Youngs American Amber

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Lengie10

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Put this kit on on Saturday and went of like a sprinter bubbling and glugging every 3 or 4 seconds...However...its now stopped. its only been 4 days. do I leave it? give it a mix up? decant to 2nd FV?
 
in my experience with kits, anywhere from about 4-7 days is usual, depends really on the temperature of the surroundings.
The warmer it is, the faster the process.
Another 24 hours to be on the safe side wont hurt.
 
I have found the youngs craft kits ferment really quite quickly.

I left my last 2 youngs kits for 3 weeks, if you're paranoid you could take a hydrometer reading to see how it's doing, but I'd leave it at least a week before lifting the lid.

Partly due to a leaky PB lid, this kit was at it's best after 6 weeks conditioning, and the last bottle (consumed about 2 weeks ago) was really good.

Enjoy it and trust the yeasties to do their job.
 
I'm doing this kit myself at the moment. It's been fermenting 10 days now and was still bubbling every 15 minutes or so this morning. I've not checked the SG yet but will probably check when I'm back home tomorrow and decide then whether to dry hop.
I've had the fermenter in a water bath at 22c and it started bubbling healthily after 8 or 10 hours. I wouldn't say it's ever been wild but bubbled very steadily for first 7 days.
Been a bit nervous with this one as its my first brew for 25 years so I'm not going to rush to bottle. Will start checking SG now but don't expect to bottle before early next week.
 
Thanks all for feedback. As I said, it bubbled well for most of Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday but is now very quiet. Haven't done a hydrometer test yet but will do that over the weekend. Also brewing Oaked rum ale which is still happily bubbling away. Both FVs are air tight with air locks that are fixed in place.

Have a brew belt which I might try later to see if that encourages some bubbling. Where is the best place to position this on the FV? Top? Bottom? Middle?

Saying all this It may well be done - the amber is sat closer to the radiator (about 4ft away) and shields the Oaked rum so may have benefited from a warmer climate and progressed quicker.
 
Wait until its been in a week, take a hydrometer test.. if all is good wait until 5 days before bottling and bung the hops in... It will be a good 4 5 weeks after bottling when it will smooth out..
 
Both FVs are air tight with air locks that are fixed in place. .
You might think they are airtight and they might look airtight but how do you know? When the primary has subsided I usually put clingfilm around the edge of the FV which pretty much ensures a seal, then replace the lid and nearly always find that my airlock bubble rate increases significantly from where it was before, which proves to me that the seal between my FV and it's lid was previously not airtight.
 
My lids are not airtight.. infact I struggle to even get them to clip on properly at the minute... I will pour boiling water over to help reform hthem.. last brew I threw a towel over the lid and used some of my weights to to keep it down..
 
I know nothing it totally airtight but it's good enough for me. Will give the cling film a go tonight and maybe put brew belt on?

In terms of brew belt - has anyone used one, if so, where is it best positioned? Just about the krausen? Top of the brew? Middle?
 
I deal with temperature issues by putting the fermenter in a fairly cool room in a centrally heated house, where it's pretty much always 20' +/- 1 or 2. So I can't advise on brew belts I'm afraid.

But I have done the amber kit a couple times, and another one lined up to go next. Checking my notes both previous kits were nearly 3 weeks in the fermenter before they were ready for bottling.

It's also another kit that benefits from a few weeks in the bottle if you can bear to leave it alone - once mine had had time to mature it compared pretty favourably to Thornbridge's Sequoia, which was pretty much what I was hoping for! Hope you enjoy it.
 
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