fast ferment

Well, the topic may or may not be accurate.

I put on an irish stout from a can, forgotten the brand and used something called brew enhancer for sugar. I decided to start bottling that night around midnight, because I was pretty busy, then at 2am I decided it'd only take a few minutes more to get the next batch on while everything was clean. Bit of a recipe for disaster, especially when trying not to wake the rest of the house (I assume I failed in this).

So anyway, that caused me not to have refrigerated water on hand and to not read the brew enhancer packet. I assumed it was just to be added as normal sugar, when the hole I'd cut got blocked by a plastic packet of hop pellets I thought I'd have a closer look, apparently I was meant to boil it then strain before adding to the fermenter. I did boil the hops for a bit, but the rest just went straight in (into other water in the fermenter, at near boiling temperature). I assume the worst that'll come of that is more sediment, and maybe I'll lose some taste that was meant to come out in the boil.

So I pitched the yeast the next day when it had cooled to about 30C, it was well oxygenated when I first mixed it, but I went to less trouble to add more just before pitching (about 7 hours later).

What's bothing me is that after 3 days in the fermenter it seems to have stopped. I'd say this happened at 2 1/2 or so days after pitching. I've tried shaking it to get the yeast off the floor into suspension, but there doesn't seem to be much reaction. Is it plausible for primary fermentation to have finished properly in this time? It sat at around 24C (75.2F) for the most part. Should I think about repitching and if so should I pick a type of yeast that'll do alright in an enviroment that already has alcohol.

Perhaps I should invest in a hydrometer so I can get an idea of this sort of thing.

peter

Reply to
Peter.QLD
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okay, shakes up a yeast. this is a NO NO. trying for the silver paddle award i see.

30 centigrade is a bit high for yeast. the hops packet, just boil it up seperate and add it to the wort. it is the flavour. so to speak of the beer.

if all else fails read the instructions. RE read the instructions.

i keep a log file of the brew i got and any and everything i did to my brew. when Egor shows up and exclaims, wow this is great beer, and i reluctantly must agree with him. documentation will let me do it again.

normally i would just send egor off to chase down an alligator in florida.

anyway. many pages here have some gfood insights. you should read them.

Reply to
dug88

I'm no expert, but I've got over my first novice-brewer jitters, so I'll try to bestow some of what I've learned from others in this group.

30C is a little bit warm, which could have sped up your fermentation. My guess is, re-pitching won't be necessary.

Three days isn't impossibly short, but I'd suggest you leave it alone for at least a week. My five-gallon batches seem to like about two weeks in primary. You'll end up with some kind of beer in any case, I think.

Along with the natural conditioning process, there's the clarity of your beer to consider. The more time you give the solids to settle out of your beer, the prettier it will look in your glass. Time and gravity, for once, are your friends.

Finally, stouts and other heavy ales take more conditioning time in the bottle than lighter ales. You'll be tempted to open a bottle too soon, but give it at least enough time to carbonate itself, let the filled and primed bottles rest for about two weeks at normal room temperatures and away from light before giving in to temptation.

Good Luck!

Karl S.

Reply to
Karl S.

"dug88" wrote in news:8Yf6e.957005$6l.101993@pd7tw2no:

Well, the theory was to get it working again, think I read it on howtobrew.com, I'll throw in some finings and leave it to settle for a week or so.

very good advice.

Also good advice probably, I started a book of records with my first batch, but I didn't get into the habit of writing in it, I should look for it.

Reply to
Peter.QLD

Nothing wrong with that

Finally, accurate info! I'm Celsius challenged, but in general, you'll make better bewer if you keep the temps under 70F. I prefer mid 60s.

If you boil hops in water, you'll extract tannins that will give you r beer a harsh taste.

Good advice once again.

------->Denny

Reply to
Denny Conn

Really? There's tannins in hops? I would guess that the alpha acid isomerization would overpower any effect of tannins, but maybe you know something that I don't. And I thought I read something in BYO a year or two ago that you can just boil the hops and add extract later on. Might have been bogus, and I've never tried it myself.... but do you care to share more info?

Reply to
David M. Taylor

Yeah, you did read that in BYO, but I don't think they intended for you to boil your hops in plain water. I'll have to recheck the article. There are indeed tannins in hops...I've tried making hop teas and they were incredibly harsh and vegetal. Reducing the pH of the water they were boiled in helped a bit, but not enough. Tannins in hops are the main reson really hoppy beers have better head formation and retention and often exhibit a higher degree of haze than less hoppy beer. The tannins in the hops bind the proteins in thebeer into larger "chunks", therby improvig head and creating haze.

---------->Denny

Reply to
Denny Conn

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