Would You Add More Yeast?

[sportscrazed2]

I put my beer in fermenter on Friday night around 8pm. As of this morning the airlock is only bubbling about once ever few minutes. do you think fermentation has pretty much halted? do you think i should add another pack of yeast?

 

[COLObrewer]

What is the gravity?, No.

 

[HomelessWook]

Im quoting from Septembers issue of BYO magazine

Garrett Oliver (Brewmaster Brooklyn Brewery) on Pitching Yeast
"A beer from a struggling fermentation has a certain flavor. It's one of the main things that tends to distinguish what a professional might say is a homebrew flavor. In most cases if brewers were to use two smackpacks for a 5gallon batch, or pitch their own yeast at higher rates, the resulting beer would have a much cleaner flavor. The average amount of yeast that's provided on the homebrew scale - whether it's dry or in a liquid smackpack - will get the job done eventually, but it can be too little to start the fermentation as vigorously as you would like to see it. You always want to start out strong."

i dont know if adding yeast after fermentation is good practice - but according to this tip from a pro - more yeast in homebrew is probably a good idea.

 

[Bob]

Seriously. Leave it alone.

Some observations:

While Mr Oliver's dictum is mostly correct, it is not 100%. A fresh 11-gram packet of dry yeast has sufficient cells to properly ferment a 5-gallon batch of homebrew. Liquid yeast packages, no.

Ale ferments can be complete in as little as 24 hours, provided sufficient attention has been paid to pitching rates, original gravity and the ferment temperature. Even so, the beer should be permitted to remain in primary for 10 to 14 days, if not longer. Many homebrewers report improved flavor if the beer is left in primary for three weeks from date of pitching.

There are relatively complicated reasons for the above I'm deliberately glossing over, as I don't want to confuse with an excess of information. Sufficient for this cause is to leave it alone for two weeks. At the end of two weeks, check the gravity of the beer with your hydrometer*; if the gravity appears nominal for your OG and yeast strain's attenuation, give it a couple more days, then check the gravity again. If the gravity hasn't changed, you should be good to bottle.

Good luck!

Bob

* You do have a hydrometer, right?

 

[user 21663]

Almost 5 days is plenty of time for fermentation to slow down. What style is it and what was the OG? What temp are you fermenting at?

 

[sportscrazed2]

it's a brown ale. never checked the og. it's fermenting anywhere between 68 and 75 crazy weather we've been having. it felt like fall 2 days ago now it feels like spring

 

[Bob]

Post the recipe. That'll allow us to figure out the OG (or at least estimate it). Then take a gravity reading and post that.

Cheers,

Bob

 

[Revvy]

"Airlock bubbling" that is NOT a trustworthy thing to go by.

Whether it's in a conical, a bucket, or a carboy, it's the same thing. An airlock is a VENT, a VALVE to release excess co2, nothing more.

If it's not bubbling it just means that there no excess co2 to be vented out.

A beer may ferment perfectly fine without a single blip in the airlock. Or can stop bubbling when the yeast STILL has a lot of work to do.

That's why you need to take a gravity reading to know how your fermentation is going, NOT go by airlocks. The most important tool you can use is a hydrometer. It's the only way you will truly know when your beer is ready...airlock bubbles and other things are faulty.

The only way to truly know what is going on in your fermenter is with your hydrometer. Like I said here in my blog, which I encourage you to read, Think evaluation before action you sure as HELL wouldn't want a doctor to start cutting on you unless he used the proper diagnostic instuments like x-rays first, right? You wouldn't want him to just take a look in your eyes briefly and say "I'm cutting into your chest first thing in the morning." You would want them to use the right diagnostic tools before the slice and dice, right? You'd cry malpractice, I would hope, if they didn't say they were sending you for an MRI and other things before going in....

Thinking about "doing anything" like repitching, or bottling, or racking, without first taking a hydrometer reading is tantamount to the doctor deciding to cut you open without running any diagnostic tests....Taking one look at you and saying, "Yeah I'm going in." You would really want the doctor to use all means to properly diagnose what's going on?

Fermentation is thought to have finished when the gravity has not changed for 2 readings over three consequitive days. So like other's have said, take a reading and you'll know where the beer is at.

 

[sportscrazed2]

I can't tell you the current gravity with a hydrometer because i accidently shattered it when it got stuck to my thermoter and i tried to pry it apart.

 

[Bob]

Well, since the only way to really tell what's going on is by using a hydrometer, I should think the only real answer is "Get another hydrometer". Don't you?

Seriously, a triple-scale homebrew hydrometer is what? Six bucks? Seems a trifle for assurance that your beer is doing what it's supposed to be doing.

Cheers!

Bob

 

[Revvy]

Well, since the only way to really tell what's going on is by using a hydrometer, I should think the only real answer is "Get another hydrometer". Don't you?

Seriously, a triple-scale homebrew hydrometer is what? Six bucks? Seems a trifle for assurance that your beer is doing what it's supposed to be doing.

Cheers!

Bob

Yup...even better, get 2 and you'll always have a spare. And you won't have to ask us who aren't around your beer what to do...you'll know.

I don't know about Bob, but my psychic brewing mojo only works on the 5th tuesday of each month, at around 8:37 pm. And usually on my own beer. The rest of the time I use my hydrometer.

 

[Bob]

Yup...even better, get 2 and you'll always have a spare. And you won't have to ask us who aren't around your beer what to do...you'll know.

Jeez. Only two? I've got seven. Of course, the lab-grade ones are a set of three from 0 to 30°P in overlapping increments. But then I'm a little obsessive...

I don't know about Bob, but my psychic brewing mojo only works on the 5th tuesday of each month, at around 8:37 pm. And usually on my own beer. The rest of the time I use my hydrometer.

Mine only works on Wednesdays on commercial breaks during Ghost Hunters. Then I can See All. It's kind of cool. Although there are many things which require brain bleach; that which is seen, even with the mind's eye, cannot be unseen.

We're funning with you, dude. We answer questions like this all the time, enough that we have canned answers and joke amongst ourselves. If you take away nothing from this thread, take away what Revvy told you about the doctor and the diagnostic process.

Cheers!

Bob