Trying not to freak out but.....

[Gaviao]

Okay so I know that MANY of you say to beginners "Don't freak out" or "Don't worry".... and I am trying my best to heed that advice but I'm freaking out a little.

Here is the back story...

My wife bought me a Mr. Beer kit two years ago and I never got around to making until a little over two weeks ago. Shortly after I started fermentation (Sat 4/27) I noticed that NOTHING was happening. So I went to a local home brewing supply store and talked with the owner and he agreed that the yeast was most likely dead so he sold me a packet of yeast (it was an ale yeast, red packet with a number 5 on it). I went home, re-hydrated the yeast and added the whole packet which was roughly 3 -4 times more than had come with the kit. Immediately stuff started happening. That was Thursday 5/2.

So here we are coming up on the end of fermentation and here's what I'm noticing.

First off there is NO activity going on, no moving bubbles in the beer or anything.
Second the beer still looks pretty cloudy. It is a pale ale so I know it's not supposed to be completely clear but ya know... worrying.

I'm supposed to bottle this Thursday... Is everything good? Can I bottle sooner? SHOULD I bottle sooner? Etc...

Thanks for putting up with a beginner...

 

[mojotele]

Well, here you go:

Don't freak out. Don't worry. Everything is fine

Seriously, though. What you are noticing is normal. Often, when I stick a keg of beer in my kegerator it is cloudy for a week or so then it clears up. Sometimes it just takes a while for stuff to fall out of suspension.

Bottle away on Thursday and enjoy your beer in a few weeks!

 

[Malty_Dog]

Sounds like your ferment is done. I'd expect a full 11g rehydrated packet of yeast would rip through a Mr Beer batch awful quick, so don't worry about that. And yeah that was probably US-05 which is a beast to begin with.

 

[unionrdr]

Yup,red packet with a 5 on it...def Fermentis US-05. Medium flocculation yeast,so it takes a while for it to settle out clear or slightly misty after FG is reached. The fact that it isn't bubbling anymore only means that initial fermentation is done. It'll now slowly,uneventfully creep down to FG. You'll need a hydrometer to tell for sure when FG is stable & it's done. Then 3-7 days for the clean up/settling out I mentioned earlier.

 

[ncbrewer]

You'll need a hydrometer to tell for sure when FG is stable & it's done.

+1
Bottling without gravity readings can be hazardous to your health (bottle bombs). Check gravity, then again 2 or 3 days later. If the gravity readings (adjusted for temperature) are the same, it's safe to bottle. If it has gone down, it's still fermenting and not safe to bottle.

 

[BigCypress]

I have some bad news for you. Due to your actions of adding healthy yeast, you've apparently made beer. It's only a matter of time now until your basement or garage is filled with buckets, carboys and at least 15 miles worth of plastic tubing. Godspeed, friend.

 

[woozy]

The activity with the swirling yeasts and turbulent activity lasts a surprisingly short time. I was a bit disappointed when i discovered that.

Then comes cleaning up and settling down period. So you had the activity period and now it's over. That's all good.

Can you bottle before Thursday. ... maybe. Should you bottle before Thursday. No, probably not.

The Mr. Beer way of figuring out when it's time to bottle: "Maybe in two weeks; definately in three". You should have a white layer of flaked off dead yeast called trub on the bottom. (check). And the beer should taste like flat beer (not sweet). Well, you say yours is cloudy. Then that means maybe you should give it another week. Of course you've got two more days and it will probably clear up some by then. So if it's clear on thursday and doesn't taste sweet, bottle then. If it's still cloudy (a few individual flakes of trub doesn't mean it's cloudy; it just means Mr. Beer made the spigot too low and the flaky dead yeast got into your sample) or still taste sweet wait until next Thurs. There's *no* harm in waiting (within all human reason; you can't leave it in the fermenter for years but you *can* leave it in the fermenter for months. Seriously. You can leave it in the fermentor for two months and you'll have *no* problem.)

The *correct* way to figure out when it's time to bottle: Go out an buy a hydrometer. Wait two to three weeks until the turbulent swirly wild days of visible yeast activity and excitement are long gone and just a memory of the past. i.e. today. Or Thursday. When in doubt the *longer* you wait the more likely you are to be correct. Then take a hydrometer reading. Wait three days and take another. If the two readings are the same same then the readings have stabilized and it's time to bottle. If the first reading was higher than the second then wait another week and take two more readings. Don't bottle untill the readings stabilize.

 

[tre9er]

I agree, buy a hydrometer from LHBS, take at least 2 readings, 2 days apart, make sure it's the same. If it goes down (taken at same beer temperature) you're still fermenting, don't bottle. If it stays the same, throw the Mr. Beer in a fridge for a day or two, then take it out, let it warm up for an hour or two, and bottle.

 

[woozy]

Sacralege alert: Actually, I don't think there's any harm in flying by the seat of your pants and doing Mr. Beer type guestimating "gee, it tastes like flat beer" to determine when to bottle. *IF* you are aware that you *are* flying by the seat of your pants and aware that you are, for the sake of the first attempt at a casual hobby with a learning curve (not a particularly difficult learning curve but an existent learning curve nonetheless) cutting corners. And it's probably best to use plastic bottles.

It'll be just fine in a "well, I wasn't really sure what I was doing but it came out okay, don't you think" sort of way. It's just that once you start "really" making beer and and feeling "gee, this time maybe I should actually figure out what I'm doing" then you're going to want to start doing things right.

One's first Mr. Beer kit is really sort of a "let's try this and see what happens". If it works (which it almost certainly will) then you shrug your shoulders and say "gee, it came out okay". If it doesn't (which is pretty unlikely) the you shrug your shoulders and say "gee, it didn't come out okay".

 

[tre9er]

Sacralege alert: Actually, I don't think there's any harm in flying by the seat of your pants and doing Mr. Beer type guestimating "gee, it tastes like flat beer" to determine when to bottle. *IF* you are aware that you *are* flying by the seat of your pants and aware that you are, for the sake of the first attempt at a casual hobby with a learning curve (not a particularly difficult learning curve but an existent learning curve nonetheless) cutting corners. And it's probably best to use plastic bottles.

It'll be just fine in a "well, I wasn't really sure what I was doing but it came out okay, don't you think" sort of way. It's just that once you start "really" making beer and and feeling "gee, this time maybe I should actually figure out what I'm doing" then you're going to want to start doing things right.

One's first Mr. Beer kit is really sort of a "let's try this and see what happens". If it works (which it almost certainly will) then you shrug your shoulders and say "gee, it came out okay". If it doesn't (which is pretty unlikely) the you shrug your shoulders and say "gee, it didn't come out okay".

While I agree, the potential for bottle-bombs can't be overstated, unless of course the OP doesn't mind cleaning that up, glass, beer, etc. Place them in a trash bag, I suppose, then pray.

 

[woozy]

While I agree, the potential for bottle-bombs can't be overstated, unless of course the OP doesn't mind cleaning that up, glass, beer, etc. Place them in a trash bag, I suppose, then pray.

Heh, heh! Maybe when I get a bottle bomb for the first time my attitude will change radically.

Mr. Beer assumes the first time Mr. Beer brewer will be using plastic bottles.

And that kind of makes sense. When one starts buying beer equipment, I imagine most people will spend six buck on a hydrometer before spending twenty bucks on a bottle capper.

 

[JohnSand]

Wait, and read the MrBeer Forum. There they will tell you that the 2-2-2 in the MrBeer instructions is hasty. It's really three weeks in the little keg, four weeks in the bottle. Longer in the bottle for heavier or stronger beers, longer in bottle at temps below about 70. I'm on my fith batch of MrBeer, I wait until it clears before I bottle it. Read and be patient.

 

[Gaviao]

Okay..... freak out adverted... Thanks

Several people mentioned "bottle bombs" and I just want to make sure that I have the process down on what causes this. I'm assuming that if fermentation isn't fully finished and I introduce more sugar and then bottle. The yeast have way more to eat then they should and the CO2 pressure is too much for the bottle. Am I close? Also I am using the plastic liter bottles that come with the kit for this batch.

I was holding off on the hydrometer.... not really sure why... Is there something that I should look for in a hydrometer? Are there cheap ones that don't really work? Or is a hydrometer is a hydrometer is a hydrometer etc...

Again I've said in once already in a different post but seriously this has to be one of the best forums that I have ever been on. Thanks for the help!

 

[DrunkleJon]

Just calibrate your hydrometer for accuracy. Also if you are lazy and don't really care about the abv like me, you can just let er ferment until you get the same reading over 3 days. That is a fair indication that it is done unless you got it really cold and froze the yeast to sleep.

 

[GASoline71]

I have some bad news for you. Due to your actions of adding healthy yeast, you've apparently made beer. It's only a matter of time now until your basement or garage is filled with buckets, carboys and at least 15 miles worth of plastic tubing. Godspeed, friend.

Don't forget the 25 or more 5 gallon propane tanks...

Gary

 

[unionrdr]

You need a hydrometer that reads from 1.000 to like 1.180 or so. I have the glass one from Cooper's that's a common one for beer & wine gravity ranges. It's about $10 at the major supply sites. Check your lhbs as well.
And yes,that's the most common way to get bottle bombs.

 

[ncbrewer]

I don't think it's real common, but I bought a "bottling hydrometer" several months ago. It only reads to 1.040 at full scale. It is really good for checking to see if the beer is at FG, because it's marked in 0.0005 SG (half point) intervals. But it's no good for OG.