Brewing woes...

Panda

I'm not seeing any activity on my brew.

I started it on sunday evening, so around 4 days ago.
It looks like it did ferment furiously over one of the nights because there is a mark from the foam around 3 inches above the wort.

I cant figure out where i went wrong and its really pissing me off! :eek:

Is it possible that it fermented that quickly without me seeing any activity at all?

When i look around on various brewing forums they seem to say wait a little longer. The temp in the room i have it in was around 18 degrees so i thought it was too cold. I have a brew belt for heat on it now and its timed to give small amount of heat regularly throughout the day.

Here on boards fud man seemed to have a similar problem.
Anyone know if his batch made it?
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=68069492

fenderlvr

Do you have a hydrometer? That'd be the best way to measure.

I've only done 2 brews so far, so I'm not expert. But both of mine trickled down to a slow crawl after 3-4 days. I could still see some bubbling, but not much. Most of it happened in the first 2 days.

I suggest you get a hydrometer and measure the gravity.

oblivious

Panda wrote: »

I'm not seeing any activity on my brew.I started it on sunday evening, so around 4 days ago.
It looks like it did ferment furiously over one of the nights because there is a mark from the foam around 3 inches above the wort.[/url]

It could be done, but will need a week to help clean its selfup

The_B_Man

My brew didnt bubble at all! Not a single bubble.

After a few days i checked with the hydrometer and it had changed so I knoew there was some fermenting going on, i just must not have tightened the lid enough.

Its bottled now and at about 3.5% instead of what it should be, ie closer to 5%.

but ye, point i'm trying to make is leave it for a week and then just bottle it.

Panda

I took a sample last night after i posted and the reading is 1020, OG was 1045, shouldnt it be lower than that?

The sample i poured actually looked ok but the taste was pretty bland, kind of sour even so im guessing it wort got infected....
I was extremely careful when i was sanitizing so hopefully this isnt the case...

Kid Charlemagne

id say measure it again and see if it has come down from 1.02.
if it has just let it run.

If not, can you try repitching with more yeast if you have it?
Or maybe get some of the yeasty sludge at the bottom and stick it in a pint glass with tepid water in a warm spot with loads of sugar, see if you can bring it back to life.

its worth a punt anyway

id be a bit worried about the sour taste though because at 1.02 it should be slightly too sweet. but maybe its an unusual flavoured beer?

(Assuming your using a kit,) did you def put in the specified amount of water? if it was under hydrated it would possibly read 1.02 and taste strong due to more unfermentables plus concentrated flavours...


good luck anyway.

Panda

I'll take another sample and hopefully it will have changed...

I forgot to mention its a coopers wheat beer.
I followed the recipie from their site:

STEP 1: Mix
A pale, cloudy beer, refreshingly spritzy and tart with a delicious creamy frothiness.

Developed to be mixed with 500g Light Dry Malt and 300g Dextrose.

Ingredients

•1.7kg can Thomas Coopers Wheat Beer
•500g Light Dry Malt
•300g Dextrose

Method
•Place the Light Dry Malt in a sanitised, well drained fermenter. Add 2 litres of hot water and immediately pick the fermenter up and swirl the contents until dissolved (about 15 secs) - this avoids lumps.
•Add the balance of ingredients and dissolve.
•Add cool water to the 23 litre mark and stir vigorously.
•Sprinkle yeast and seal.

http://www.coopers.com.au/the-brewers-guild/how-to-brew/ale/wheat-beer

I dont have any yeast at the moment so ill give the sludge a go... not too optimistic at this point though...
If theres no action by tomorrow i'll tr