1. My Black IPA has been in the fermenter bucket for almost 2 weeks now. The bottom of my bubbler has liquid in it. How is that possible? It is no where near the top of the beer in the fermenter bucket. When I say liquid, I don't mean it is just wet towards the bottom, it literally is full of a clear liquid probably about a half to 3/4 inch up from the bottom of the bubbler. Is this common? I did notice when fermentation was very active that there were "wet" bubbles blowing up through the bubbler and it turned the vodka into a kind of greenish/yellowish color. I figured that was just the foam bubbling up, right? Anyway, just checking to make sure everything is OK? 2. The recipe called for fermenting at 2 weeks at 64 degrees and then at the beginning of the third week to increase the temp to 68 degrees (and then start dry hopping). The yeast the recipe called for did have an optimum fermentation temp range of 64 to 72 degrees. However, I was unable to use that particular strain of yeast as it wasn't available at my LHBS. The yeast I did end up using has an optimal temp range of 65 to 70. So, I set my heat wrap to click on when temp dropped to 65 degrees and heat it up to 66 degrees. So, the question is this, what should I set my temp controller at for the increase? Set it to come on when it drops to 68 degrees and heat it up to 69 degrees? Or, set the controller to come on when it drops to 67 degrees and turn off when it gets to 68 degrees? What do you think? Thanks in advance!!!
1, When you say your bubbler has liquid in it, you mean wort has gotten into the air lock? This is not uncommon. The foam can get pushed up the sides of the bucket or even reach up to the lid. It happens with vigorous fermentation especially. A teaspoon of vodka in the bubbler is good practice. If enough wort gets into the bubbler, it will be a direct path from atmosphere to wort, defeating the purpose. Vodka is the best universal sanitizer, cheap, and if a little gets sucked back into the wort, no worries. Do not over fill the bubbler. Greenish color sounds like hop residue. Hop in the krausen is a harsh bitter. You want to remove it if you can. It typically falls out after fermentation and is left in the trub. 2, Best advice is to monitor the temp of the wort, closely. Disregard air temp. An electric heater applies quite a bit of heat, probably more than you expect. And the wort generates heat too, probably more than you expect. Dialing it in just so is something of an art based on your experience with both the heating pad and the yeast. So you have to get a feel for your set up. In general, start low and add heat very gradually. And don't sweat a degree or two or three difference. These are optimal temperatures decided by the lab and they are guidelines only. Stay within the guidelines and the results are predictable. Usually (yeast are notorious MF'ers and do what they want). Cheers
I do have an Inkbird Temp Controller and the temp probe is submerged in the wort in a thermowell so I am confident I am getting a very accurate temp reading of the wort. I let it cool down to 65 degrees and then the temp controller clicks on and heats it up to 66 degrees and then clicks off and slowly lets it cool down to 65 degrees. Just wondering if I should increase the temp range to 67-68? Or 68-69? Or am I being a little to anal at this point :-).
