mmehawich
Member
Hi-
I've been homebrewing (mead) for about 4 years now. Mead is really easy to brew, but the ingredients are expensive and it is time consuming to make (wainting 9 months for your mead to age is like waiting for a baby to come along!). Anyhoo, I decided to try my hand at brewing beer. I started my first batch last Monday. Here is what I did:
Ingredient for 2.5 gallons:
Fermentables:
2.5 #'s amber malt syrup
1 # dark DME
1 # xtra dark DME
Grains:
1/2 # victory malt
1/2 # chocolate malt
Hops:
1/2 oz cascade (bittering)
1/2 oz hallerteau (aroma)
Yeast:
Danstar Nottingham (6gm pkt.)
Steeped grains @ 140F for 1/2 hour (removed grain bag), added malt syrup and extract and bittering hops and brought to a boil for 1 hour. Turned off heat, added aroma hops. Cooled in sink with ice water, added to primary (6 gallon brew bucket), topped with 75F H20, pitched yeast (rehyrated according to packet instructions).
I'm not sure, but I think I may have a stuck fermentation. Yeast activity picked up about 6 hours after pitching, with the tell-tale signs of a healthy fermentation. 36 hours later, however, the airlock stopped bubbling. It is the middle of winter in Chicago (and our apartment has a 90 year old heating system). I think that the temperature may have dropped to suddenly when the radiator cut out the other night. Sometimes with mead, the must/wort ferments so quickly that it finished in 24 hours. Does this ever happen with beer? What are my options here? Should I be concerned, or just rack the beer this weekend and see what happens?
Any insight you could give would be greatly appreciated!
I've been homebrewing (mead) for about 4 years now. Mead is really easy to brew, but the ingredients are expensive and it is time consuming to make (wainting 9 months for your mead to age is like waiting for a baby to come along!). Anyhoo, I decided to try my hand at brewing beer. I started my first batch last Monday. Here is what I did:
Ingredient for 2.5 gallons:
Fermentables:
2.5 #'s amber malt syrup
1 # dark DME
1 # xtra dark DME
Grains:
1/2 # victory malt
1/2 # chocolate malt
Hops:
1/2 oz cascade (bittering)
1/2 oz hallerteau (aroma)
Yeast:
Danstar Nottingham (6gm pkt.)
Steeped grains @ 140F for 1/2 hour (removed grain bag), added malt syrup and extract and bittering hops and brought to a boil for 1 hour. Turned off heat, added aroma hops. Cooled in sink with ice water, added to primary (6 gallon brew bucket), topped with 75F H20, pitched yeast (rehyrated according to packet instructions).
I'm not sure, but I think I may have a stuck fermentation. Yeast activity picked up about 6 hours after pitching, with the tell-tale signs of a healthy fermentation. 36 hours later, however, the airlock stopped bubbling. It is the middle of winter in Chicago (and our apartment has a 90 year old heating system). I think that the temperature may have dropped to suddenly when the radiator cut out the other night. Sometimes with mead, the must/wort ferments so quickly that it finished in 24 hours. Does this ever happen with beer? What are my options here? Should I be concerned, or just rack the beer this weekend and see what happens?
Any insight you could give would be greatly appreciated!