Did I screw up with a burst of brew belt?

[nevarthur]

Hi,
I would appreciate an opinion or two please.
I brewed my kit beer on Tuesday, my first one, and impatiently waited for fermentation to start. 2 days in, I had good signs of fermenting, although I'm not sure I like the way my air-lock behaves and will probably look for a better one quite quickly.
Although I bought a proper thermometer I also stuck a stick-on one on the FV and checking it revealed its indications to be good enough.

When I completed mixing the beer, the temperature was around 24 degrees. It slowly dropped to around 20 degrees in my integral garage, which varies in temperature at the moment from around 16 to 20 degrees ambient temperature. By Friday night, there were less signs of fermentation, and I worried that it was all over, too quickly!

So, I panicked! I turned the brew belt on, quite high up the FV, and then forgot about it! This morning, I came down to check on it, and saw the temperature at 24 degrees. I turned off the brew belt, and now I'm kicking myself, and having trouble convincing myself that there's still signs of fermentation activity.

So my question of people nice enough to answer, is have I ruined this batch?

Many thanks,
Nev

[widdersbel]

Fluctuations in temperature aren't ideal but it will probably be fine.

What was the original gravity? Have you tested the gravity again today? This will be the best indicator of whether it is still fermenting.

[nevarthur]

Fluctuations in temperature aren't ideal but it will probably be fine.

What was the original gravity? Have you tested the gravity again today? This will be the best indicator of whether it is still fermenting.

Just noticed I accidentally posted twice, sorry to everyone.

Thanks for the words of comfort. I'd like the first batch to go OK, so I really should be a bit more judicious in applications of the brew belt!

I was going to wait a week until starting to measure the SG. I like the idea I read on here somewhere of just dumping the hydrometer in the FV for the couple of days or so needed to establish fermenting has finished. I don't know if foam or debris on the surface will make this hard to do?

I have a glass pipettes on order and hopefully arriving soon that I could use to draw samples if that would be more accurate than staring into a bucket!

When the fermentation has finished, I have another FV with a hole for the tap, and I've also got a bottle filler on that; I was planning on putting 20 level teaspoons of sugar and gently siphoning in the beer. Does that sound Ok? How long should the beer plan on staying in this new FV before going into the bottle? Should it be dispensed immediately?

Very grateful for any advice, thanks.

Nev

[widdersbel]

When the fermentation has finished, I have another FV with a hole for the tap, and I've also got a bottle filler on that; I was planning on putting 20 level teaspoons of sugar and gently siphoning in the beer. Does that sound Ok? How long should the beer plan on staying in this new FV before going into the bottle? Should it be dispensed immediately?

Don't transfer it to the bottling FV until you are ready to bottle - the additional sugar is for conditioning (carbonating) the beer once it is bottled.

[basswulf]

You do have to be careful with a brew belt. I've got plans to link one to the temperature monitoring I am doing via my Raspberry Pi computer but, in the meanwhile, I try not to leave it on for too long and, if I need to go out, I'll put it on a timer plug rather than relying on on remembering when I come back. Thinking "what's that burny smell" is a bit on the late side!

That's one of the things I've learned from experience. If this is your first kit, you're still on form if you get something drinkable at the end so you're probably still safe.

Wulf

[nevarthur]

You do have to be careful with a brew belt. I've got plans to link one to the temperature monitoring I am doing via my Raspberry Pi computer but, in the meanwhile, I try not to leave it on for too long and, if I need to go out, I'll put it on a timer plug rather than relying on on remembering when I come back. Thinking "what's that burny smell" is a bit on the late side!

That's one of the things I've learned from experience. If this is your first kit, you're still on form if you get something drinkable at the end so you're probably still safe.

Wulf

Thanks for that advice, you're right of course, I should never have left the brew belt on until I'd established how much the temperature could be raised in a certain time. And taken precautions!

As it's my first kit, and I'm not watching the pennies too much, it will be good source of lessons to learn and perfect for the next batch even if it fails, but of course, pride comes into it and I don't want to fail with this premier batch!

Cheers,
Nev

[cwrw gwent]

HI Nev, and welcome to the world of brewing.

It would be useful to insulate your fermenation bin to prevent fluctuations in temperature. Wrap a sleeping bag or duvet around it to retain the heat when it suddenly gets cold. Also you could keep it in a big cardboard or wooden box. I have an insulated area slightly larger than the fermentation bin in what was the airing cupboard (boiler has been removed) and it works perfectly. My min/max thermoter indicates that's there's very little variation in temperature and it's usually between 18 to 21C.

Fermentation is often quite apparent for the first two days but afterwards things settle down and activity is not especially visible. Check the gravity with a hydrometer after about six or seven days and bottle when a constant gravity has been recorded over three days. A simple rule is that when once the surface of the beer is no longer completely covered with bubbles and the bubbles are breaking into small groups fermentation is coming to an end.

Finally, I'd get rid of the air lock. Just snap the lid on all the way around then gently ease about a quarter of it open to allow excess CO2 to escape while still maintaining a blanket of CO2 over the surface of the beer.

Be sure to let us know how you get on with the Wherry in a few week's time.

[nevarthur]

HI Nev, and welcome to the world of brewing.

It would be useful to insulate your fermenation bin to prevent fluctuations in temperature. Wrap a sleeping bag or duvet around it to retain the heat when it suddenly gets cold. Also you could keep it in a big cardboard or wooden box. I have an insulated area slightly larger than the fermentation bin in what was the airing cupboard (boiler has been removed) and it works perfectly. My min/max thermoter indicates that's there's very little variation in temperature and it's usually between 18 to 21C.

Fermentation is often quite apparent for the first two days but afterwards things settle down and activity is not especially visible. Check the gravity with a hydrometer after about six or seven days and bottle when a constant gravity has been recorded over three days. A simple rule is that when once the surface of the beer is no longer completely covered with bubbles and the bubbles are breaking into small groups fermentation is coming to an end.

Finally, I'd get rid of the air lock. Just snap the lid on all the way around then gently ease about a quarter of it open to allow excess CO2 to escape while still maintaining a blanket of CO2 over the surface of the beer.

Be sure to let us know how you get on with the Wherry in a few week's time.

Hi cwrw,
I have my eye on a quilt that might be reaching the end of its life, so might have to persuade the wife that it needs to come into the garage!
I'm glad I bought the min/max thermometer as I can see the ambient temp has just dropped to about 16 degrees in my garage, so a degree of heating is going to be called for, by the looks of it.
Tomorrow will have been a week since brewing, so I may crack the lid open then, draw a sample with my new pipette, not forgetting to sanitise it first of course, then test the SG for 3 days.
I won't know what the figures mean of course, but I think I'll be able to spot if it's the same for 3 days!
I feel uncomfortable getting rid of the airlock. Everywhere seems to recommend having one and I'm not brave enough yet to go without one, although it sounds feasible to do what you've done.
Many thanks for the advice, or should I say diolch i chi
Nev

[cwrw gwent]

Ych chi'n croeso a phob lwc gyda eich cwrw/You're very welcome and good luck with your beer!