Fermentation Concerns - 12 hours in (Help!)

[DanielB83]

Hi All,

First time poster, long time reader!

I've been researching home brewing for some time (perhaps not long enough given my situation with my first brew!).

Process to date: -

1. Clean/Sterilized everything
2. Boiled 4 Lt's of water and threw it into the fermenter
3. Softened a Morgans Export Blue Larger and added it
4. Add 1kg of copper tun brewing sugar No.15
5. Stir gently to dissolve
6. Brewed Copper Tun (Tea bag style) pride of ringwood hops for 10 minutes in a mug of boiling water
7. Added to brew
8. topped up fermenter to 23 lt's with cold water
9. waited for temp to drop to 25 deg then pitched yeast (S23)
10. Stirred
11. Filled airlock

What has happened: -

- A lot of the yeast (perhaps 60%) has fallen to the bottom of the fermenter (although is seems saflarger 23 is a bottom fermenting yeast?)
- After 12 hours, the temp has dropped to 20 ish
- Bubbles were very very very slowly coming through the airlock last night
- This morning there doesn't seem to be any activity
- When I started topping up the fermenter a lot of foam was created... I removed this... should I not have done this?

Questions

1. Did I pitch the yeast at too high of a temp?
2. Should I have left the foam after filling the fermenter?
3. Should I have not stirred after pitching the yeast?
4. How long should I wait before stepping in and doing some damage control due to no fermenting?
5. Most importantly, with these ingredients, what would have you done differently?

Appreciate any feedback and looking forwards to frequenting the forums!

 

[stpug]

1. That a hair warm for lager yeast, and even above manufacturers specs.
2. Leave the foam it's part of the beer so no need to remove it.
3. Stirring after pitching is fine as long as you're sanitary about it.
4. I'd still allow ~72 hours before stepping in, unless you're already hovering around 55F (13C) in which case you could give it even longer.
5. I've never used that style of beer kit, but from what I've read I think you did your job correctly. A lower pitching temperature would have been better (~20C) and you need to maintain a 12-15C temperature during the bulk of fermentation.

It's okay for the yeast to fall to the bottom. That's where it revives and begins it's journey.
The temp dropping to 20C is a good thing; you'll need to keep it lower once fermentation begins.
Bubbles shortly after pitching are probably just pressure changes (fermenter contents warm, expands, pushes out air).
No activity this morning could be because the ambient and fermenter temps have equalized.

 

[k_mcarthur]

Assuming that by"larger" you mean lager, how did you prepare this yeast. Brewing methods seem ok, but I always make a large starter for lagers, 2L at least. But I use liquid and I think what you used is dry. If you use mrmalty.com calculator and input your OG you can find your ideal pitch rate. Dry yeast must be hydrated and chilled to same temp as wort, then pitched. Even with a large healthy starter 12 hours is not enough to see evidence of fermentation. Give it some time to see if the yeast will come around if they weren't prepared correctly.

 

[kh54s10]

The only thing of note I see is pitching a little warm. The rest seems OK so I would say that you just need to give it more time...
I agree with no need to remove foam etc.

Ferment this at the low end of any temperature range suggested by the yeast MFG or the instructions.

 

[DanielB83]

Thanks guys, really appreciate the feedback.

@ k_mcarthur - !! I really have to pick myself up with the lager/larger... you'll have to excuse me! Thanks for the mrmalty.com site, I'll check it out.

 

[DanielB83]

Hi Guys,

Quick update on this one and a few questions.

So, within 24-36 hours after pitching the yeast (way too high it would seem), I took the temp of the fermenter down to 14 degrees C.

I've noticed a few things: -

1. The airlock is completely even on each side, suggesting there is no gas/co2 /stuff whatsoever putting pressure on the airlock

2. Hardly any bubbles left on the top of the wort. There is still a fine layer, but nothing compare to what was there before.

3. Smells... Wow, does it smell...

Has fermentation just slowed because of the temp being 14C, or is the yeast dead due to me pitching it at 27C? Has been in the fermenter for 5 days.

Just wondering if I should keep it going or ride it off and start a fresh?

Thanks for any help!

 

[FATC1TY]

Well, you are using lager yeast.. Which is a bottom fermenting yeast.

You pitched EXTREMELY warm for that yeast. So it could have finished very, very fast. That yeast isn't very good, IMO, and especially since you did it at temps higher than ale yeast, you will get some off flavors, without a doubt. S-23 has been said to toss fruity esters in lagers, that taste like circus peanuts.

Check the gravity of the beer, do you know what the final gravity should be? That would be an indicator.

You will then need to lager the beer around 5C atleast.. and do so for a couple of weeks.

 

[stpug]

Airlocks are not an accurate way of "measuring" fermentation; a gravity sample is the only accurate way. I have two bucket fermenters and one never bubbles, and the other only sometimes bubbles. Buckets are notorious for gas leaking around the lid seal. The good part is that even if the buckets leak gas around the lid they still create great beer

Bubbles on top of the wort are also not representative of fermentation; again, a gravity sample is the only accurate way to measure fermentation.

Smells are a good thing - even bad or "off" smell are a good thing. I've had a few beers that smelled terrible in the fermenter that ended up producing great beers.

I'm betting your beer is fine in terms of fermentation and may actually be close to done fermenting at this point (especially since you're not seeing much visual signs). Definitely ride it out and be ready to bottle it in a week or two. Also, get a gravity sample in another 5 days or so and let us know what you measure.

 

[DanielB83]

Hey all,

Just though I'd update my original post. I always hate seeing a post start and then not seeing what actually happened. Thought other beginners may like to know what happened.

I took my first reading tonight after 9 days fermenting and despite pitching the yeast at 27 C, it doesn't seem to have produced any off flavours... (I may have drank the test brew once I got my reading to test!).

It may have been because within 24 hours I had it fermenting at 12 C, I don't know? Regardless, looks like I may have dodged a bullet. It actually tasks like beer! Suffice to say I will never pitch lager that hot anymore! The beer gods let this one slide it would seem...

Cheers,

One very relieved and happy beginner!

 

[progmac]

awesome! it was once standard practice for homebrewers to pitch lager yeast warm and then cool the wort when visible signs of fermentation became present (bubbles to the surface). it sounds like this is basically what you did. one way to help clean up the taste is to bring the beer up to room temperature after fermentation (or when fermentation is 75% complete) for 2-5 days before dropping it down to lagering temperatures. of course, if you are happy with the taste, why bother?