New homebrewer needs help

Discussion in 'Homebrewing' started by N2BREW, Mar 9, 2019.

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  1. JackHorzempa

    JackHorzempa Grand Pooh-Bah (3,375) Dec 15, 2005 Pennsylvania
    Society Pooh-Bah

    I purchased a few spare grommets. I think I paid 50 cents for them?

    Cheers!
     
  2. SFACRKnight

    SFACRKnight Grand Pooh-Bah (3,348) Jan 20, 2012 Colorado
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    Insertion, yeah. Removal, not so much. I usually give the airlock a twist, but have had airlocks almost glide themselves to grommets in the past.
    The grommets didnt tear, I've torn the actual bucket lid where the grommets fit.
     
  3. JackHorzempa

    JackHorzempa Grand Pooh-Bah (3,375) Dec 15, 2005 Pennsylvania
    Society Pooh-Bah

    Whoa! You muse be a he-man!!

    I have never had that problem.

    Did your bucket(s) look like this?

    [​IMG]
     
  4. PapaGoose03

    PapaGoose03 Grand High Pooh-Bah (6,057) May 30, 2005 Michigan
    BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah

    Don't use the calendar to decide when to bottle the beer, use your hydrometer. Take two readings a day or two apart and compare them to each other as well as the expected FG from your recipe. You've had an 'explosion' incident on this beer and a stuck fermentation, so it isn't following a routine script.

    You can probably find a clone recipe for FBS by googling for it, but your current recipe may be close to it anyway. I'd buy a bottle of FBS and compare it to your beer when it's ready after bottling and carbonating, and then decide from there. Brew what you'd like to drink, but keep it simple until you get more experienced with your processes and equipment.

    You're in the right place for posting for help such as you did, and your question was appropriate. If you're new to chat forums I'll just suggest that if you get stuck on future brewing sessions, and if it happens to be something like a stuck fermentation, do a search of this forum first because there are plenty of threads on frequently occurring problems.
     
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  5. hoptualBrew

    hoptualBrew Initiate (0) May 29, 2011 Florida

    If you take lid off and then reapply, it will take a while for airlock activity to restart.
    Taking off lid releases all the head pressure CO2. It takes time for fermentation to produce enough CO2 to overcome the airlock threshold. This is normal just as an FYI.
     
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  6. N2BREW

    N2BREW Initiate (0) Mar 8, 2019 Indiana

    Conical Fastfermenter like my Avatar and I didn't clip off the cross sections of the airlock
     
  7. N2BREW

    N2BREW Initiate (0) Mar 8, 2019 Indiana

    Well I just finished up bottling last night and the sample I had was really good it was a little bit more bitter than I expected but I'm hoping it will be a little tamer after the carbonation process. Gonna try a bottle next week see how it is and will be back to post the report.
     
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  8. PapaGoose03

    PapaGoose03 Grand High Pooh-Bah (6,057) May 30, 2005 Michigan
    BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah

    My experience is that it takes 2-3 weeks after packaging for a 'green' beer to develop into what it should be. Mellowing/blending of the hops is one of the taste characteristics that should change.

    How is the coffee tasting in your beer? Get what you wanted?
     
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  9. Bryan12345

    Bryan12345 Initiate (0) Mar 17, 2016 Texas

    Oh yeah, buddy. If it tastes good at bottling time, it’s gonna taste AMAZING after two weeks. I’m happy for ya :slight_smile:
     
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  10. riptorn

    riptorn Pooh-Bah (1,776) Apr 26, 2018 Georgia
    BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah Trader

    I bottle my beer and regularly sample early with the understanding that it’s not quite ready, if only to see how it progresses. Keep in mind that we are often our own worst critics, so don’t be put off if your week-old sample doesn’t taste like you thought it might.

    Congrats on packaging your first batch.
     
    #30 riptorn, Mar 22, 2019
    Last edited: Mar 22, 2019
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  11. N2BREW

    N2BREW Initiate (0) Mar 8, 2019 Indiana

    I really didn't get much flavor of the coffee after adding it but oddly, as I love coffee and know how bitter it is, it seemed to mellow out the bitterness. I am guessing that's from cold brewing it? I just opened a bottle and sampled it. Coffee flavor is definitely coming through and seems to be smoothing out the flavor and blending together really nice. We used the bottles we had from our foundersBS and the caps didn't seat right or so it seems but now at day 2after bottling no "bottle rockets" yet! I found one of the lids didn't look secure on the bottles so that was today's sample. It did give a little hiss at opening and gave a super small, large bubbles, head that didn't last long and the carbonation was definitely lacking but that was expected due to the short time it was allowed to sit. After checking the final gravity I opened the lid dumped in the coffee and stirred it in. Then I added the sugar for priming using regular household sugar then stirred it into my Conical Fastfermenter and begun bottling. I did reopen the lid to allow better flow from the bottling tube as I noticed that the airlock was trying to suck in the water from the vacuum.
     
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