Some general questions about first brew

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Optimus_Pwn

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Hi guys, I've been using this website for the past month or so to learn about brewing. I finally brewed my first batch a couple weeks ago, and have some questions about it. First I'll tell you a little bit about the batch.

I am making 5 gallons of brown ale from liquid malt extract. I brewed it 10 days ago, and started it in a big brewing bucket I got from my local brew-shop. I think it is meant for 5 gallons, but could probably fit 6-7 to the brim. Anyways, I sanitized all my stuff, put the airlock on, etc. I then put it in my closet, and it was bubbling within an hour(By the way I started my yeast the night before). The next day it was bubbling very rapidly, a series of bubbles every 2 seconds. This went on for about 2 days, and then it slowly subsided. On the 6th day, there was probably a bubble every minute. I opened it up, and all the krausen had disappeared besides a bit stuck around the edges. I transferred it to a 5 gallon glass carboy, put the airlock on, and put it in my closet. This was 3 days ago. The bubbling has almost completely stopped(probably one every 5 minutes), which I suspect is just co2 coming out of solution. I bought a hydrometer and tested it, it came out at 1.030.

tl;dr: I think I might have put my beer into the secondary too soon

So, I'm wondering, did I put my beer in the secondary too soon? Is 1.030 pretty typical for a brown ale? I tasted it, tastes very very good, however it is still somewhat sweet, and weak in alcohol content. If I could just get it to ferment some more it would be great. Should I repitch?

I would love some advice

Thanks a lot guys

-Caiden
 
Hello and welcome.
I would just leave it for 2 more weeks than take a reading. I know its hard to wait but it will be worth it.
 
Optimus_Pwn said:
Hi guys, I've been using this website for the past month or so to learn about brewing. I finally brewed my first batch a couple weeks ago, and have some questions about it. First I'll tell you a little bit about the batch.

I am making 5 gallons of brown ale from liquid malt extract. I brewed it 10 days ago, and started it in a big brewing bucket I got from my local brew-shop. I think it is meant for 5 gallons, but could probably fit 6-7 to the brim. Anyways, I sanitized all my stuff, put the airlock on, etc. I then put it in my closet, and it was bubbling within an hour(By the way I started my yeast the night before). The next day it was bubbling very rapidly, a series of bubbles every 2 seconds. This went on for about 2 days, and then it slowly subsided. On the 6th day, there was probably a bubble every minute. I opened it up, and all the krausen had disappeared besides a bit stuck around the edges. I transferred it to a 5 gallon glass carboy, put the airlock on, and put it in my closet. This was 3 days ago. The bubbling has almost completely stopped(probably one every 5 minutes), which I suspect is just co2 coming out of solution. I bought a hydrometer and tested it, it came out at 1.030.

tl;dr: I think I might have put my beer into the secondary too soon

So, I'm wondering, did I put my beer in the secondary too soon? Is 1.030 pretty typical for a brown ale? I tasted it, tastes very very good, however it is still somewhat sweet, and weak in alcohol content. If I could just get it to ferment some more it would be great. Should I repitch?

I would love some advice

Thanks a lot guys

-Caiden
Click to expand...

IF you think the gravity is too high and it stays high over 2-3 days then I would try warming it up and swirling it around a little bit to get the yeast woke back up and working. I may be wrong but I think the term secondary fermentation basically a misnomer for beer. I use a secondary for everything but it is simply a bright tank to let the beer clear more. I transfer after I think the fermentation has stopped and the beer has sat in the primary for 3 weeks or so. And usually I go from primary to a cold crash in the bright tank to bottles....the " secondary" may only be for a few days.
 
Hmm, alright. I'll just leave it in the primary for a while longer. I'm so damn excited it's hard to wait. I have a questions about using my hydrometer. To use it properly, do I just siphon some of the beer/wort into my beaker, and float the hydrometer, reading where the liquid stops? If so then I'm doing this part right, however I wasn't sure what to do with the wort afterwards, so I just poured it back in. Is this bad? I had sanitized the beaker and everything I used. I think I'm going to take another reading in a couple days, and see if it has changed at all. Does this sound like a good idea?
 
KuntyBrew said:
Just drink it
Click to expand...

This.


Also, not sure if you did or didn't, but it's always wise to take a gravity reading in the very beginning...when you transfer it from the pot to the primary. That gives you a starting point to go by.

Now, without knowing your recipe, I can just say that 1.030 sounds pretty high for the average brown ale. I'd say you probably took it off the yeast cake too early (I usually leave mine be for at least two weeks before I even think about taking my follow-up gravity readings). I'd say you might want to follow up with a reading in a couple of days to see if the number keeps falling, if not your fermentation is most likely stuck (again, just assuming the "average" original gravity for a standard brown ale). If that's turns out to be the case, you might want to consider pitching some more yeast, or gently swirling the carboy to rouse the yeast back into suspension, as was stated earlier.

That being said, somebody with a bit more experience in that area could advise you better on stuck fermentation.
 
I usually don't rack to secondary for 14-21 days, but generally I have found that with starting your yeast 2 days before, your pretty much done by the 10th day and racking at this point should be fine, as long as fermentation is finished or within a couple points. Obviously, with a gravity of .030, it's probably stuck, but before you pitch more yeast, just gently swirl and let it sit. A few more days won't hurt anything. Also check the temp in your closet, if it's to cool, let your fermenter warm up to around 68 or 70 and see if it helps. My last two Browns finished at .011 and .012 but that depends on which yeast you used.
 
.030 is pretty high. my brown is at .11, so like everyone else said, take some more measurements in a couple of days and let us know.
 
Hmm, damn. Well this sucks. I swirled it around, and I have about half an inch or so of yeast sediment on the bottom. If it doesn't change at all over the next week, I guess I'll repitch. Would I have to buy another packet of yeast? Or could I just take some wort, mix it with sugar, and see if I can get it going, and after that put it in the carboy? Damn, I tried so hard not to **** up my first batch.
 
PolishLogic said:
As long as it's not rancid, you didn't **** it up. ;)


Just take a reading in another day or two and see if it went down. If it did, you can get away with riding it out for now. If not, then yes...repitching would probably be a good idea.
Click to expand...

Sounds good. Is it ever possible for the yeast to hibernate like that for no reason? It seems like the bubbling had almost completely stopped by the time I transferred it. I would rather have the case be I took it out too early rather than there being some sort of problem with the way I cooked everything.
 
To quote something you'll probably end up reading thousands of times over your stay on this forum:

"The airlock is not an accurate sign of fermentation or lack there of."


The only real way to know if there's still fermentation occurring is via your hydrometer readings. All the airlock is really going to tell you is if there's an excess of CO2 being produced that is more than the headspace of your carboy can hold.

In my experience though, my airlock is only really active during the first couple days of fermentation. By the end of the first week, not much is noticeably happening with the airlock. But, from prior curiosity I learned that usually my beer was a long way off from my target final gravity still. Even though there was no airlock movement, the yeast was still chomping away on sugars.

As for the hibernation question, the yeast can go dormant if the temperature drops low enough, and from my understanding they can also "burn out early" from having too few healthy yeast cells being pitched in the beginning. I'll have to defer to a more experienced brewer to fully and accurately address that, though.
 
PolishLogic said:
To quote something you'll probably end up reading thousands of times over your stay on this forum:

"The airlock is not an accurate sign of fermentation or lack there of."


The only real way to know if there's still fermentation occurring is via your hydrometer readings. All the airlock is really going to tell you is if there's an excess of CO2 being produced that is more than the headspace of your carboy can hold.

In my experience though, my airlock is only really active during the first couple days of fermentation. By the end of the first week, not much is noticeably happening with the airlock. But, from prior curiosity I learned that usually my beer was a long way off from my target final gravity still. Even though there was no airlock movement, the yeast was still chomping away on sugars.

As for the hibernation question, the yeast can go dormant if the temperature drops low enough, and from my understanding they can also "burn out early" from having too few healthy yeast cells being pitched in the beginning. I'll have to defer to a more experienced brewer to fully and accurately address that, though.
Click to expand...


Hmm, so how exactly does one repitch? I don't have any yeast laying around, so would I just take some of the wort, add sugar to it, and try to get it active again? It's weird, I can't even find a guide on google or anything.

Also, thanks guys for all the advice :mug:
 
Before you cross that road, I'd just hang tight and wait to see if the gravity has continued to fall when you take another reading. It very well may still do so. If it doesn't however, then just search out "stuck fermentation", as there are a number of different ways to tackle the issue. I wish I could give you more info than that, but I'm no expert in that subject and it would just be regurgitating whatever I've read on the boards.
 
PolishLogic said:
Before you cross that road, I'd just hang tight and wait to see if the gravity has continued to fall when you take another reading. It very well may still do so. If it doesn't however, then just search out "stuck fermentation", as there are a number of different ways to tackle the issue. I wish I could give you more info than that, but I'm no expert in that subject and it would just be regurgitating whatever I've read on the boards.
Click to expand...

Oh, it's fine. I plan on waiting 6 more days, taking the gravity readings every 2-3 days. I've been swirling my wort every few hours for about 5 minutes at a time. I really need to get all that stuff at the bottom to kick up and become suspended, swirling doesn't seem to do the job. I just wanted to know how to properly pitch it just for future reference. I was really just wondering if I had to go out and spend more money on a second packet of yeast. I think i'll post the basic recipe so you guys can get a better idea:

8lbs Light extract
4oz Brown Malt
4oz Chocolate Malt
8oz Crystal 120L Malt
8oz Crystal 40L Malt
2oz Northern Brewer Hops:
-1.5oz @ 60 minutes
-0.5oz @ 5 minutes
2 tsp gypsum and 1 tsp Irish Moss, added at beginning of boil.
Wyeast 1028 London Ale
Starting gravity: 1.050-52(I didn't actually take this, it is just what the recipe says)

-pitched the yeast about 16 hours before, and it was bubbling rapidly by the time I added it.
-cooked the malt grains(without grain bag, just strained it afterwards) at 155F for a bit over 30 minutes.
-Added liquid malt, brought to boil, added gypsum and irish moss, and hops. In the last 5 minutes of boil I added .5 oz of hops.
-blah blah, aerated very well with a whisk before closing it up. Sanitized everything.
 
"pitched the yeast about 16 hours before, and it was bubbling rapidly by the time I added it."


When you say that you pitched 16 hours before you added it, what exactly does that mean. Was it a starter and how did you make the starter. I have a Brown in the fermenter now and it stopped active bubbling after 6 days, but I don't bother it until day 21 as fermentation is still happening even if you don't see it.
 
Nuggethead said:
"pitched the yeast about 16 hours before, and it was bubbling rapidly by the time I added it."


When you say that you pitched 16 hours before you added it, what exactly does that mean. Was it a starter and how did you make the starter. I have a Brown in the fermenter now and it stopped active bubbling after 6 days, but I don't bother it until day 21 as fermentation is still happening even if you don't see it.
Click to expand...

I activated the liquid yeast packet, put it in an old rum bottle(sanitized), and put my airlock and grommet on top. I then left it to sit for 16 hours. When I put it in the wort, it was very active, and smelled like alcohol. My yeast had no trouble taking hold, within an hour my wort was bubbling fairly quickly.

I have good news though guys. Either I have been misreading my hydrometer, or my beer is fermenting. I just took a reading and it came out about 1.024-1.022. I mixed all the stuff at the bottom up into suspension with my siphoning hose. It worked very well, after I took out enough wort to do a reading, I just stuck it far into the carboy, and rotated it. It swept along the entire bottom of the carboy and tossed everything up without disturbing the surface too much. Also, I realized it's been pretty cold in my apartment lately, so I turned the heat on. I'm pretty stoked, I think it will work out. I tasted it today, and it tastes very very good, exactly like flat newcastle brown ale.

Thanks for all the help guys, I will post in a couple days saying whether it continued to go down.
 
""I activated the liquid yeast packet, put it in an old rum bottle(sanitized), and put my airlock and grommet on top. I then left it to sit for 16 hours.""

Generally, If your just activating the yeast pack, you would do it about 4 hours prior to pitching, leaving it in it's package until it's swollen and your ready for it. If your going to put it in another container for 16 to 48 hours, you should be making an actual yeast starter. This would be boiling about 1.5 qts of water with 3/4 cup DME for 10 minutes to obtain a starter gravity of around 1.038. Cool to 70F and pitch the yeast into that with your airlock or tin foil. Preferably no airlock as it restricts oxygen to the yeast. Activating a liquid yeast pack and pouring it alone into your rum bottle seems to defeat the purpose and may stress the yeast. This may be why your fermentation didn't start correctly. Due a search on yeast starters and you'll get alot of info on this. Once you get used to making these and see the benefits, you'll never regret it.
 
Nuggethead said:
""I activated the liquid yeast packet, put it in an old rum bottle(sanitized), and put my airlock and grommet on top. I then left it to sit for 16 hours.""

Generally, If your just activating the yeast pack, you would do it about 4 hours prior to pitching, leaving it in it's package until it's swollen and your ready for it. If your going to put it in another container for 16 to 48 hours, you should be making an actual yeast starter. This would be boiling about 1.5 qts of water with 3/4 cup DME for 10 minutes to obtain a starter gravity of around 1.038. Cool to 70F and pitch the yeast into that with your airlock or tin foil. Preferably no airlock as it restricts oxygen to the yeast. Activating a liquid yeast pack and pouring it alone into your rum bottle seems to defeat the purpose and may stress the yeast. This may be why your fermentation didn't start correctly. Due a search on yeast starters and you'll get alot of info on this. Once you get used to making these and see the benefits, you'll never regret it.
Click to expand...

Oh, I left it in the packet until it was swollen and then put it in the rum bottle. I see what you're saying though. I assume DME is some sort of sugar? I'm not actually sure, and I can't seem to find it on google. The only kind of sugar I have from the brewshop is Dextrose(corn sugar).

I was wondering if there was anyways to recover yeast from my wort, and then reuse that. Yeast seems to be sort of expensive.

Thanks
 
Optimus_Pwn said:
I was wondering if there was anyways to recover yeast from my wort, and then reuse that. Yeast seems to be sort of expensive.

Thanks
Click to expand...


Great tutorial: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/yeast-washing-illustrated-41768/


I actually attempted this for the first time recently, since I had been eying a few kits that all had the same yeast. I figured that's as good a time as any to get into yeast washing. Plus it's just one more thing to do to keep you wrapped up in the "brewing experience" in between actually brewing the batches.
 
PolishLogic said:
Great tutorial: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/yeast-washing-illustrated-41768/


I actually attempted this for the first time recently, since I had been eying a few kits that all had the same yeast. I figured that's as good a time as any to get into yeast washing. Plus it's just one more thing to do to keep you wrapped up in the "brewing experience" in between actually brewing the batches.
Click to expand...

Hmm, I should definitely do this. I don't want to have to buy yeast every time when it is like $6 where I'm from. Thanks for the article, I bookmarked it.

I did another reading last night, came out at 1.020-1.022. I think that it will definitely continue to fall. I'm hoping to get it down to 1.010. The recipe doesn't specify how low it should fall, but 5% alcohol would be nice.
 
I don't even know if people are still reading this thread, but I checked the gravity tonight, and it was still at 1.020-1.022. Not a bit lower. I mixed all the trub back up into suspension and swirled it a bunch. I increased the temp by about 5 degrees, but I'm not sure what the exact temperature is. Just thought I'd update
 
Optimus_Pwn said:
I don't even know if people are still reading this thread, but I checked the gravity tonight, and it was still at 1.020-1.022. Not a bit lower. I mixed all the trub back up into suspension and swirled it a bunch. I increased the temp by about 5 degrees, but I'm not sure what the exact temperature is. Just thought I'd update
Click to expand...

first, what temperature is your beer at.
second, what temperature is your hydrometer calibrated for.

I think you're trying to bring up the temp to try to get the yeasties going again without realizing that temperature affects your gravity readings. actually, wait... pretty sure when the liquid is hotter (than say 60F), you need to ADD to get a correct hydrometer reading....

IF you are adjusting your hydrometer readings to account for temparature and that's what you're telling us, then disregard my questions, RDWHAHB, and check your hydro again in a couple days, maybe a week. 1.020 seems high for a brown ale. what is your final gravity supposed to be? that'll tell you a lot about where you're at in relation to where you should be. if that's where you're supposed to be, then let your ale sit for a week or two and then get to bottling! if not then yes, you may want to repitch some yeast
 

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