by wolfman » Thursday Apr 24, 2008 10:22 am
Hi guys, Ive been reading around this topic a bit, which has been a great help, but thought Id pitch a couple of questions.
Im a total newb at this, I just put down my 3rd brew ever, a tooheys dark ale, with a coopers brew enhancer. The yeast was from the kit. My first 2 beers bubbled away greatly, and there was no worries there. This one however, no bubbling. From reading this topic Ive learnt that:
a) no bubbling is more likely to mean something like a small harmless leak than my beer not fermenting
b) thankfully, the beer is not lost.
Also, Ive never used a hydrometer.. I broke it the first time I tried to use it, plus it confused the hell out of me. In the past I have just let my brews sit for 2 weeks before bottling, which has worked fine.
The brew has sat at a pretty even temperature, within the recommended range. Okay so Im on day 3 now, and there has been typical signs of fermenting (condensation on lid, slightl beery smell, a bit of "head" on the brew") ...However when I checked it today, the "head" had seemed to die down drastically. I couldnt help it, I had to open the lid.. and there was pretty much no foamyness on top of the brew.. I could still see yeast floating around on top too!
Okay so I guess my question is, what should I do ?
- leave the beer for my standard 2 weeks, bottle it, and hope for the best ?
- pitch some more yeast on it ?
- go buy a new hydrometer and see if its actually fermenting ?
Thanks heaps guys!