Newbie Needing your Knowledge

[Timbo]

Hi Everyone!

First time brewer and first time poster here, hoping some of you more experienced guys can help me with a question.

I recently bought the Northern Brewer starter kit you're probably familiar with, which came with the Block Party Amber Ale recipe. Northern Brewer have a fairly helpful video on YouTube which takes you through the brew day process which I followed pretty much to the letter.
Then, after putting my fermenting bucket away in a warm dark place I found another instructional video I decided to watch. This guy aerated his beer for a solid 5-10 min before adding the yeast - the Northern Brewer video did not do this, and neither did I!

So I panicked and started googling, I found some advice saying you can aerate a few hours after pitching the yeast so that's what I did. Is that ok? The next day I had some good bubbling activity in the airlock so some chemistry was definitely taking place, things have slowed down now (I'm at day 5) but I'm worried that by not aerating before pitching the yeast there may be no turning back. Is my batch ruined?

Some peace of mind would be greatly appreciated!

 

[GerritT]

"Relax, don't worry and have a homebrew." is the brewer's adagio. Having said that: no you have no homebrew yet and yes, you will have in a month.

Welcome! :cheers7:

Yeast likes oxygen. There is plenty of literature around whether there should or should not be a lot of oxygen present when the yeast is pitched. Some of it is contradicting. So: time to shrug.

So, having said that: you noticed bubbling, and that means (most of the time) it's fermenting away. More oxygen might have sped it up. But I haven't heard yet of a brew that started to ferment but gave up because the oxygen was gone.

So you're safe. Just make sure you keep the splashing to a minimum if/when you rack or bottle. No air into fermented beer!

Welcome to one of the best hobbies in the world :thumb:

 

[The Baron]

Yes it seems that people are now saying that aeration of the wort is not essential so contradicting info indeed when I have done kits I just mixed it the same as you and did not thrash it to death and it was fine. One tip some people in this hobby become anal regards brewing so do take some with a pinch of salt and read more than one posting re any part you are asking about and you will soon get the gist of what is normal practice and what is anal

 

[Timbo]

Thanks for the help, and yes I have noticed a lot of contradicting info out there already - there is a lot to get your head around!

At least I can rest easy for now and see how it goes (until I think of something else to worry about!)

 

[welly3]

Probably won't have done it any harm to be honest. Even if it has, it's your first beer, it won't be perfect anyway (or maybe it will! I hope so). I'm on the side of giving beer good aeration before pitching the yeast - I have an o2 cylinder and aeration stone to do this. But you can go as far with this hobby as you want or just have a more casual approach, doesn't matter. You'll still make tasty beer.

I personally find that you can go so far with basic techniques and then it's the smaller things that together make the difference. In isolation, aerating the wort with o2 is unlikely to make a great deal of difference but that with all my other practices combined does. Anyway, enjoy your first beer and will look forward to hearing about the next one!

 

[cmwood64]

I believe that there is no need to aerate when using dried yeast, but liquid yeast likes a bit of oxygen, so kind of depends on which type you used. Either way you will still make beer. Enjoy the fruits of your labour.

Sent from my LG-H870DS using Tapatalk

 

[Dutto]

Welcome to the Forum! :thumb:

I agree with all the "Don't worry!" comments. Brewing may become an obsession, but it's still a hobby so enjoy the experiences, including the ****-ups!

With regard to "aerating the wort" it generally applies to AG brews where the wort has been boiled for an hour or more and most of the dissolved oxygen has been driven off as a result. However, there is almost always enough dissolved oxygen in the cold water addition to a kit brew to satisfy the fermentation process.

Personally, to provide dissolved oxygen to the wort:

• For kits, I whack in the cold water addition at "delivery pressure" to get the required volume.
• For AG brews I bring the volume up to 23 litres the same way and then add a teaspoonful of Yeast Nutrient.

The good Lord is very forgiving of our mistakes (especially for new brewers) so just relax, enjoy your first brew and don't rush anything ...

... but get your next brew underway as soon as that FV becomes available!

BTW

In the future, I suggest that you just follow the Instructions provided by the kit manufacturer. The last thing they want is for you to brew a heap of crap and stop buying their kits, so they are very particular to make the instructions easy to follow.

The one proviso to this advice is that they do tend to be over optimistic with how long the process will take so I recommend that you follow the 2 + 2 + 2 system of "Two Weeks Fermentation + Two Weeks Carbonation + Two Weeks Conditioning" with the Carbonation taking place at fermentation temperature and the Conditioning somewhere cool and dark.

Enjoy! :thumb:

 

[dad_of_jon]

Hi Everyone!

First time brewer and first time poster here, hoping some of you more experienced guys can help me with a question.

I recently bought the Northern Brewer starter kit you're probably familiar with, which came with the Block Party Amber Ale recipe. Northern Brewer have a fairly helpful video on YouTube which takes you through the brew day process which I followed pretty much to the letter.
Then, after putting my fermenting bucket away in a warm dark place I found another instructional video I decided to watch. This guy aerated his beer for a solid 5-10 min before adding the yeast - the Northern Brewer video did not do this, and neither did I!

So I panicked and started googling, I found some advice saying you can aerate a few hours after pitching the yeast so that's what I did. Is that ok? The next day I had some good bubbling activity in the airlock so some chemistry was definitely taking place, things have slowed down now (I'm at day 5) but I'm worried that by not aerating before pitching the yeast there may be no turning back. Is my batch ruined?

Some peace of mind would be greatly appreciated!

worry ye not. if you've boiled your wort thoroughly them maybe getting some oxygen back into the beer might be a good idea but not for cold brew kits.

if your airlock is bubbling, don't be a troubling

 

[Dave 666]

With regards to the 2+2+2 idea, that's always slightly puzzled if not confused me as if fermentation has finished far quicker, say 7-9 days which in the warmer weather seems to be the case for me. Then how would the extra 5-7 days come into play?, simply use that as keep it in the FV regardless up to 14 days or add any shortness in the fermentation period to the conditioning stage?.

 

[ACBEV]

Re 2 + 2 + 2... The fermentation might be done in as little as three days, but the yeasties are still working their magic on your beer. You might think its pointless waiting, but its worth the wait for better beer.

I've never done any aerating in any of my brews, I just tip the wort from boiler to FV. Jobs a goodun...

 

[GerritT]

Brewing a series of ales with CrossMyLoof yeast. Bubbling stops after 4 days, gravity is 1010 but I still wait the extra 10 days. And 2 weeks in the bottle for some good foam is not too long, and don't forget: the priming sugar adds to the alcohol too! Worth the wait I'd say.
So it's more a 2+2 rule, because the first bottles will be cracked then

(but most of them get the extra 2 weeks conditioning)

 

[Leon103]

I transfer to the fv from table height which creates enough oxygen for me. Don't see much need to stand there for 5 minutes bashing my wort

 

[ACBEV]

Don't see much need to stand there for 5 minutes bashing my wort

Your being modest, surely!

 

[Slid]

With regards to the 2+2+2 idea, that's always slightly puzzled if not confused me as if fermentation has finished far quicker, say 7-9 days which in the warmer weather seems to be the case for me. Then how would the extra 5-7 days come into play?, simply use that as keep it in the FV regardless up to 14 days or add any shortness in the fermentation period to the conditioning stage?.

Here is a really good little diagram that sort of illustrates better than words.
I have posted the link before, but it does merit repetition.

http://howtobrew.com/book/section-1/fermentation/re-defining-fermentation

 

[Slid]

And here is the commentary:
The fermentation of malt sugars into beer is a complicated biochemical process. It is more than just the conversion of sugar to alcohol, which can be regarded as the primary activity. Total fermentation is better defined as three phases, the Adaptation or Lagtime phase, the Primary or Attenuative phase and a Secondary or Conditioning phase. The yeast do not end Phase 2 before beginning Phase 3, the processes occur in parallel, but the conditioning processes occur more slowly. As the majority of simple sugars are consumed, more and more of the yeast will transition to eating the larger, more complex sugars and early yeast by-products. This is why beer (and wine) improves with age to a degree, as long as they are on the yeast. Beer that has been filtered or pasteurized will not benefit from aging.

 

[Fil]

Ha Welcome to brewing and congrats on picking a plumb issue to cut your forum teeth with.. As you can see different brewers have different thoughts and there is a LOT of slightly different ways to approach this and many other aspects of the passtime.

the key factor to keep your focus on is its the yeast that do the real brewing and all we can do is our best to provide them with the best environment in which to do the best job..

with or without any extra aeration of the wort you will have already prepared a huge bucket of optimum yeast food and done your best to ensure no other microlife other than your yeast population get stuck in for the feast, so relax as said above, let the yeast do their thing, they may take a day or 2 longer than if you had whisked up a storm, and then again perhaps not ??

Take good notes of your brews and you can then compare fermentation periods against aeration input if any and have your own opinion too

 

[Dutto]

............

Take good notes of your brews and you can then compare fermentation periods against aeration input if any and have your own opinion too

Very true!! :thumb:

The average ratio on this Forum is "Six Opinions per Five Members" for any given subject!

 

[GerritT]

Very true!! :thumb:

The average ratio on this Forum is "Six Opinions per Five Members" for any given subject!

.... you must be new here!!

 

[Dave 666]

And here is the commentary:
The fermentation of malt sugars into beer is a complicated biochemical process. It is more than just the conversion of sugar to alcohol, which can be regarded as the primary activity. Total fermentation is better defined as three phases, the Adaptation or Lagtime phase, the Primary or Attenuative phase and a Secondary or Conditioning phase. The yeast do not end Phase 2 before beginning Phase 3, the processes occur in parallel, but the conditioning processes occur more slowly. As the majority of simple sugars are consumed, more and more of the yeast will transition to eating the larger, more complex sugars and early yeast by-products. This is why beer (and wine) improves with age to a degree, as long as they are on the yeast. Beer that has been filtered or pasteurized will not benefit from aging.

With regards to this and the diagram, which looks good and does seem to show things better than words. Is the basic idea that if or whilst fermentation might be finished via gravity reading confirmation after X days (weather that be 3,5,8,10 etc) that fermentation still continues in other ways beyond sugar conversion and the settled finished yeast at the bottom of the FV speeds up conditioning that's otherwise much slower by removing from the FV and bottling or barrelling?.

 

[Slid]

With regards to this and the diagram, which looks good and does seem to show things better than words. Is the basic idea that if or whilst fermentation might be finished via gravity reading confirmation after X days (weather that be 3,5,8,10 etc) that fermentation still continues in other ways beyond sugar conversion and the settled finished yeast at the bottom of the FV speeds up conditioning that's otherwise much slower by removing from the FV and bottling or barrelling?.

It is the yeast that is in contact with the beer that is important and the stuff at the bottom of the FV is mostly in contact with itself. Larger volumes of beer condition faster and better than small volumes so maybe barrelled beer will condition a lot quicker than bottled.

Another quirk is racking to a second FV in homebrewing. I always do this after 2 weeks and leave for a further week before bottling. Most, including John Palmer don't. I am most likely wrong, in the sense that it is not essential, by much empirical evidence.

Creature of habit, I am, like most of us.