I started a black IPA, from a kit. First time brewing. Followed all instructions. Noticed it wasn't bubbling in aerator. Went to do second hops. There was a big foamy layer about 1 1/2. - 2 inches. Now I'm wondering, if it still a good batch??? Any input would help
That big foamy layer is called a Krausen. It's made up of yeast, proteins, hop particles, etc and it means your beer is (or recently has been) fermenting. I'd wait until it falls, then dry hop.
The best way to know if your batch is good is by taste. It shouldn't taste great yet. It's too young. Taste it as you go into your bottling bucket, and don't taste it again until you've bottled and let them carb for a few weeks. It should taste pretty good by then.
Definitely let the beer do it's thing fermentation wise before dry-hopping. Roughly 7-10 days after brewday, the fermentation will most likely be complete. From there, if you have a secondary, I recommend racking to the secondary and dry-hopping in that. If you don't have a secondary, it's okay to dry-hop in the primary fermenter. And for future brewing, if your beer doesn't have a 1-1.5 inch layer of Krausen, THEN it's a bad batch. Krausen is good and means that yeast is eating up the malt sugars and farting out alcohol. Happy brewing !
I bet Sergeant Hans Shultz would know krausen when sees it. Even though he might proclaim to know nothing.
Your beer was certainly fermenting. If your airlock was not bubbling, your fermenter may not have been completely sealed. When did you check your airlock and how often did you check it? You should have seen activity in the airlock within 6-24 hours and had noticeable activity for at least 2 days or more. If you checked a week later, you wouldn't see any activity.
I checked it daily. Not sure about the seal. Like I said it's my virgin batch. I'm going to the local home brew shop. With the questions that I still have
I don't want to knock your homebrew shop without knowing the people working there, but many people have reported on this forum about bad advice they have received from shops. Listen to what they say, but don't accept it as gospel; maybe do some followup research (e.g., howtobrew.com) or run it by this forum. Gradually, you'll develop a sense for which sources you can trust. Edit: As usual, Vikeman gets there first and more concisely!
