Quickest ferment ever

[ish1349]

Here's the story. I made a TC about 2 months ago using store brought apple juice from concentrate and a packet of bread yeast. That's all. Inmate style.

It started bubbling vigorously, and had to keep wiping up the overflow from the airlock. My fault for filling it I the bottom of the neck in my demijohn.

After just 8 hours of vigorous bubbling it just halted. I thought it went wrong, so I left it, until 2 months odd later which was yesterday evening. I had a big shock.

The starting hydrometer reading was 1.042 and to my surprise the reading I got last night was 1.002. So that makes it around 5.3%.

I am a bit baffled to how it fermented in roughly 8 hours.????? Also done a taste test and it tastes great. Cleared and everything. Transferred it to another demijohn to clear again before bottling.

Any one had this happen to them???

 

[Djtrouble1982]

I'm new to brewing but with what I've been reading I'm guessing it was still fermenting after 8 hours but not as active so you couldn't tell.

 

[oldbloke]

Well you say 8 hours but you did leave it in the demi for 2 months...
I've got one demi with a slightly wide neck that doesn't always seal pefectly unless you ram the bung in pretty hard, maybe yours also managed to push the CO2 out without troubling the airlock.
My TCs take 7 to 20 days depending on expact recipe and conditions. Most of the visible activity is in the first 3 days, then they look pretty quiet but are still going.

 

[ish1349]

My other brews that I had going continued for the normal amount of time. I can safely say there were Jo more bubbles for the 2 months from the next morning. Unless there was a slight gap between the bung and neck of the demijohn with enough room for the air to escape.

 

[cf.]

My other brews that I had going continued for the normal amount of time. I can safely say there were Jo more bubbles for the 2 months from the next morning. Unless there was a slight gap between the bung and neck of the demijohn with enough room for the air to escape.

slight gap between the bung and neck of the demijohn with enough room for the air to escape you said it yourself

 

[PD]

5 gallon of Old Conkerwood Ale and 5 gallon of St.Peters Ruby Red, both started on the 12th both apparently finished on the 14th ( but left ). Must be the warm weather.

 

[lovelldr]

5 gallon of Old Conkerwood Ale and 5 gallon of St.Peters Ruby Red, both started on the 12th both apparently finished on the 14th ( but left ). Must be the warm weather.

I bet if you took a hydrometer reading, it wouldn't say it was finished,..

 

[PD]

I agree, they were probably not completely finished thats why they are being left for full 10 days or so. But after 48 hours the foam had completely gone and both had large deposits of crud. Shall we say they gave the appearance of being finished.

 

[Cononthebarber]

What others have said makes sense...no bubbles in the airlock doesn't mean it's not still fermenting and if there is an easier way (any gap's in the airlock or anywhere else) for the CO2 to escape it will take it... :thumb:

 

[PD]

I sometimes wonder if we are getting too paranoid re trying to keep our brews airtight and closed.
Beer fermenting makes a lot of carbon dioxide which is very good at laying across the surface of the brew and protecting it.
For my last 5 or 6 brews I haven't relied on an air lock ( although one is usually fitted due to their being a hole in the lid !
My brews are done in a fv who's lid is half sealed with one edge loose leaving a loose gap for the gasses to escape ( and also any vigorous ferment ) I've not noticed any problems with any increased risk of infection. When the ferment has finished its vigorous activity and has been racked into a 2nd fermenter I seal it completely with the lid and an air lock. Again the lock never bubbles so I am presuming gasses are escaping around the edges.
I now never worry about getting good air lock activity and concentrate in keeping the brew well covered to keep out any flying insects and debris.
I remember in the olden days not using air locks and our brews ( beer ) was only covered with a towel. Its only since home wine making took off that air locks have assumed their importance. Even for ciders made in demi jons the hole was usually bunged up with a large piece of cotton wool ! and when moved into bulk storage it was common for a solid bung to be used.
Yes we lost some brews due to infection but I would hazzard a guess that was more due to incomplete sanitization of equipment than anything else.

 

[Gayle]

One of my earlier brews was done in a plastic FV, with cling film stretched over the top with elastic bands round it, no airlock, no seal. It worked just fine, I left it until I was sure it had finished, then bottled right away. It could have done with some time spent in a secondary FV but I just didn't have one with a lid! Also I have an FV where I just made a hole in the lid with a screwdriver, so obviously the airlock doesn't fit well, and so it doesn't bubble at all when used, but I just make sure it's all really clean and it always works fine :thumb:

 

[oldstout]

I sometimes wonder if we are getting too paranoid re trying to keep our brews airtight and closed.
Beer fermenting makes a lot of carbon dioxide which is very good at laying across the surface of the brew and protecting it.

I remember in the olden days not using air locks and our brews ( beer ) was only covered with a towel. Its only since home wine making took off that air locks have assumed their importance. Even for ciders made in demi jons the hole was usually bunged up with a large piece of cotton wool ! and when moved into bulk storage it was common for a solid bung to be used.
Yes we lost some brews due to infection but I would hazzard a guess that was more due to incomplete sanitization of equipment than anything else.

Good points pd :thumb: I often wonder how they managed way back in the day, long before the sterilisers, sealed fv's and all the other paraphanelia we use to 'protect' our brews :wha: IIRC in my CJJ Berry book it advocates the towel method, and that was just the 70's :whistle: After all, alcohol has been around a lot longer than all of us

:

 

[PD]

I remember my dad making rhubarb wine in those 1 gallon stone jugs with a loose fitting 4 inch " rough " cork lid. The jars were only washed out in hot water before being used again.
Each morning while the wine was being made first one up had to go and make sure all the corks were pushed back in. No air locks. That was in the late 50's and early 60's. He made lots of good wines I remember and yes there were a few failures, I remember having lots of bottles of vinegar around ! So I'm not advocating going back to those extremes. We should remember that organic material will ferment whatever when the conditions are right, we just have to make sure it ferments the way we want it to.

 

[calumscott]

It may well be that "they managed to make beer way back when" but our understanding of microbiology and the availability of technology to help maintain aseptic environments have improved greatly over the years and the price of it has come down drastically in real terms...

...so if it's easy and cheap to do, why wouldn't you??

I dunno, maybe I just feel time and cash poor, but I'm always going to reduce the risk of ruining my monetary and temporal input as far as I can. Airlocking is one of the simplest and most effective ways of doing that, anti-microbial sanitation is another, leaving your brew well alone a third (and the hardest to practise IMO).

 

[PD]

Oh totally agree as I said I'm not advocating a return to those far off days of ignorant bliss, but there's a lot of posts from newbies who are worried to death when their air locks not bubbling away.

 

[GaryG]

My new coopers kit's fermenting vessel hasnt got an airlock. The lid has a tight fit, but the pressures pushes the co2 out through the lid.

 

[oldbloke]

I sometimes wonder if we are getting too paranoid re trying to keep our brews airtight and closed.
Beer fermenting makes a lot of carbon dioxide which is very good at laying across the surface of the brew and protecting it.
For my last 5 or 6 brews I haven't relied on an air lock ( although one is usually fitted due to their being a hole in the lid !
My brews are done in a fv who's lid is half sealed with one edge loose leaving a loose gap for the gasses to escape ( and also any vigorous ferment ) I've not noticed any problems with any increased risk of infection. When the ferment has finished its vigorous activity and has been racked into a 2nd fermenter I seal it completely with the lid and an air lock. Again the lock never bubbles so I am presuming gasses are escaping around the edges.
I now never worry about getting good air lock activity and concentrate in keeping the brew well covered to keep out any flying insects and debris.
I remember in the olden days not using air locks and our brews ( beer ) was only covered with a towel. Its only since home wine making took off that air locks have assumed their importance. Even for ciders made in demi jons the hole was usually bunged up with a large piece of cotton wool ! and when moved into bulk storage it was common for a solid bung to be used.
Yes we lost some brews due to infection but I would hazzard a guess that was more due to incomplete sanitization of equipment than anything else.

You're absolutely right. Beer was made for centuries without airlocks, still is in some places. All you need is to stop stuff falling in and for it to be hard for the protective CO2 to get wafted away.