Hello I've just had my first go at brewing using a kit my wife kindly got me for my birthday....but having a problem with the fermentation stage. I sanitised the bucket, added the malt and then the water (with the various other small steps in between) as per the instructions. That was 10 days ago but as I couldnt see any bubbles coming off a couple days ago, I moved the bucket to a warmer place (next to a radiator which I can leave on). So it should have been in a warm enough place for the last 48 hours. I just had a look and couldnt see any bubbles coming through the air lock so I had a peak inside. There's a few (single digit number) bubbles on the surface and it smells fruity. Some of the malt is on the surface, a lot of it has sunk to the bottom. According to the instructions, as today is day 10 I should add the hops I think today but I'm not clear whehter its fermented or not. What should I do? Am weighing up either a) bunging it in and hoping that fermentation has happened b) adding some more yeast (I understand that baking yeast might work? I dont have any more brewing yeast) c) pouring it down the drain and buying some more kit. Any advice? Thanks Adam
Welcome to the best hobby known to humankind! You can't always trust the airlock as an indicator of fermentation. You're using a bucket (plastic?) for fermentation, which might be allowing CO2 to escape the container other ways. That "fruity" smell that you're getting from the beer is very likely esters, which are created by yeast through the process of fermentation. My inclination is that you have a fully fermented beer. The only way to know for certain would be to take a gravity reading and compare that to your original gravity, but if you didn't measure OG 10 days ago, that's not going to help you a ton. DO NOT POUR THIS DOWN THE DRAIN! I also wouldn't add baking yeast to what might very well be a good beer. My recommendation is to proceed as you otherwise would and evaluate your final product. The first batch never goes quite as expected, but you can learn a lot from it if you see it through to completion.
What do you mean the malt is on the surface? If this was an extract kit, the extract (liquid or dry) should have been dissolved in water. Once that happens, it's not going to separate. Please describe the process you used with this kit, including the "other small steps in between." A picture of what you're seeing might help too. BTW, everything you said except for the malt being on the surface sounds like a normal, completed (probably) fermentation. Edit: Google pics of "krausen" and "krausen ring." Is that what you think is malt?
Bubble activity is not the best indicator of fermentation. For example you may not of fully sealed your bucket lid and therefore CO2 could have escaped without going through the air lock. Do you have a hydrometer? Taking gravity readings gives a far better indications of fermentation activity and fermentation completion.
Adam - First off, welcome to the wonderful world of homebrewing. Now with respect to your post, it is unclear to me if you actually added the malt extract to the water and then boiled it to create wort. If you did not do that and simply added the extract and water to the fermenter, then you would want to discard the contents of the bucket and get yourself a new kit. The malt extract and water need to be boiled together for 60 mins., then cooled down to yeast pitching temp (should be listed on the yeast packet). Once the wort is cooled to pitching temp, move it to the fermenting bucket, oxygenate (shake the bejeezus out of the bucket), then pitch the yeast. Apologies, if I misinterpreted your post, otherwise, hope this helps. If you post more about your process, the guys on this forum are great and will be able to get you on the right track.
Can you provide more specifics on the type of kit you are brewing on. Is it a Cooper's kit by any chance? Cheers!
Thanks all for the replies and the welcome! I'll go and take some photos in a minute but a couple of answers: aobrhem: thanks! Thats slightly reassuring Vikeman: I found the instructions here which came with the kit and which explain the steps which I went through. There isnt a mention of dislving the malt, just standing it in hot water http://www.lovebrewing.co.uk/guides...aft-brewery-series-instructions/#.Vgwf-peAR0Q Invinoveritas: I do have a hydrometer - I'll go and take a reading. I cant say that it the most user friendly implement I've ever used..... Onthelambic: similarly, I didnt boil anything.....are the instructions wrong? I did shake it a lot so I'm comfortable that that part at least was done right! Will take a pic and hydrometer reading and come back.... Adam
You brewed a no boil kit and therefore the instructions are not wrong for this particular batch of beer. The majority of extract brewers on this forum brew via boiling the wort for 60 minutes. Cheers!
ok. Here' what I have. The reason for the 3rd photos is that you (hopefully) can see that most of the malt has sunk to the bottom with some floating on top
@AdamB , below is a video for brewing a Cooper's no boil kit beer which may have some information that will be useful to you:
These would be the parts where it dissolves... "Add a further 5 litres of warm water and mix well then top up the bucket to 23 litres (5 gallons) with a mixture of hot and cold so the start temperature of the liquid is between 20-25°C and stir well. Now take a hydrometer reading. Stir again and take another hydrometer reading. This should be the same as the first one you have just taken. If it’s higher repeat this process until you have two readings the same. This reading will be needed later so make a note of this figure." -and- "Using a mixing spoon, stir the diluted malt vigorously for around 2 minutes, making sure that stirring is vigorous enough to create bubbles at the surface of the liquid"
To insert photos, a third party site must be used to store the pics. Imgur.com and Photobucket.com are two popular sites. Once the pics are on that site, copy the image link to your computer's clipboard, then when you are composing a reply, when your cursor is where you want the photo to be embedded use the Image insert button on the toolbar (just to the right of the smiley face icon) and paste the link from your clipboard into the dialog box.
Does this work?? http://s1006.photobucket.com/user/AdamB36/media/beer2_zps8qx917ru.jpeg.html?sort=3&o=1
Here's your pic... Hard to tell because the pic is so small, but that sure does look like undissolved stuff. What was your gravity reading before fermentation?
I dont remember the gravity reading, by the hydrometer has shaded areas for 'beer' and various other things and it was in the 'beer' range, so I assumed it was ok. The stuff is undissolved, however the instructions didnt mention anything about it needing to have dissolved....
It sure does as was pointed out in a prior post: “2. Cut the bag and pour the malt into the clean bucket being careful when handling this as it will be hot. We suggest you hold the bag with a clean towel. When almost empty, add more hot water (be careful) to the bag to make sure there is no malt left and add this to the bucket. 3. Add a further 5 litres of warm water and mix well then top up the bucket to 23 litres (5 gallons) with a mixture of hot and cold so the start temperature of the liquid is between 20-25°C and stir well. Now take a hydrometer reading. Stir again and take another hydrometer reading. This should be the same as the first one you have just taken. If it’s higher repeat this process until you have two readings the same. This reading will be needed later so make a note of this figure. 4. Using a mixing spoon, stir the diluted malt vigorously for around 2 minutes, making sure that stirring is vigorous enough to create bubbles at the surface of the liquid.” Cheers!
