wtf?

[Gildog]

third day into my fermentation of an american wheat ale. First day, it bubbled like mad, about 1 per second at least, it foamed over a little (less than a 4 oz of beer, but i didnt have a blow out tube, after that its had almost no activity, sg at start was 1.052, now it reads, ~1.021 is my beer ready to bottle? or should i try to aerate the wort a little to restart fermentation any suggestions are appreciated

 

[histo320]

Don't worry. Your beer is still fermenting, the airlock is not always a good indicator.

What is your expected FG?
What temp is it fermenting at?

3 days into fermentation is not nearly enough, you need to wait about 3 weeks. In the mean time, take a Hydro reading every 3 days or so, and it will continue to fall close to your expected FG.

 

[staffVAJoe]

It's cool, leave it alone

yeasts still have stuff to do.

do not aerate or agitate. make sure your temp is good. leave it alone.


It's important to talk to your new beer. make it feel loved

 

[Gildog]

temp is at 74 degrees, i know thats a little high but were in the middle of a heat wave right now, and expected final is 1.012-1.014

 

[Vuarra]

In addition to what staffVAJoe has said, you might either try to play some AC/DC or Mozart, depending what your preferences are... remember this is your beer, and your beer loves what you love.

 

[Mencken]

3 days? Nowhere close to enough time. Leave it in the primary for a minimum of 2-3 weeks.

 

[histo320]

74F is a pretty good temp. My last 2 brews have been 74F and turned out pretty good.

 

[JumboBlimpJumbo]

if you're fermenting in a bucket those are never airtight. A good way to test this and put your mind at rest is put a little pressure on the lid and watch the water in the airlock. If it equalizes back to being level then you can rest assured that CO2 is still probably being produced but just not making any bubbles. Mine will only bubble for a few days during the most active stage of fermentation, but you still want to leave it for a while so the yeast can clean up some bad tasting byproducts of fermentation. Just to be sure everything is done I do a week minimum in primary then transfer to secondary for a week before bottling. A lot of people will tell you 3 week minimum which isn't bad advice if you're patient.

 

[Gildog]

i do have to say tho, i could drink this stuff flat and warm, and thats what i did with my sg sample , its so much better than anything you can buy in a store

 

[Gildog]

if you're fermenting in a bucket those are never airtight. A good way to test this and put your mind at rest is put a little pressure on the lid and watch the water in the airlock. If it equalizes back to being level then you can rest assured that CO2 is still probably being produced but just not making any bubbles. A lot of people will tell you 3 week minimum which isn't bad advice if you're patient.

yeah, im NOT patient at all, it tastes good, id bottle it now if i werent afraid of bottle bombs, and when i push down on the lid i get a vauum that sucks back in the airlock water, this is my fist batch, my lid is uber tight

 

[Vuarra]

Welcome to home brewing, Gildog

 

[JumboBlimpJumbo]

yeah, im NOT patient at all

I'm not either. The only way I've found to overcome this is to brew so much on a regular basis that I have too much beer to drink to worry about waiting for the new stuff.

 

[Gildog]

thats what im trying but i need to find a way to remove the pickle smell form the 5 gall pickle buckets i got, no one can give a good way to get it out

 

[JumboBlimpJumbo]

From what I hear that smell will pretty much never go away. I'd bite the bullet and just buy a new one or 3 (I have 3 buckets and 2 carboys full right now and a new batch every weekend).... if you start getting pretty into homebrewing, which I'm sure you will, you'll be finding reasons to buy new sh*t all the time (new fridge, kegging system, wort chiller, keg-kettle, magnetic stir plate, etc). It's really not a cheap hobby but you can get a new bucket for the price of a few bud lights at the bar.

 

[Gildog]

the smell doesnte bother me, its will it transfer to the beers taste?

 

[JumboBlimpJumbo]

I haven't personally tried it but I read some horror stories about it, so yeah. I'm sure if you did like 20 batches in it it would finally quit doing that but pickle beer doesn't sound very good to me.

 

[jmp138]

fried pickle beer on the other hand...

oh and leave it for a few weeks, patience is really great for your beer, just chill, theres plenty of good microbrew out there to drink in the meantime and you will be amazed when you let that wonderful homebrewed creation do what it does best! After only a few days your yeast have plenty of work to do, the least you can do is give them the common courtesy to let them do their job!

 

[shlauncha]

thats what im trying but i need to find a way to remove the pickle smell form the 5 gall pickle buckets i got, no one can give a good way to get it out

Find a bakery near you and ask them what they do with their buckets. They generally just throw them away..

 

[Gildog]

just an update,

i removed my airlock, thus releasing all pressure, and when i replaced it i marked it with a grease pencil, low and behold i came back about 3 hrs later and it had risen, so the yeast must not be dead after all, just severely slowed, i got 3% abv in 24 hrs, now its just the wait for those last few %

FERMENT FASTER STUPID BEER!!

 

[Gildog]

FERMENT FASTER STUPID BEER!!

i didnt mean that, i could never be mad at you beer

 

[Laughing_Gnome_Invisible]

i didnt mean that, i could never be mad at you beer

You haven't seen the way that beer is looking at your wife?