Question about first batch

[MikeeIPA]

I recently brewed my first batch of a Belgian IPA recepie after lots of research and think it may have failed. After the boil and adding the yeast the airlock showed activity for the first 24-48 hours in the primary fermenter and since then no activity. It has been 5 days since the brew and still no activity. Is there something possibly wrong with the beer?

Does the beer need to be in a warmer climate than a room in my house? Tomorrow is the day I was gonna transfer it to the glass carbohydrates for secondary fermentation but am scared the beer just may be no good. Any feedback will help. Thanks

 

[jonmohno]

You need a low carb for secondary,ha.You meant carboy? Its fine and perfectly normal let it sit a few more weeks and if its a high gravity ale let it sit longer, any reason to secondary?

 

[asterix404]

Did you use a starter? What kind of yeast did you use? What temperature is it being fermented? Do you see some activity, like a bubble every few minutes or none at all? Chances are that if you got bubbling then you are fine. If it has slowed down or stopped, it could just be too cold, or the first few days actually did ferment out everything. With this limited information, I would try to warm it up a bit, (within the 65-70 degree range) for a few days and if you don't see anything happening open it up. If you see a thick doughy like substance on it, that is called krausen and if it's there it means it is still actively fermenting, so seal it up and let it sit another week. If nothing is there then it's finished fermenting and you can move it to the secondary.

Also what was the OG of the beer? Chances are very high that there is nothing wrong at all.

 

[jonmohno]

Also if you pitch well above 70 it will ferment fast

 

[MikeeIPA]

Thanks for the replies. It did have some activity and now none. I did open it for a second and it dis have some doughy looking stuff on top. I used white labs yeast that was included in kit but did not use a starter just let it sit at room temp for 2 hours until added to wort. Shook it up and added it to aerated wort. It's in about 60-70 degrees right now fermenting (prolly the temp of my room). Was gonna transfer to secondary glass carbohydrates fermentor for clarity of beer. Just didn't know if no activity was a bad sign since the first few days the airlock was bubbling like every couple seconds

 

[MikeeIPA]

Carboy* sorry stupid spell check

 

[FromZwolle]

an airlock is NOT a good indicator of fermentation. leave that sucker alone for another two weeks, then take a gravity reading

 

[jonmohno]

Carboy* sorry stupid spell check

A hydro reading after another week is all you really need it proves activity, but if it makes you feel better you could check gravity once the krausen goes down.

 

[MikeeIPA]

OK I will do that. What is a good bottling gravity reading? Also I made a noob mistake and didn't do a gravity reading before the yeast was added. Will I now not know what the ABV % is?

 

[FromZwolle]

OK I will do that. What is a good bottling gravity reading? Also I made a noob mistake and didn't do a gravity reading before the yeast was added. Will I now not know what the ABV % is?

can you post the recipe? we can get a pretty good estimate about the og and what the final gravity should be with the recipe.

 

[MikeeIPA]

6 lb. Pilsen liquid malt extract, 1 lb. Candi sugar, 8 oz. Cara-20, 8 oz. Acidulated malt, 2 oz. Sterling, 3 oz. Ahtanum, sugar, and yeast. The yeast was white labs Belgian saison wlp565

 

[FromZwolle]

q brew gives me an estimated og of 1.054, and the attenuation of that yeast strain according to white labs website is 65-75%. Given that you have mostly extract, i would guess that you could finish anywhere from 1.010 to 1.020. Saison yeasts are notorious for stalling out unless you warm them up (over 75F).

You might try moving this to a warm spot for a week, then check the gravity. Check it again after another three days, and if it's a reasonable number (under 1.015) and hasn't changed between the two tests, bottle it up.

 

[MikeeIPA]

I will warm it up. Thanks guys for all the input. I don't fully understand all the terminology yet but I'm getting there. Haha

 

[MikeeIPA]

What's the beat way to warm it up? And is it ok to open the top to take temp?

 

[FromZwolle]

What's the beat way to warm it up? And is it ok to open the top to take temp?

at this point you can just assume that it's about 2 degrees above room temperature. i'd leave the lid on.

 

[FromZwolle]

and if you don't have a warm room to stick it in, you can wrap a heat blanket around it on the lowest setting.

 

[asterix404]

Honestly, if the kaursen has gone down it's most likely fine to rack, give it a week or two to let things settle out and bottle. The FG that you get really depends on style of beer and ingredients.

 

[MikeeIPA]

Does transferring to a glass carboy (secondary fermenter) improve the process any? The instructions I received advise to do that if you have the equipment. It came with the beer kit I ordered. I read it gives you clearer beer by filtering out of the primary fermenter

 

[FromZwolle]

Does transferring to a glass carboy (secondary fermenter) improve the process any? The instructions I received advise to do that if you have the equipment. It came with the beer kit I ordered. I read it gives you clearer beer by filtering out of the primary fermenter

not really. the added time that the beer would sit in a secondary is what gives you a clearer beer. If you just keep the beer in the primary for that amount of time, the yeast will drop out just as fast. it has been debated to death, but there are few instances that you would need a second fermentation vessel (fruit additions, dry hopping, and very long conditioning)