Suffocation? (Did I ruin my batch)

[And1]

Hey all!

I've read through the faqs, wiki and done numerous searches but my situation seems....unique.

I'm a new brewer, this is my second batch. I'm working from a Festabrew kit (cream ale) doing nothing extra, just following the instructions provided (just trying to get consistency before really delving in).

After pitching the yeast into my primary fermenter, I noticed the instructions were a little different than my previous batch a few months ago. They said to fasten the lid on the pail and attach the rubber assembly (which I don't have/there is nothing on the lid of the pail for this). Previously I had just placed the lid of the pail over top. I thought this was weird but I continued with it. sealing the pail.

I googled a bit over the next few days and realized that that this set of instructions was meant for a blowoff or another liquid lock sort of assembly, so I immediately removed the lid, and placed it on top of the pail.

I started the batch on Wednesday evening and saw a few bubbles in the beginning to no bubbles in the following days (smelled a bit of yeast). I removed the lid and placed it on top on Friday morning and the state is still the same today.

Following the general theme of waiting, that makes it ~96 hours in the primary at the time of this posting. I'm wondering if I suffocated the yeast? Is my batch still salvageable? If it is, what exactly is happening with it?

 

[unionrdr]

Absolutely nothing! air is the one thing you DON'T want getting to your fermenting beer. And if the lid's supposed to have an airlock grommet & doesn't,call the place you bought it from,& tell them about it.

 

[And1]

Ok, so if everything is fine, how should i gauge when the primary fermentation is done? Normally I would wait for the kreuzen to fall, but without it I'm pretty in the dark.

 

[unionrdr]

Use a hydrometer to measure specific gravity of the wort before pitching the yeast to get OG (Original Gravity). Then,say,2 weeks later,measure specific gravity again for 1st FG (Final Gravity). Then a second time 2-3 days later. If the numbers match,it's done. Don't just watch for the krausen to fall,as that can start to fall back down into the beer when initial fermentation is done. But it will still have a ways to go to get to a stable FG. I'm saying you can't watch for it,you have to measure it.

 

[Mike_A]

+1 for hydrometer readings. That's a very crucial tool for homebrewers, as that's the only true way to know if your beer is fermenting (whether starting or finished). There's a multitude of flaws to any other gauging method i.e. airlock bubbles, kreuzen, etc.

If you sealed the bucket with no way for the CO2 (which the yeast expels) to escape, pressure will likely build until the gas finds some way out of the bucket. If you had a plain lid with no method of attaching an airlock or blowoff tube, you could loosely fit it to the top of the bucket. Infectious particles have to fall down into the fermenter to have a chance at affecting your beer, so, keeping the lid on and allowing the CO2 to escape will work just fine.

 

[And1]

Okay I get it.
Since I didn't take an original gravity reading, I'll have to call the store and see if they know the original gravity of the wort and go from there...might have to do some googling.

Thanks for the assist!

 

[airdog_47]

Your lucky that it sounds like it killed the yeast down otherwise you would have had a giant beer bomb go off and a huge mess. If nothing happens I would just pitch another yeast packet and give it a week to 10 then into the secondary. Otherwise a hydrometer test would tell you. I used a hydrometer when I first started then got lazy and then got drunk and just started to go by thought. I usually primary for about 7-10 days I have gone as long as 14. I then secondary for 2 to 3 weeks depending. Sometimes I just leave in primary for 30 days and move to secondary for a couple just to get it off sediment. whatever works for ya. If you bought a kit it typical will tell you on the instructions what the original gravity should be around. Or take you ingredients into a brewing software which should tell you what a original gravity should be expected around.