Closed bucket fermanting

[neilburr]

Hi all first post thanks in advance I brought a wilkinsons home brew kit and a Tom Caxton reale ale and started it 7 days ago but since reading the forum I think I've messed it up, my fermenting chamber has no airlock and the instructions said cover the fermenter but since I got a lid with it I sealed it, what do I do

 

[Hopper5000]

The problem you can run into with no airlock is blowing the top off the bucket from pressure build up since fermentation produces c02. Often buckets don't seal very well so if ti hasn't blown off it probably isn't going to. If you are really worried you can pop the lid off and take a look but the more times you do that the more times you expose it to funkies/contamination in the air. You are probably ok though, but next time I would for sure get an airlock on there. Just leave it for another week or two in primary then bottle it and/or secondary it and you are probably fine.

 

[kpwright]

As long as your yeast has started then you are fine. Pop the lid off and stick your head in there and take a big whiff. If you get knocked back by a toxic smell and/or you see tiny bubbles popping on the surface that is a good sign that it is fermenting. If you can breathe deeply and there are no bubbles then it's dead and you need to add a new yeast and restart.

Don't worry about the bucket. I do all of my primary fermenting in a bucket with a plastic snap-on lid and I've never had any problems (30+ batches).

 

[neilburr]

Brilliant thank you itsays to put into the pressure chamber after 4 to 6 days is there anyway to test if its ready without a hydrometer

 

[Hopper5000]

pressure chamber?

Generally no there isn't a good way of telling that it is done without taking a gravity reading.

I wouldn't follow the directions in regards to length of primary fermentation because they usually don't give enough time.

 

[neilburr]

pressure chamber?

Generally no there isn't a good way of telling that it is done without taking a gravity reading.

I wouldn't follow the directions in regards to length of primary fermentation because they usually don't give enough time.

Ok cheers , can I leave it too long ? Thanks everyone appreciate it

 

[ACbrewer]

Yes you can leave it to long, No you are unlikely to do so if by 'to long' you are measuring in days or weeks. To long is measured in months, or perhaps years. - depending on the brew.

 

[Hopper5000]

im confused as to what you mean by pressure chamber, do you mean a glass carboy for secondary fermentation?

As far as leaving it too long in primary fermentation technically yes. Yeast will die and can produce off flavors when they do, but that doesn't really happen for many months, somewhere between 4 to 6. You generally don't need to worry about it.

 

[neilburr]

im confused as to what you mean by pressure chamber, do you mean a glass carboy for secondary fermentation?

As far as leaving it too long in primary fermentation technically yes. Yeast will die and can produce off flavors when they do, but that doesn't really happen for many months, somewhere between 4 to 6. You generally don't need to worry about it.

Sorry don't know why I said pressure chamber it's a fermentator ( a bucket with a lid). The instructions say siphon into a pressure barrel which was supplied with my kit

 

[Hopper5000]

oh ok, then do you add sugar and it carbs up in there?

 

[neilburr]

oh ok, then do you add sugar and it carbs up in there?

Yeah apparently that's what it says (first time brewer) thanks for all your help think I need to buy a hydrometer