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Yeast fizzing / foaming on contact

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Stripeman

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Joined
Feb 28, 2017
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Location
Stuttgart
HI there!
I'm new here and new to the home brewing circle.

I am hoping for an easy answer but I was hoping for some insight regarding my first batch of beer.

I am using Fermentis Safbrew S-33 - 11.5 g (two packets) that I sprinkled into my 17L of wort that was at 81F vs the 77F max. and it did foam a little but not much. then after an hour or so I saw activity in the airlock. It did take FOREVER to head up the wort in the first place as I wasn't sure when I was supposed to add the LME or the DME. I did make a mistake and add the Liquid Hops into the wort before boil when its supposed to be added to fermentation stage.

The temp remained elevated like that overnight (I think it even increased a degree or so) . The next morning, nothing, no activity. I was hoping the temp would reduce but didn't, I used two frozen bags of blueberries (sealed) to bring the temp down, which it did and it stayed at 20c where it where it should be. Still no activity.

I went to work next morning, and asked my friends and did some reading and was suggested to repitch. I got an enormous amount of foam the instant I added the yeast. I tried to airate. not sure how well of a job I did. but after all that.. I think it bubbled once in the airlock and then nothing. even hours later and this morning (next day) same thing.

I'm worried. I will wait to see what happens when I get home from work and see if there is any activity. but I feel its a lost cause. One of my friends suggested I wait for a few days.

Any anyone provide some insight to this, please.

Thank you so much
 
when I said a long time.. llke it took more than 4 hrs to heat the wort. I allowed it to boil for about 45 min though, since the heating process took so long. (I'm gonna get a burner)
 
Welcome to HBT and the obsession!

Don't judge fermentation by airlock activity alone. Lids leak.
Take a gravity reading, that's your guide. Chances are your beer is already done fermenting...

For future brews, try to control fermentation temps toward the lower side of the yeast's range. It makes much better beer.
 
One package of dry yeast (11.5 gr) is plenty for a 17 liter batch of beer, unless the gravity is very high, like over 1.070-1.080, then you may need to use 2. Re-hydrating dry yeast is preferred by many, as long as you follow the instructions from the manufacturer exactly on how to do it. You do need to adhere closely to the rehydration temps given, say within 5-7°C.

You aerate wort before pitching yeast, even directly after. Never aerate after fermentation has started, after alcohol has formed, it will oxidize your beer.

Read around and learn. I can recommend reading How to Brew, at least section 1. There's a new edition of that book (in paper) coming out in June.
 
It was this forum. this thread. was weird.. i did paste a link to my stuff i referred to above. maybe thats why ?
 
I will check out that resource. Thank you. There is a lot of different opinions about how to do stuff.. so its confusing sometimes. I will look at that site you linked. Thank you. I think this batch is botched. :(
 
I will check out that resource. Thank you. There is a lot of different opinions about how to do stuff.. so its confusing sometimes. I will look at that site you linked. Thank you. I think this batch is botched. :(

Even if it's botched, you can still learn from it. It may not be great, but still very drinkable. And you'll learn more from your mistakes and the results than from dumping. If everyone brewed perfect beer the first time around this whole forum would be just chit chat and bragging. So would every other one dealing with brewing.

The source I sent you to, How to Brew is a bit dated, but the principles of brewing it covers still apply. Well worth the time spent on it. No, it won't cover Hop shots, Liquid Hops, whirlpooling, hop stands, Mosaic, etc. At time of writing those didn't exist yet, or not on homebrew scale.

There are plenty more resources, so whatever you put in it will pay its return.

Just ignore pretty much everything that mentions "secondary [fermentor]," they are not commonly needed, except in a few very special applications. ;)
 
weird.. I just got a message on these forums that a moderator has to approve my reply ?!

Not on this forum, nothing is moderated. Maybe on some other forum?

I believe its the new setup by mods here to cut down on the amount of Korean Spam. They are resorting to manually approving every first post of every new user to make sure nothing gets through the cracks.


As for the beer. 77 is way warm like IslandLizard said, but use this as a learning experience. Look into the swamp cooler method of maintaining temps for future brews. Good luck moving forward! Feel free to ask more questions! HBT is great for learning :):rockin:
 
weird.. I just got a message on these forums that a moderator has to approve my reply ?!

I believe its the new setup by mods here to cut down on the amount of Korean Spam. They are resorting to manually approving every first post of every new user to make sure nothing gets through the cracks.

Kev is right. There is a queue that posts from new-ish members go into and requires manual approval from an admin or moderator. I just checked and saw your post (and the two similar ones you made when you thought this was a glitch) and 'validated' it as authentic and not spam.

This is an example of why we don't like to use these measures, it confuses new members and delays their ability to participate. But for now, until the spam dies down, its what we need to do.
 
Kev is right. There is a queue that posts from new-ish members go into and requires manual approval from an admin or moderator. I just checked and saw your post (and the two similar ones you made when you thought this was a glitch) and 'validated' it as authentic and not spam.

This is an example of why we don't like to use these measures, it confuses new members and delays their ability to participate. But for now, until the spam dies down, its what we need to do.

Well and behold, finally some sense was implemented. Indeed, I haven't seen the K-spam since last week, so something is working.

I can see it being confusing for all those who are sincere, such as the OP. And we don't want to tip off the hordes who come in with bad intent, so we can't really mention it upfront when people sign up... Either way, a lot of work for the mods. :respect:
 
I am so taken by the support here and extremely timely replies !! Thank you so much.

OP Related:
update: yea.. no activity. in reply to the botching.. how long should i let is set? If it didnt ferment properly.. is there not a risk for spoiling? How long should i wait before trying/tasting it?

HomeBrew: Yea.. i will look that over I have much to learn. I also jstu bought https://www.amazon.com/dp/B009DH2PP4/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20 as it was recommended by a couple of my fiends.

A question:
1 no secondary ?! ok.. thats cool.. but wow.. that really took me by surprise. so right from primary to the bottle?

Forums related:
that makes total sense about moderating. im tracking and totally undesrtand. sorry about multiple attempts to post..

Thank you IslandLizard Pappers and Kev211 for your assist.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Thank you so much and thank you for the warm welcome!

I brewed this on this past Saturday evening. so really the only real activity I saw was for one eve. Also the fermenters I bought are very good quality and I doubt they leak due to the rubber seal as well as a lid that tightens down on the internal lid (I can provide pics)
https://www.facebook.com/terry.remsik/media_set?set=a.1661111227528393.1073741853.100008885949635&type=3


oh so it did post ! See link above for a picture of the fermentor i was refering to.
 
HI guys. I wanted to give an update about the beer. Oddly, it turned out just fine. In fact it turned out better than fine. It turned out absolutely delicious.

I had gotten my fermentation container and brought into the kitchen where i thought i would be dumping it. However, i thought i best taste it. I was very cautious about tasting it in the beginning so i put some in my mouth and immediately spit it out as i tasted something i wasn't used to. But then i realized it actually tasted good! Though no carbonation was added yet, i siphoned some of the fermented goodness into a big glass. It was really good!!! So yea.. no idea why there was no obvious activity after the 2nd day, but definitely it what it was supposed to! I was so surprised that i didn't even ruin it after the 2nd pitching of yeast!

The beer is heavy, dark, full flavored, a touch of bitterness. I prepped some bottles and moved the fermented wort into as many bottles as i had and added carb drops. saved the rest of the wort for the bottles that should be here in a couple days. I will taste again before i bottle more.

So thank you guys for all your advice and links and replies! My first beer batch was a total success.
 
Attached are a couple photos.
my Mead, the dark beer, my bottles, and my kettle with the new Blichmann burner

IMG_0251.jpg


IMG_0252.jpg


IMG_0260.jpg


IMG_0254.jpg
 
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