This is my first all-grain batch and unfortunately it has developed some kind of growth. It didn't smell like death, actually smelled pretty good, and the samples I have been taking have all tasted good, so I went ahead and bottled it. Just curious what it could be and if I will be looking at a loss with this one.
I am curious how everyone controls the temperature of their primary, especially those that live in the warmer climates. In Florida, where the temperatures can soar and remain in the 90's and above for months, it can be a challenge to keep the house at what is considered "acceptable" temperature for fermentation.
I have just realised that I have only added half of the required amount of spray malt to my beer kit on day 7 of fermentation. Can I just stir in another bag of spray malt after racking it off the yeast cake and continue to brew it in the beer bucket with airlock. Would I still add sugar again before putting it into the pressure barrel.
I used only DME and hops to boil the wort. Added dry yeast directly. I looked up on the internet for similar pictures but couldn't find any. I know every beer ferments differently. So I thought I better ask before I dump it. Any help is highly appreciated. This is what it looks like -
I've got a brew that's been on primary fermentation for 10 days and still haven't seen any activity in the airlock (again). Gravity has dropped from 1.040 to 1.014, but I'd still like to raise the alcohol content a little and am worried the beer will come out flat (much like my previous attempt). I believe the problem is that it's too damn hot here and the yeast have been killed off, despite keeping the fermenter under an aircon vent …
I just put down my first brew and should have bottled it last week but had something come up. How long will it be good for? If I bottle it this weekend will it still be good or is there something I need to do?
I've always bottled directly after the primary fermentation has finished. What's the point of the secondary fermentation? Can I use a bucket or is it something that really necessitates a glass carboy?
I am on day 3 and instructions state "top up 4.54 litres tepid water". Does this mean top up TO 4.54 litres? Should I leave space in the demijohn and how much space? It's still got 7 to 20 days to ferment yet! Terrible instructions as very vague and badly worded. Thanks JY Newbie! I did that and it bubbled up into the airlock! I had to take some liquid out again! Maybe I've just got a lively must going! …
Since I started brewing I've ALWAYS transferred to a secondary after about 2 weeks. This was how I learned and what many recipes say to do so I always did it. And I felt that this was a fantastic way to really remove that yeast cake and trub at the bottom out of your fermenter, ultimately providing less of a risk to stir it up and have it in your bottles or keg. Many discussions here and entries in books …
I recently made a big beer (Dogfish Head 90 minute clone) with an OG around 1.11. I had never tried to strain wort before moving to a primary fermenter, but thought it would be a good idea since this had so many hops. So, I used the basic muslin bag and bungee cord method of putting the bag over my fermenting bucket and using the bungee cord to secure it. This seemed to work fine until I tried to remove …
I've started brewing an Oktoberfest. It has been in primary for a little less than a week. The first 24 hours was good, super active. After about a day, it got pretty warm here, and the thermometer strip on my carboy read 80°. After that, my fermentation came to a screeching halt. I figured the warmer temp might have just sped up the fermentation process, but when I took a gravity reading, it said 1.022, my OG was 1.042. So …
My first cider attempt. It's day three and see no activity in the airlock. So this is what I did. I juiced 20kg of apples and got just over 3 gallons of juice. I took a gravity reading of 1.050 at this point. I wanted to stick to a more organic method so I pasteurised the juice at 180/185°C for 45 minutes, at this point I added 13.5oz of brown sugar as I wanted to raise the specific gravity to …
I am looking to finish off my leftover ingredients and can just about make a pale ale with OG ~1.04 or so. I'd like to get it started tomorrow, but I probably won't be able to rack it until the first or second week in January. Will it be OK in the primary for 5-6 weeks or should I wait until after the New Year to do it?
I have two sets of instructions for putting the wort into the primary fermentation bucket. One says to just dump the entire contents of the wort into the bucket. The second says to stir like crazy to create a 'hop cone', then syphon the wort, minus the hop cone, into the bucket ... Oh, what to do????
i've done 4 batches one month ago, one per day, day after day. My batches now are of 60L, and I use 2 30L fermenters for each batch. 2 of the 4 batches are the "same recipe", so I have 4 fermenters in "same conditions". So, bubbles stopped a long ago, there's no activity on any fermenter, beside 1 of them. What could be happening to it to restart to bubble? It can be a sign of too much time …
Hi I am doing an ipa and was wondering if 14 days in the primary is to long before racking to a secondary for dry hopping. I see others saying 7 days in the primary then 14 days in the secondary.
So I brewed an IPA about 2 weeks ago. I used a glass carboy for fermentation and for the first 2 days it was heavy bubbles then for the next week and a half there were a few tiny bubbles. I checked today and the bubbles have increased greatly. Why is this?
I'm about to start my first beer and I've been doing lots of research.. but a question I haven't seen answered is why isn't there more contamination during primary fermentation. For secondary the carboy, bung and co2 release seem like a closed system without the possibility for contamination. But during primary, it's a garbage pail with a lid. What's preventing undesirables from getting in the brew?