First Brew - Fermentation Problems

[melbow]

I just did my first homebrew and it has been 36 hours since starting fermentation and I am not seeing much action. There is a large mass on the top and it's hard to see, but it looks like some sediment on the bottom. Around 24 hours in I saw pretty sizable strands that stretched down into the tank. I assume that those were protein strands. But now there's mostly just the one layer on top.

Is the yeast struggling to get started? Should I pitch more yeast?
Is it infected? Is it fine? Please let me know. Thanks!

 

[LLBeanJ]

That large mass on top IS the action. It's doing what it's supposed to be doing. Relax, it's fine.

 

[Kevin79]

Everything looks fine to me. Looks like you have nice and perfectly normal krausen. That floating mass in the second picture just looks like a clump of yeast. It should settle or break apart in the next few days, if not the next few hours.

This is what fermentation looks like. Relax. At this point you should only be worrying about temperature.

 

[jrowland74]

First off, congrats and welcome!

At what temp are you fermenting? Higher ferm temps can cause faster fermentation, sometimes at the risk of off flavors. Looks like active fermentation may be done. Or a sudden drop in temp could have put the yeast to sleep. I'm sure someone else with more experience will chime in, but my advice would be to relax and let it ride. Check your gravity in 2-3 weeks. If it's super high, you may have a stuck fermentation. Most likely it is fine and you will have great beer!

 

[BrewinBromanite]

Agreed. I'm assuming that mass wasn't there initially. That looks like a normal fermentation to me.


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[melbow]

Ah! Thank you so much everyone. I was expecting the yeast to be swimming around going crazy at this point and was nervous because the liquid yeast I used said to take it out of the fridge 3-6 hours ahead of time, but I only realized it after taking it out about 30min ahead of time.

The temperature is a nice 70-75 degrees (depending on time of day).

You guys have made me very happy. I am super excited to try my beer now.

 

[Yooper]

Ah! Thank you so much everyone. I was expecting the yeast to be swimming around going crazy at this point and was nervous because the liquid yeast I used said to take it out of the fridge 3-6 hours ahead of time, but I only realized it after taking it out about 30min ahead of time.

The temperature is a nice 70-75 degrees (depending on time of day).

You guys have made me very happy. I am super excited to try my beer now.

I'm glad it's going well- but 70-75 is too warm. You want to have it a steady temperature, not fluctuating like that, and ideally in the mid-high 60s. Which yeast strain did you use, and can you cover it or something so that it is insulated and doesn't go up and down in temperature? Or is that room temperature, and not the beer temperature? If you have a "sticky" thermometer on the outside, you can monitor the actual beer temperature. Ideally, it'd be about 68 degrees beer temperature and not the room temperature.

 

[melbow]

I'm glad it's going well- but 70-75 is too warm. You want to have it a steady temperature, not fluctuating like that, and ideally in the mid-high 60s. Which yeast strain did you use, and can you cover it or something so that it is insulated and doesn't go up and down in temperature? Or is that room temperature, and not the beer temperature? If you have a "sticky" thermometer on the outside, you can monitor the actual beer temperature. Ideally, it'd be about 68 degrees beer temperature and not the room temperature.

Yeah, that's room temperature. I don't have a sticky thermometer nor do I have a mini fridge yet that I can use as a fermentation chamber. I've been looking on Craigslist but with no luck.

Should I wrap it in a damp towel to keep the temperature more normal?

 

[Ranman481]

Congrats on your first brew! Welcome to the best obsession money can buy!

 

[Sailingeric]

I was like you on my first brew. Relax and just let it do it's thing for a couple weeks, bottle and enjoy after aging.

 

[Kevin79]

Should I wrap it in a damp towel to keep the temperature more normal?

Yes, and have a fan blow on it if you have one. For a quick and cheap method of keeping you temps in range, search "swamp cooler" on this forum.