AirLock Sniffer
Active Member
- Joined
- Dec 31, 2020
- Messages
- 31
- Reaction score
- 28
Hey gang.
I have a question about Batch #4 currently in the fermenter. I'm a beginning extract brewer. Batches 1 thru 3 are in various stages of bottle conditioning and pretty tasty. I purchased several pounds of Briess and Muntons wheat DME to try and make some Hefeweizens. WB-06 dry yeast.
This time around I decided to harvest some of the yeast from the previous batch. I saved about 500ml of trub slurry into a sterilized pyrex and pitched about 3/4 of a cup of the creamy top layer the next day into a cleaned and sanitized carboy per usual.
Lag time seemed slightly longer, though it started fermentation within 24 hours. Then it took off like a rocket. I was used to "vigorous" fermentation, or thought I was anyway. Always use a blowoff tube for the first few days. This time it was really rockin'. Much more swirling of large hop particles and trub. I did ramp up the temperature on this batch slightly in an effort to coax more esters. The last few batches were always done at 62F, this location is a steady 67F. I attribute part of the fireworks to that, maybe not all?
But - I expected things to be winding down by now, like previous fermentations. They usually stopped most obvious visual signs by now. It's been almost a week, and while things are much more sedate of course I still see plenty of very fine "fizzy bubbles" doing their thing streaming and extending up the sides of the carboy. Krausen has fallen, I guess. The airlock is still bubbling regular about every 5 seconds. Is this batch doomed? Did a bad bug get in there?
True to my namesake, the beer smells OK, at least.
I have a question about Batch #4 currently in the fermenter. I'm a beginning extract brewer. Batches 1 thru 3 are in various stages of bottle conditioning and pretty tasty. I purchased several pounds of Briess and Muntons wheat DME to try and make some Hefeweizens. WB-06 dry yeast.
This time around I decided to harvest some of the yeast from the previous batch. I saved about 500ml of trub slurry into a sterilized pyrex and pitched about 3/4 of a cup of the creamy top layer the next day into a cleaned and sanitized carboy per usual.
Lag time seemed slightly longer, though it started fermentation within 24 hours. Then it took off like a rocket. I was used to "vigorous" fermentation, or thought I was anyway. Always use a blowoff tube for the first few days. This time it was really rockin'. Much more swirling of large hop particles and trub. I did ramp up the temperature on this batch slightly in an effort to coax more esters. The last few batches were always done at 62F, this location is a steady 67F. I attribute part of the fireworks to that, maybe not all?
But - I expected things to be winding down by now, like previous fermentations. They usually stopped most obvious visual signs by now. It's been almost a week, and while things are much more sedate of course I still see plenty of very fine "fizzy bubbles" doing their thing streaming and extending up the sides of the carboy. Krausen has fallen, I guess. The airlock is still bubbling regular about every 5 seconds. Is this batch doomed? Did a bad bug get in there?
True to my namesake, the beer smells OK, at least.