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Llama

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Good afternoon all,

This is my first post on the forum and my first foray into the world of Home Brewing.

I recently purchased a beginners kit from my local HB Shop, along with a kit for London Porter (Me being a fan of the darker, fuller bodied ales). I also purchased a number of books on Home Brewing to swot up on how to do it, as I like to be fully prepared before I just dive in. I have about 4 books now, including some by Dave Line, which I found most useful,

I have a couple of questions relating to the method in the kit, which goes against everything I've read in the books I have and against the posts on this forum.

My kits instructions on initial prep and fermentation are as follows (missing out the first few points, which are sterilise etc)

1. Pour malt pouches into fermenter.
2. Boil 3Ltr of water, add to fermentation bin.
3. Add dextrose brewing sugar and stir to disolve.
4. Top up to 23Ltr with cold water and stir.
5. Take Hydrometer reading.
6. Ensure temp under 25C and add contents of yeast sachet and stir gently.
7. Fit airlock and secure lid making sure seal is airtight
8. After 5 days add hop sachet and leave for a further 5 days before bottling/kegging.

Now, despite my initial reseacrh into Home Brewing with all the books I had. I followed the instructions to the letter, as it was my first kit - I figured, see how the standard tastes, and then experiment by adding additional ingrediants or malts/grain etc.

The day after I had sealed it up and palced it somewhere at a steady 21C to ferment, I could see no 'Yeast Pancake' that everyone talks about. No activity at all in fact. After 3 days, I was getting worried.

This was about the time I started trawling the forums and found the 'Stuck Fermentation' posts. I figured this was me, as the instructions gave no mention to aerating the wort prior to adding the yeast and I had sealed it airtight with nothing to work with. This could be where I made a grave error...

Thinking all it needed was some air, I opened the bin and took a very large whisk to the wort. I whisked until there was a gorgeous foamy head atop my once still, black, lifeless wort.I als felt that my poor yeasties had suffocated, so would need some assistance in munching the sugar, so I sent in reinforcements in the form of sachet of brewers yeast from the local HB Shop.

I then resealed it all and left it to do it's thing, and came back to the forum only to read various posts about not getting too much air into the wort etc...Oops.

I've since kegged my wort and it is now on secondary stage. I hope it will resemble something drinkable and also feel that you learn by your mistakes, but I have a number of questions.

Why would the kit not advise you to aerate the wort efficiently to give the yeast a chance?

Was it wrong to whisk it up and add additional yeast?

Do fermentations ALWAYS have a yeast pancake?

And one of the main queries - Dave Line advised primary fermentation just in a plastic bin, not necessarily requiring a lid. As long as the pancake forms, the wort is protected from bacteria. He advised only airlocking at secondary stage.

Can you really ferment an le without a lid and expoed to the air, or should it alway be under air lock?

Apologies if this is a question (Or numerous questions) which have been asked time and time again and my apologies for the long winded first ever post, but I am keen to improve.

All feedback greatly appreciated!

Cheers,

Llama :grin:
 
Why would the kit not advise you to aerate the wort efficiently to give the yeast a chance?
Most of the time it probably won't make any difference. The easiest way to aerate (I find) is simply to pour the water into the FV from a great height.

Was it wrong to whisk it up and add additional yeast?
If fermentation fails to start (as occasionally happens) you just need to sprinkle another yeast sachet on top. I can't see that whisking it up will have done any major harm. It's later on that you don't want to get air into the wort.

Do fermentations ALWAYS have a yeast pancake?
A layer of yeast sitting at the bottom of the FV? The trub? Yes you always end up with that.

Can you really ferment an le without a lid and expoed to the air, or should it alway be under air lock?
I just sit the lid on top but not fully down tight. You certainly don't want to do it exposed to the air, because although in theory the CO2 will blanket the wort, wild yeasts and vinegar flies can still get in, and air currents will mess things up anyway.
 
A layer of yeast sitting at the bottom of the FV? The trub? Yes you always end up with that.

Ah no, sorry. I mean a top layer, a pancake of yeats that protects the wort underneath. Should one always form?
 
Thanks for the reply by the way! I forgot to mention that before :roll:
 
no not all fermentations will have such a pancake.. there are top cropping yeasts and bottom croppers, most kit supplied yeasts will be bottom croppers..
so will work from the bottom up, even so many yeasts will be carried to the top with the co2 they generate and if viperous will from a foamy top..

Never leave a fv with an open top, lots of **** can just drop in out of the air, never hang your head over beer as even post shower or with a slaphead like me all sorts of nasty stuff will fall off into the beer. peek in from the side if u need to look..

an airlock can provide audible assurance the fermentation is underway, But bucket lids leak and a silent airlock means the co2 has found an easier escape 99% of the time not a stuck fermentation.
as for the kits lack of aeration instructions... your mixing in of ingredients will have aerated the wort ;)
yeast want to make beer, just let em do it ;) best gauge of how tyhe fermentation is gtoing is taking gravity readings.. a big syringe or turkey baster is a easy tool to sanitise to extract a small sample to take a gravity reading... discard or drink the sample returning it means u need to be uber anal about sanitising everything including hydrometer and sample glass and still carries a risk..
 
Thanks Fil,

I had been taking regular gravity readings, and it has gradully decreased from 1050 to 1009 when I finally kegged it.

Obviously this means the yeast has been working, but I'm thinking this was a resut of my intervention and addition of new yeast etc.

I suppose I will have to wait a couple of weeks to see what happens when it is fully conditioned.

I've just started another of the same kits and have modified the recipe slightly. I've also fully aerated the wort so will see how the yeats reacts!

Fingers crossed!
 
Personally I would go for 18C rather than 21C too. And ferment for much longer than the instructions state - 2 weeks is good. Then a week in the cool to settle before you keg/bottle.
 
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