I did my first batch on Monday the 11th of Nov; a Dark ale. After following the instructions I pitched my yeast and had significant bubbles and some overflow thru the airlock about 6-7 hours later. Now its Wednesday eve and I am seeing no bubbles thru the airlock and the head has gone away. Im worried that there wasnt enough oxygen in the batch or that I did something else wrong.... I have kept the batch at 70-72 degrees, the original specific gravity was 1.037 at 75 degrees which was within the limits set by the kit. any thoughts?
I think nothing you wrote leads me to believe there is any problem. Although I will say that 75F is really too warm (ideally) for most yeast strains, it's not going to stop your fermentation. Quite the opposite. Wait another week or two and take a gravity reading. Then take another three days later. If it's the same and roughly what you expected, attenuation is done. In fact, it might be done already, but the extra time will give the yeast a chance to clean up their byproducts before you bottle/keg.
We've all been there, I know I have. 9 times out of 10, though, the end result is beer that you're happy to drink.
Like everyone else said, sounds pretty much normal for those temps. Generally you want to keep fermentation temps in the mid - 60s (depending on style) but what happenned is that the yeast went nuts those first 72 hours or so, not primary is mostly done. You still want to leave it be for at least another week, week and a half to let things finish up.
As others have posted, you batch will likely turn out just fine. Having a 1.037 batch complete primary fermentation in just 2-3 days (with a warm ferment) sounds about right to me. As has been mentioned it is generally a good idea to ferment ales at temperatures less than 70°F. A warmer ferment like 75°F can lead to excess esters and other flavors being produced by the yeast. Yeast vendors provide recommended fermentation temperatures for their yeast strains. For example, Fermentis recommends a range of 59-75°F for Safale S-04. It is my personal practice to ferment in the mid-range of the yeast vendors recommendations. For example, I used S-04 in the past few months to ferment a Northern English Brown Ale and a Porter. For both of those batches I fermented around 67-68°F. Here is a link to How to Brew concerning fermentation temperature: http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter8-1-3.html Cheers!
Thanks for all the info folks, just an update.... Siphoned my batch to a secondary today and the spg was 1.02 at 70 degrees. I tried a small sample and amazingly it tastes like a dark ale. I figure that another 7ish days in the secondary will be required to get it to the 1.008 - 1.012 that the directions indicate its final gravity range should be. This would put it at the 4ish percent ABV which I think isn't bad for a first attempt. Oh and the sample i tried was tasty, so im feeling better about the whole process...
I wouldn't expect to see much of a drop, if any, in the FG beyond 3 or 4 days. 1.020 may be it for this beer. While not what the recipe called for, it'll likely taste just fine. Indeed, your taste test pretty much confirmed that. It'll likely be a little sweeter that intended, which is not necessarily a bad thing. Given that it's your first batch, the worst case is that you'll love it like an ugly pet! BTW, this is your first batch. It's already been 8 days since brew day and you're planning to wait another 7 before bottling/kegging? Most first batches are gone within 10 days of brewing! I admire your patience!
Out of curiosity, why are you using a secondary? Personally, and many here would agree, I don't secondary unless I'm doing a long term aging or adding something like wood chips in post fermentation ( and even then I don't always secondary ) For a new Brewer, racking over is another level of complexity and risk of infection that really isn't needed. In fact, sometime the mass of dropped yeast will still be working to clear up off flavors and aromas for a week or so more.
For this batch I elected to follow the recipe directions. Future batches i will most likely see how batches do without the secondary. This is the fun part of learning a new hobby!
My experience with extract beer kits is similar to yours. I had beers finish at 1.020+ for nearly everything that used a dry packet of generic yeast. I had one start at about 1.050 and only get to 1.028, and I let it sit for 3 extra weeks just to make sure. It was only after moving to higher quality liquid yeast packets that I started to see consistently strong attenuation. I had also moved to all-grain brewing, which allowed me to manipulate temperatures for more fermentable wort. In the end, they all turned out o.k., so no worries.
I just remembered, if you want to kick up your attenuation on a kit, substitute Danstar Nottingham dry yeast for the generic packet, for only a couple of dollars over the cost of the kit. Hydrate the yeast properly before pitching, and you should see markedly improved attenuation.
I personally have not had any attenuation problems with dry beer yeast. I used dry yeast when I started brewing (back in 1995) and I still use dry yeast for those beer styles in which dry yeast is appropriate. In the past few months I used: · US-05 for two batches of IPA · S-04 for a Brown Ale and a Porter · Coopers for an Oatmeal Stout In my opinion dry yeasts perform just fine. They just are limited in terms of available strains. Cheers! P.S. I have used Danstar Windsor many times to brew a Bitter Ale. That strain is a bit non-attenuative but still works OK: OG = 1.050 and FG = 1.014.
While I can't speak to the quality of the 'generic' yeast you mention, you likely would have seen a similar increase in attenuation if you had simply switched to a higher attenuating dry yeast (instead of a higher attenuating liquid, as you apparently did). The primary difference between liquid and today's dry yeasts is not one of quality, but of selection.
And I did suggest a higher quality dry yeast in the succeeding message (Nottingham). Admittedly, I guessed at a couple of things when I replied to the OP, but my experience with the dry packet of yeast that comes on top of a canned extract kit, such as, say Cooper's "dark ale", for example, is that it is just plain low quality. It is true if you buy a name brand packet of dry yeast you do will fine, and probably just as well as you would with a name brand packet of liquid yeast. That's why I went back and re-posted a recommendation for the Nottingham, as I had used both that and the Safale T-58 on different extract and partial extract recipes. But I only used those a couple of times, as I the yeast strains I have wanted to use since have not been available as dry packets.
You're right. Your Danstar recommendation must have slipped by me. Sorry about that. I just kegged a split batch of Wheat in which I used T-58 and Danstar Munich. I was very pleased with the results. I added a touch of Coriander seed, but no orange peel. My Blue Moon drinking friends can't get enough of the T-58, while I prefer what I perceive as a slightly more German Hefe character I got from the Munich. Ice cold (35-ish) and 14psi, at about 4.8% ABV, these are major thirst quenchers. I only wish it was Summer.
For what it is worth, I regularly (since 2007) have used Coopers Yeast to make my Oatmeal Stouts. That yeast has always performed admirably: good attenuation and no off-flavors. Now, in all fairness I don’t use a packet that was on the top of a can. I purchased this dry yeast separately and stored them in my refrigerator until I needed them. I have used both 7 gm. and 15 gm. packets with good results. I wonder if the ‘problem’ with the dry yeast packets that can come with canned kits is that the amount of yeast is too little (my memory from long, long ago is that they were 5 gm. packets) and they were not stored in refrigerated conditions. Do they still sell dry yeast packets with canned kits? The kits that I have purchased in the past few years (e.g., from Northern Brewer) required that you select a separate yeast for that kit (e.g., select either a separate dry yeast packets or a liquid yeast). Cheers!
