I have just started my first ever home brew ( Saturday ) a St Peters golden ale. And after looking at a few you tube clips I have noticed that the yeast is just sprinkled on top of the foam and left. I stirred mine in along with the hop sachet, have I made a mistake in doing this? Also as I have no way of knowing when it has stopped fermenting, I was going to give it a week before decanting into a barrel, does this sound reasonable?
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- Thread starter Johnbeer
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Hi John, I've always stirred my yeast in to the wort (the beer is called wort before you add the yeast) and it's always worked for me. I tend to make a yeast starter now which is basically a little liquid meal for the yeast to get it going before you add it to the wort. Both methods work fine though.
With regard to knowing when to keg or bottle your beer, the only way to test for sure is to take a small amount out and use a hydrometer to check the 'gravity' of the beer. It should get down to 1.012 or 1.010 or perhaps lower, check the instructions on your kit to see what it says. If it says the same reading two/three days in a row then it is fine to bottle, but that could take a couple of weeks. There is no harm in leaving it longer as it lets the yeast clean up and sort some flavours out. Brewing really is an excercise in patience, so just let it be for another week and then start testing the gravity to see how it's going. I would suggest buying a hydrometer if you don't have one, they're very handy. Good luck!
With regard to knowing when to keg or bottle your beer, the only way to test for sure is to take a small amount out and use a hydrometer to check the 'gravity' of the beer. It should get down to 1.012 or 1.010 or perhaps lower, check the instructions on your kit to see what it says. If it says the same reading two/three days in a row then it is fine to bottle, but that could take a couple of weeks. There is no harm in leaving it longer as it lets the yeast clean up and sort some flavours out. Brewing really is an excercise in patience, so just let it be for another week and then start testing the gravity to see how it's going. I would suggest buying a hydrometer if you don't have one, they're very handy. Good luck!
Martybhoy
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Stirring in is fine, as long as the wort temp was within the specified range, and you used a sanitised spoon to mix. At this point in the process (and only this point) mix your wort as much as you can then add yeast. Try to aerate the wort as much as possible to add oxygen. This helps fermentation.
Some people rehydrate their yeast in room temp water for 15-30mins before adding to the wort. I think this gives a quicker start to fermentation.
Did you measure the gravity of the wort with a hydrometer?
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Some people rehydrate their yeast in room temp water for 15-30mins before adding to the wort. I think this gives a quicker start to fermentation.
Did you measure the gravity of the wort with a hydrometer?
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GhostShip
Junior Member
Others with far more knowledge than I will be along to give you sound advice, but I doubt you've done any harm by stirring in the yeast.
Do you not have an airlock in your fermenting vessel? It's not essential but gives you an instant picture of whether or not the beer is fermenting (that's assuming that your FV is airtight!). You really need to take gravity readings with a hydrometer - that will tell you when it's ready to barrel.
Also, a week is not long enough. I have been leaving mine in the FV for three weeks which not only allows enough time for the fermentation to finish, it also allows the yeast to clean the beer up a bit.
Do you not have an airlock in your fermenting vessel? It's not essential but gives you an instant picture of whether or not the beer is fermenting (that's assuming that your FV is airtight!). You really need to take gravity readings with a hydrometer - that will tell you when it's ready to barrel.
Also, a week is not long enough. I have been leaving mine in the FV for three weeks which not only allows enough time for the fermentation to finish, it also allows the yeast to clean the beer up a bit.
ericmark
Regular.
When I started I would leave it a month and hope, then I fitted a airlock, however I had to use an electrical stuffing gland to get it air tight enough to be sure it had finished, so started with the hydrometer, this however is also not 100% as different brews finish at different readings, so I moved to PET (POP) bottles, this also makes bottling quicker only 12 bottles for 40 pints.
I then moved to temperature control, and with that each brew is near enough the same, so set it to start and I know in 21 days ready to bottle, but that comes down to experience, before temperature control I did make errors and have needed to pour all the bottles back into the fermenter for a week where I have bottles too early, of all methods the hydrometer is likely the best, and I still check before bottling, however what ever time it says on the tin, double it.
There is no harm leaving the brew in the fermenter for 4 weeks, and if you are just starting I would do just that, then use old pop bottles so you can feel outside of bottle to see if too much pressure, plus release it if there is, only half a tea spoon of sugar required to prime bottles even when only using 12, I also have one extra just in case it will not fit, but 24 litres = 42 pints so it should fit in 12 x 2 litre bottles. But keep them out of sun light.
Once you find you like home brew, then you have to decide what stage your going to, I don't have the room for doing it all, so use kits, two can kits are better, but one can still near enough, I don't brew where I now live, so want it as automated as I can get it, so brew fridge/freezer and I know I need to visit 4 times in all to make a brew, once to start it, once to move from freezer to fridge, once to move to clean fermenter, and once to bottle. I also know time scale, takes 21 days in all, but this is because the temperature is carefully controlled, 6 - 10 days at 19 degs, then same at 24 degs, without that control you need to monitor daily, or give if far more time to be on safe side.
I then moved to temperature control, and with that each brew is near enough the same, so set it to start and I know in 21 days ready to bottle, but that comes down to experience, before temperature control I did make errors and have needed to pour all the bottles back into the fermenter for a week where I have bottles too early, of all methods the hydrometer is likely the best, and I still check before bottling, however what ever time it says on the tin, double it.
There is no harm leaving the brew in the fermenter for 4 weeks, and if you are just starting I would do just that, then use old pop bottles so you can feel outside of bottle to see if too much pressure, plus release it if there is, only half a tea spoon of sugar required to prime bottles even when only using 12, I also have one extra just in case it will not fit, but 24 litres = 42 pints so it should fit in 12 x 2 litre bottles. But keep them out of sun light.
Once you find you like home brew, then you have to decide what stage your going to, I don't have the room for doing it all, so use kits, two can kits are better, but one can still near enough, I don't brew where I now live, so want it as automated as I can get it, so brew fridge/freezer and I know I need to visit 4 times in all to make a brew, once to start it, once to move from freezer to fridge, once to move to clean fermenter, and once to bottle. I also know time scale, takes 21 days in all, but this is because the temperature is carefully controlled, 6 - 10 days at 19 degs, then same at 24 degs, without that control you need to monitor daily, or give if far more time to be on safe side.
Whilst just over a week should see the bulk of the fermentation done time itself is no guarantee that it is complete, temperature variations and age of the yeast used can mean it could run into 3 weeks and still not be complete.
Do get a hydrometer and use it to measure how far along your beer is, with the beer kit you should get a starting and expected finishing gravity, once you get near the final gravity reading start to take readings and when the gravity is constant for 3 days and within a couple of points of the target then you should be good to go. Racking into a pressure barrel isn't as dependent on hitting final gravity as it should be capable of releasing to high a pressure, putting beer into glass bottles however when it is still a ways of finishing fermenting can be dangerous.
Do get a hydrometer and use it to measure how far along your beer is, with the beer kit you should get a starting and expected finishing gravity, once you get near the final gravity reading start to take readings and when the gravity is constant for 3 days and within a couple of points of the target then you should be good to go. Racking into a pressure barrel isn't as dependent on hitting final gravity as it should be capable of releasing to high a pressure, putting beer into glass bottles however when it is still a ways of finishing fermenting can be dangerous.
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Also don't panic if it doesn't go below 1014, I hear lots of brewers saying it finished at 1006 or 1008 but my brews almost always finish at 1012 or 1014
Good luck ðŸâÂ
Good luck ðŸâÂ
Most ale yeasts are best rehydrated in half a cup of water at body temperature. Use boiled water, left to cool, for hygiene. I leave my brews for around 2 weeks. Longer than that would be better than shorter. You want the sediment to drop out so when you pour a bottle there's less of it and it sticks to the bottom of the bottle.
Best of luck with it. Try to start another as soon as you've bottled. If you want to continue brewing you need to build up a stock, or you'll find yourself waiting for brews to be ready and drinking them too young.
Best of luck with it. Try to start another as soon as you've bottled. If you want to continue brewing you need to build up a stock, or you'll find yourself waiting for brews to be ready and drinking them too young.
Thanks for the replies. I do not have an airlock fitted to my FV, nor do I have a hydrometer. However my FV lid has a healthy bulge to it so something must be going on! I shall leave it 3 weeks in the FV then see what the hydrometer has to say ( I will have bought one by then ) .
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