Hey everyone,
So, this is my third batch at this point, so I'd like to think I know a little bit more than I did two months ago...
This time I am trying to brew a licorice chocolate & raisin porter (with extract). Approximately 8 hours after I pitched the yeast, there was about one bubble every 10-15 seconds in the airlock - a much less vigorous fermentation than prior batches. Approximately 12 hours later, the bubble rate increased to about one every 2-3 seconds or so. Yet, there appears to be very little krausen. I'm worried about infection.
I also did something stupid... I set some of the beer (PRE-yeast addition) aside for the OG reading... i put it in a pint glass and covered it up with saran wrap. I then waited 2 days to take the reading... (mostly due to needing to borrow a graduated cylinder from work to do so) - but at that point, the beer that I set aside looked like it was infected. I tasted it, and sure enough it was sourish - so the numbers I read from the reading were probably not accurate.
Well, suffice it to say that I'm concerned that the weak fermentation I'm observing is a result of an infection rather than the yeast I pitched. Any thoughts?
Please let me know if there's any additional information you'd like to know in helping me address this issue. Cheers!
Here's the schedule I followed:
Steep 30 minutes:
1lb Pale Chocolate Malt
1lb German/Weyermann CaraAroma
Boil 60 minutes:
6.6 lbs Northwestern Dark malt extract
1oz Cluster hops
Last 15 minutes of boil:
1 cup of Ghiradelli unsweetened cocoa powder (~3.3 oz) (previously dissolved, boiled)
1oz licorice root
1.5 star anise seeds
~1lb (15oz) of Newmans Own organic purple raisins (previously chopped, boiled for ~15 min)
Then 11.5 Safale s-04 Dry ale yeast added (previously rehydrated).
So, this is my third batch at this point, so I'd like to think I know a little bit more than I did two months ago...
This time I am trying to brew a licorice chocolate & raisin porter (with extract). Approximately 8 hours after I pitched the yeast, there was about one bubble every 10-15 seconds in the airlock - a much less vigorous fermentation than prior batches. Approximately 12 hours later, the bubble rate increased to about one every 2-3 seconds or so. Yet, there appears to be very little krausen. I'm worried about infection.
I also did something stupid... I set some of the beer (PRE-yeast addition) aside for the OG reading... i put it in a pint glass and covered it up with saran wrap. I then waited 2 days to take the reading... (mostly due to needing to borrow a graduated cylinder from work to do so) - but at that point, the beer that I set aside looked like it was infected. I tasted it, and sure enough it was sourish - so the numbers I read from the reading were probably not accurate.
Well, suffice it to say that I'm concerned that the weak fermentation I'm observing is a result of an infection rather than the yeast I pitched. Any thoughts?
Please let me know if there's any additional information you'd like to know in helping me address this issue. Cheers!
Here's the schedule I followed:
Steep 30 minutes:
1lb Pale Chocolate Malt
1lb German/Weyermann CaraAroma
Boil 60 minutes:
6.6 lbs Northwestern Dark malt extract
1oz Cluster hops
Last 15 minutes of boil:
1 cup of Ghiradelli unsweetened cocoa powder (~3.3 oz) (previously dissolved, boiled)
1oz licorice root
1.5 star anise seeds
~1lb (15oz) of Newmans Own organic purple raisins (previously chopped, boiled for ~15 min)
Then 11.5 Safale s-04 Dry ale yeast added (previously rehydrated).