well it's now been about 38 hours, and the closet it's in smells like beer, and I see bubbles every now and then, but I don't think it's as active as it should be. The closet temp is kind of low though, around 68, and I don't think I prepped the dry yeast properly. If I don't see more activity soon, should I add some more yeast? Try to raise the temperature somehow?

 

[clayof2day]

I would let it go. At that temp the majority of my ales have neared the end of fermentation and are starting to slow down. It probably went like crazy one night while you were sleeping. Do you have a hydrometer? If so, take a reading, its a pretty sure-fire way to tell if fermentation is done or not.

 

[pariah]

Well it's doing some decent bubbling now, four or five a minute. I'm just going to leave it for two days, the rack to carboy.

 

[Shambolic]

Well it's doing some decent bubbling now, four or five a minute. I'm just going to leave it for two days, the rack to carboy.

Four or five bubbles a minute is fairly slow. If it hasn't bubbled any quicker than that yet, I'd say it's a fair way off finished. There's no point racking a beer too early. Take a SG reading...

It's not a bad idea to give us your recipe and fermentation temp. etc. as well. People can give better advice that way.

 

[chillHayze]

Yeah buddy I wouldn't worry about any infection as long as it smells like beer and is bubbling at all. If it is cooler than room temp where you have the fermenter then the yeast will go slower than otherwise. Bubbling=good. Dry yeast is ok to just pitch straight like you did.

I have dropped the chilling water into the fermenter and not had contamination. Gotta remember to wipe off the pot after pulling it out of the ice bath.
Just don't go worrying! Rack it to another fermentor when the bubbles are going like 1/min or less. You may notice it take off in the secondary!

 

[pariah]

I have dropped the chilling water into the fermenter and not had contamination. Gotta remember to wipe off the pot after pulling it out of the ice bath.Just don't go worrying! Rack it to another fermentor when the bubbles are going like 1/min or less. You may notice it take off in the secondary!

Heh, I went and talked to the guy at the homebrewing store about it. Not only does he mouth siphon, he cools wort by using two bags of ice from seven eleven melted with some water as to be ice cold! It was ice from seven eleven I was cooling with and I saw some splash in...that's why I was concerned, but it's been four and a half days now and it still smells good so I think I'm set.

Thanks for the reassurance, guys! :cross:

 

[chillHayze]

lol gotta watch out for that 7-11 ice.

Glad you're feeling better. I bought you a beer. It's in your fridge.