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Well my first time fermenting in an ale pail will also be my last. 20 hours after pitching, there was no airlock activity so I sanitized a big spoon and prepared to oxygenate or possibly repitch, open it up and there's plenty of krausen on top. Despite there being a rubber ring, the lid did not seal and I could have just left it alone  See-thru primaries only from here on out.
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Jul 15, 2013 17:41
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You really gotta close those things. I resort to kneeling on the edges at 5-6 spots around to get the lid really on. I've had airlock activity every batch to date. But if you have better bottles, why not?
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Jul 15, 2013 17:45
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Yeah I had picked up a bunch of 1 litre Mr. Beer bottles so I was just going to bottle straight from the ale pale instead of batch priming. But I'd rather just stick to a carboy and batch prime than deal with not knowing what is going on in my fermenter!
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Jul 15, 2013 17:48
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Syrinxx posted:Yeah I had picked up a bunch of 1 litre Mr. Beer bottles so I was just going to bottle straight from the ale pale instead of batch priming. But I'd rather just stick to a carboy and batch prime than deal with not knowing what is going on in my fermenter! Things going on in your fermenter: Fermentation Things not going on in your fermenter: Nothing While unlikely its not unheard of to completely miss any signs of fermentation even in a see through vessel. Although I'm not sure I understand what the difference would be in your setup. Like maybe you have several smaller but see through vessels? In which case bottling from a second vessel does wonders for consistency and clarity in which case you could bring all the beer back together to bottle out of the bucket.
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Jul 15, 2013 18:00
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Huskalator posted:So I tried my first batch(extract) after it had been in the bottle for 2 weeks and despite scorching it, severely under-pitching it, cooling the wort very slowly due to not buying enough ice, botching siphoning to the bottling bucket several times, and getting a bunch of dry hop material in the bottles, it tastes pretty darned good! The only thing is that it has a pretty pronounced what I would call alcohol burn. What causes that? Is that something that will condition out? It could be really high alcohol content, or more likely its fusil alcohol flavor from high fermentation temps or chlorine in the water. Are you getting a headache after drinking a small quantity?
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Jul 15, 2013 18:01
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Roundboy posted:It could be really high alcohol content, or more likely its fusil alcohol flavor from high fermentation temps or chlorine in the water. Seconding the high fermentation temps. What was the temperature of the room that you fermented in (roughly)? Also, what yeast did you use?
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Jul 15, 2013 18:18
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Cross posted because we don't have a dedicated fermentation thread. I was looking around for a fermentation thread and was directed here as one of the closest things. I'm in Korea and trying to make the various Korean fermented fruit teas and I'm using fruits that aren't traditionally used like cherries and prickly pears. I'm running into the same problem as I do with most Korean cooking in that most of the recipes aren't written down yet and are handed down verbally or in family notes. Finding information in Korean is difficult and in English is nearly impossible. I'm hoping someone else has some experience or with something similar. The basic idea is to use ambient yeast and bacteria in the air or on the fruit to ferment it. For making japanese apricot tea you layer the unripe apricots (maesil in Korean and ume in Japanese) with sugar, you close the lead of your clean container and put it in a cool dark place for 100 days. The sugar pulls the liquid out of the fruit and bacteria and yeast eat the sugar and make it a little bit sour. It's not a strong fermentation usually, nothing like kimchi. It seems a way of making a syrup that will keep for a very long time and have some slight health benefits. The problem is I have no idea what bacteria is in it and apparently nobody has ever thought to ask. My biggest problem now is that I'm using some wet fruits and it's summer. My cherry fermented tea is almost violently fermenting, I have a hankerchief over it and then closed the lid so a little bit of air gets in and out but no bugs. I closed the lid all the way for a few hours and when i opened it all the gas released and then when i stirred it it bubbled over. It doesn't smell rotten so I'm saying it's fine, but my friend's mother said I should keep it there for 40 days, but she's never made it, it's just a guess. Anyone have any suggestions, I was a former bio major and I've been fermenting things for a long time, but I'm still sort of flying blind. Maybe if someone knows of a type of fermented product similar that is made in another part of the world.
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Jul 15, 2013 18:37
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Sounds like you have as much of a handle on it as spontaneous fermentation will allow. All I could really add is that if you don't want vinegar you need to seal it up when you are comfortable the CO2 production is down or rig up an airlock. Taste tells everything, don't worry about dying, its just a jar of fruit if it ends up rotten, etc.
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Jul 15, 2013 18:52
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Shbobdb posted:Seconding the high fermentation temps. What was the temperature of the room that you fermented in (roughly)? Also, what yeast did you use? You guys are right about that I think. I pitched at about 78 deg because I didn't know any better. I made a swamp cooler and brought the temp down to about 65 over the next few days. Wyeast american ale was the yeast that I used. quote:Are you getting a headache after drinking a small quantity? Yeah, a bit. Fusel alcohols?
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Jul 15, 2013 18:54
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Well, I bought a new freezer to replace the old one that died. There's just nothing on craigslist in the size I need, only 7-8 cubic feet freezers available. So it ended up costing me $400, but I guess at least I know it'll last a good long while? Going to try to do this one in a way that won't void its warranty, so a collar this time around.
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Jul 15, 2013 18:55
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How much of the fusel alcohols will give you a headache. My ginger beer (Alton Brown bread yeast recipe) and my kombucha occasionally give me headaches. My Kefir never has, thank god. I had a headache after sipping the cherry mixture, but I'm sure that's just stress. Right?
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Jul 15, 2013 19:05
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DontAskKant posted:How much of the fusel alcohols will give you a headache. My ginger beer (Alton Brown bread yeast recipe) and my kombucha occasionally give me headaches. My Kefir never has, thank god. I had a headache after sipping the cherry mixture, but I'm sure that's just stress. Right? I find it varies from person to person. I never really get a headache from them, I just think the beer tastes nasty. Also, it is my understanding that the "gingerbeer plant" is actually related to kefir grains. Since you have kefir grains, why not train some to grow in ginger beer and after 2 generations or so just start using those? The flavor will be more complex, which is nice! Huskulator, Don't worry about it! Every brewer I know fermented way too hot at first. While it is often thought of as being more "advanced", I think new brewers should make Belgians. That way you don't have to worry about temperature control (as much, anyway) and there is enough going on to hide other mistakes.
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Jul 15, 2013 20:55
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Haha, first adventure with the wort chiller was a disaster. A couple air bubbles made the hose jump around, loving water everywhere, fortunately, not scalding hot. Secondly, it took forever. I noticed this morning my hose water was warm (warmer than ambient, which was 60 something, at that point), so that probably had something to do with it.
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Jul 15, 2013 22:27
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Make sure you're either stirring the wort or moving the chiller the whole time or it WILL take forever. I can get 10 gallons to about 80F in 10-15 mins with my hotass South Carolina hose water, but if I just let the chiller sit in place it would take hours.
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Jul 15, 2013 23:32
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That's exactly why I've been using a pump to pull wort out of the kettle and then return it - I have an elbow on the return to set up a whirlpool action to keep the wort moving past the coils.
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Jul 16, 2013 02:00
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Now that I have a functioning keezer I'm interested in making babby's first lager, and was considering this simple kit: http://morebeer.com/products/vienna-lager-extract-beer-kit.html A few lager-y questions: Does Saflager S-23 need a diacetyl rest? Most people seem to think you need to pitch two 11g packets of yeast, is that usually true? Do I need to plan to rack to a secondary or can I do it all in primary? If I plan to bottle condition the beer do I do so at low or high temps?
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Jul 16, 2013 04:42
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Next time I dry hop, I'm using a tea ball or cheesecloth or something, GAH. Even after skimming a good bit, my bottling wand got mucked on the last bottle with an inch deep layer of detritus.
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Jul 16, 2013 05:24
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Shbobdb posted:I find it varies from person to person. I never really get a headache from them, I just think the beer tastes nasty. Also, it is my understanding that the "gingerbeer plant" is actually related to kefir grains. Since you have kefir grains, why not train some to grow in ginger beer and after 2 generations or so just start using those? The flavor will be more complex, which is nice!
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Jul 16, 2013 05:31
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Allahu Snackbar posted:Next time I dry hop, I'm using a tea ball or cheesecloth or something, GAH. Even after skimming a good bit, my bottling wand got mucked on the last bottle with an inch deep layer of detritus. When I rack IPAs, I usually put a nylon bag over the racking cane that stops nearly all of the hops and other nasties.
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Jul 16, 2013 06:20
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Anybody know anything about screwing up smaller scale fermentations? Friday night, drunk me sealed a 1 gallon jug fermenting some "mead". Sober me found it the next day and opened the cap. A whole bunch of yeast, persimmons and must (is that the right term? Brewing has all sorts of wonderfully archaic terms I love collecting) puked out. What used to be a beautiful krausen has been dead for the last two days. I added some honey today, we'll see. I have to imagine high CO2 content isn't good for yeast. Plus, puking out your high krausen and leaving behind the leftovers ain't gonna be good for your brew. Just so I can manage expectations for people drinking this: how hosed am I? DontAskKant posted:Not sure how to go about training them, but I assume I would need the water kefir grains instead of the milk kefir right? I don't know much about kefir, so I could be totally 100% wrong (see above, I am often an asshat) but I was always told a generation-or-two of adjustment in either environment leads to the right kefir. With the caveat that milk kefir can be trained to become water kefir but that water kefir is an iffy-at-best prospect when it comes to transitioning to milk kefir. If that is true (and it may not be) you've got milk kefir so all systems go man!
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Jul 16, 2013 06:51
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Cointelprofessional posted:When I rack IPAs, I usually put a nylon bag over the racking cane that stops nearly all of the hops and other nasties. That's loving clever. I change my answer to this!
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Jul 16, 2013 06:53
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Cointelprofessional posted:When I rack IPAs, I usually put a nylon bag over the racking cane that stops nearly all of the hops and other nasties. This is exactly what I do. Have 2 bags, one for racking to your bottling bucket, and a fresh one for racking to bottles.
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Jul 16, 2013 10:36
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I am planning on brewing a Munich Helles and a Bock or Doppelbock. My go to lager yeast has been White Labs Bock yeast, but I am wondering what your house lager yeasts are and why.
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Jul 16, 2013 14:50
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Shbobdb posted:Anybody know anything about screwing up smaller scale fermentations? Friday night, drunk me sealed a 1 gallon jug fermenting some "mead". Sober me found it the next day and opened the cap. A whole bunch of yeast, persimmons and must (is that the right term? Brewing has all sorts of wonderfully archaic terms I love collecting) puked out. What used to be a beautiful krausen has been dead for the last two days. I added some honey today, we'll see. I have to imagine high CO2 content isn't good for yeast. Plus, puking out your high krausen and leaving behind the leftovers ain't gonna be good for your brew. "must" is the wine/mead equivalent of "wort" and it'll probably be fine. Put a proper airlock on it and forget about it for a few months.
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Jul 16, 2013 15:04
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Checked in on the Garage Pail Ale SMaSH with that Belle Saison yeast. Looks like fermenting it between 80-95F was a success. The flavor profile is really interesting, with a huge funk aroma and lots of interesting flavors. Gravity shot down from 1.046 to 1.003 in less than a week, probably more like 4 days. I carbed it with 5 ounces of corn sugar and bottled it. Flocculation is incredibly low; if I had more time this would definitely benefit from cold conditioning.
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Jul 16, 2013 15:20
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Syrinxx posted:Does Saflager S-23 need a diacetyl rest? Most people seem to think you need to pitch two 11g packets of yeast, is that usually true? Do I need to plan to rack to a secondary or can I do it all in primary? If I plan to bottle condition the beer do I do so at low or high temps? With lagers the more yeast, the better, so definitely pitch two packets. I either do that or make a starter when I'm using liquid yeast. It helps get a nice clean ferment. You can definitely do all of this in primary. Also you can bottle condition at higher temps if you wish, the impact won't be noticeable and you'll be finished quicker.
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Jul 16, 2013 15:49
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Oops. I brewed a Standard Bitter. I had one gallon in a glass carboy and added some rum-soaked oak chips about a week ago. I brewed a Belgian Wit. I had one gallon in a glass carboy. I intended to add about half an ounce of ginger soaked in vodka (to aid extraction and to sanitize). I added the vodka and ginger to the Wit yesterday. At least I thought I did. The oak chips and the ginger are both in the Standard Bitter. That beer is going to be interesting I guess. I am not expecting the combination of oak and ginger to be especially pleasant.
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Jul 16, 2013 20:52
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PBCrunch posted:Oops. Just add some hot dogs and call it good  E: Also in the future, remember your labeled painter's tape!
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Jul 16, 2013 20:55
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BerkerkLurk posted:A diacetyl rest wouldn't hurt.
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Jul 16, 2013 21:37
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fullroundaction posted:Make sure you're either stirring the wort or moving the chiller the whole time or it WILL take forever. I can get 10 gallons to about 80F in 10-15 mins with my hotass South Carolina hose water, but if I just let the chiller sit in place it would take hours. There's my problem. Thanks!
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Jul 16, 2013 22:59
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I don't know nothin' bout growin' no hops. My first year plants have had hops on them for a couple months now, and now one vine is more hop than vine. How are you supposed to harvest these given than only a few ounces are ripe at a time? I can't imagine you're supposed to harvest a few ounces, dry them, vacu-pack them and freeze them, then do it again every week. That seems like a lot of work! Should I just let them go until all the vines are full like this?
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Jul 16, 2013 23:27
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CapnBry posted:I don't know nothin' bout growin' no hops. My first year plants have had hops on them for a couple months now, and now one vine is more hop than vine. How are you supposed to harvest these given than only a few ounces are ripe at a time? I can't imagine you're supposed to harvest a few ounces, dry them, vacu-pack them and freeze them, then do it again every week. That seems like a lot of work! Should I just let them go until all the vines are full like this? Good god that is a lovely picture.
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Jul 17, 2013 01:02
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ieatsoap6 posted:I just made a cider using the sweet mead yeast (I'm assuming that's what you mean by "sweet mead") and it was pretty slow all through the process, but it got the job done. Not much happening after a week is a bit strange, but it could just be one of those "wait a while and it will sort itself out" things. You could also try bumping up the temperature a bit if it's not already in the low-mid 70s. Marshmallow Blue posted:Yeah, the specific "Mead" yeasts are pretty notorious for stalls. You may want to pitch something else if it continues to be stuck. It's the sweet mead yeast. The Fermenter is submerged in another bucket full of water for temperature control, that external bucket is maintained at an even 70 degrees. It's definitely fermenting, just very, very slowly. I think I'll let it go a while longer then check gravity again. I might end up just racking it off to a carboy and leaving it in a corner for a few months.
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Jul 17, 2013 01:10
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So I saw this temp control kickstarter and thought "that looks awesome." Then I saw the $10,000 pledge. If I offer $10,000 to fund you're $175 item, then you better loving pay for airfare to get there. Other than that stupid poo poo, the probe looks nice, Windows 8 reminiscent.
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Jul 17, 2013 06:28
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Paladine_PSoT posted:It's the sweet mead yeast. The Fermenter is submerged in another bucket full of water for temperature control, that external bucket is maintained at an even 70 degrees. It's definitely fermenting, just very, very slowly. Just make sure the gravity is at least dropping slowly, or you'll come back after a few months to a still unfinished fermenting mead.
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Jul 17, 2013 14:09
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CapnBry posted:I don't know nothin' bout growin' no hops. My first year plants have had hops on them for a couple months now, and now one vine is more hop than vine. How are you supposed to harvest these given than only a few ounces are ripe at a time? I can't imagine you're supposed to harvest a few ounces, dry them, vacu-pack them and freeze them, then do it again every week. That seems like a lot of work! Should I just let them go until all the vines are full like this? They don't all ripen at the same time. You have to make the choice between multiple pickings a week or two apart on a ladder or cutting a whole vine down when most of the hops are ready and accepting the loss of some under-ripe and over-ripe hop cones. The book Homegrown Hops is a good guide to everything about growing your own hops. Amazon seems to be out of it but almost all the online homebrew stores carry it for about  .
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Jul 17, 2013 15:33
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My 8.5% DIPA went into the keg yesterday. The bitterness is still too low, but somehow it tastes like a 4% pale ale. I can't complain, but I'm afraid of what is going to happen when I have a "a few" pours from the tap. 
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Jul 17, 2013 16:59
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Cpt.Wacky posted:They don't all ripen at the same time. You have to make the choice between multiple pickings a week or two apart on a ladder or cutting a whole vine down when most of the hops are ready... Thanks, I'll also look into that book.
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Jul 17, 2013 18:12
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ChickenArise posted:My 8.5% DIPA went into the keg yesterday. The bitterness is still too low, but somehow it tastes like a 4% pale ale. I can't complain, but I'm afraid of what is going to happen when I have a "a few" pours from the tap. Did you top-up with water by any chance? I had similar experiences when I wasn't doing full-boils, always had kinda crappy hop utilization.
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Jul 17, 2013 19:16
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Nope, I just tried to get away with only [extremely] late additions. I had suspicion that it wouldn't work, but I wanted to try. It works wonderfully in Pale/IPA, and tbh I think this will taste great when it's carbed up, but it certainly lacks the bitterness one expects from a DIPA. There's a ton of fruity hop flavors, though. I want to start moving to hop extract for bitterness, anyhow.
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Jul 17, 2013 19:21
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