Stout...disaster?

[NoviceBrew]

Hello,

I'm attempting to brew my first stout and after following the advice of a supposedly experienced brewer I think I may have ruined it on day one.

The advice was, to make a nice strong brew, culture some yeast (wine strength) separately in a pint glass with two spoons of sugar and when it starts to activate, tip it straight into the fermentation tub, which I did. By this morning there are big looping swirls of froth sat 3-4 inches high but nothing is happening now and it seems to have stopped altogether.

Help please, have I ruined my brew?

 

[Aleman]

Probably not the best advice.

Never use wine yeasts for beer, the flavours are different, but stouts are quite robust so you will probably get away with it.

Also there is no need to make a 'starter' with modern dry yeasts, and if you do never use plain sugar . . . in fact you are often best just using 150ml of cooled boiled water at 30C (don't guess)

While you need healthy yeast to make good beer, it really has nothing to do with strength . . . the stronger the beer you want to make the more yeast you require . . . so pitch more sachets.

If you are making up a stout kit, then don't worry about it too much, unless you have added loads more sugar/extract than it suggests you are only going to get around 4% anyway.

The swirls of froth is an indication that the yeast is working, if it has sunk back into the brew then its an indication that fermentation is slowing / has finished (Use a hydrometer to measure the gravity if it is stable for 3 days it has finished) While it is possible to have fermentation finish this quickly it does suggest that your fermentation temperature is perhaps too high. Really no higher than 25C and preferably 18-22C.

Relax Don't worry Have A Home Brew

 

[Vossy1]

Let us know how it turns out NB :thumb:

 

[Aleman]

There is a good walk through here that has loads of good advice for making a beer kit produce quality beer.

Doh!! The walk through is Here

 

[NoviceBrew]

Thanks for the advice, and yes I'll let you know how it turns out. I did add about another 350g of sugar than the instructions said so I guess it will turn out a little stronger? The room I'm using has a nice steady 20-22C tepmerature so I'll go with your advice, leave it alone for 7-10 days and see what the hydrometer says.

Thanks again :grin:

 

[NoviceBrew]

Thanks again for the advice, I'm pleased to report I have something resembling a half decent stout, I think! Hopefully someone can help me out with a few final bits though... The bottles have now had a week sat in a warm place, as per kit instructions, and the next step says 'move to a cool place and your beer will be ready to drink when clear'. But how will I know when it's clear when stout is black from start to finish

 

[Vossy1]

But how will I know when it's clear when stout is black from start to finish

Give it another 2 weeks I'd say but better advice would be to continually sample until clear :drink: By doing this you will also notice subtle flavour changes in your beer as it matures, this may help you to decide if you like younger or older beers