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Slow Fermentation

Posted: Tuesday Oct 17, 2006 6:22 pm
by ShizzleAlcohizzle
Hi all I'm relatively new to brewing, putting down my 7th at the moment.
The make up of my latest brew:

Morgans Aust. Draught 1.7Kg
600 LDME
600 grams Dextrose
300 corn sryup
Safale s-04 yeast (11.5g)
kept around the 21-24 C

It's been in fermenter for 4 days. I'm a bit worried about the slow bubbling. I was under the impression that this yeast was a bit more vigorous and was expecting a bit more action from the bubbler.

Anyone else experienced this using Safale yeasts.

Posted: Tuesday Oct 17, 2006 6:53 pm
by OldEvan
give it a bit longer, my current brew (while not a Aust Draft, but with Safale) has been going for coming on 10 days and the sugar content is still dropping. If you are concerned about getting bad flavours from the thrub, you can always rack it without stopping fermentation :)

Posted: Tuesday Oct 17, 2006 9:14 pm
by one4stevo
I got a batch of Morgan's mountain larger been going now for 13 days :shock: . Im sure it will stop tomorrow might give it another day just incase. Been at a steady 21c all the time. Mid you last batch I did only took 4 days had it at about 26c all the way :oops: Still tastes ok just a little flat, not sure if it was cuz of the high temp. Would that be the case you think?

Posted: Wednesday Oct 18, 2006 11:23 am
by rwh
Don't use bubbling as an indicator of fermentation activity, as you could easily have an air leak. What's the hydro reading?

Disregard it's a leak

Posted: Wednesday Oct 18, 2006 4:43 pm
by ShizzleAlcohizzle
I didn't even think of checking for leaks, the o-ring is one brew old. I detected a beer smell from one particular spot under the lid ( the lid may be a tad too tight ).
I know that there is a layer of CO2 on top of the beer if it's fermenting, so would loosening the lid and tightening it again disturb this much?
BTW - rwh I don't use a hydro, it's in the cupboard, I am a bit lazy, I will use it one day though.

Re: Disregard it's a leak

Posted: Wednesday Oct 18, 2006 5:15 pm
by Boonie
ShizzleAlcohizzle wrote:I didn't even think of checking for leaks, the o-ring is one brew old. I detected a beer smell from one particular spot under the lid ( the lid may be a tad too tight ).
I know that there is a layer of CO2 on top of the beer if it's fermenting, so would loosening the lid and tightening it again disturb this much?
BTW - rwh I don't use a hydro, it's in the cupboard, I am a bit lazy, I will use it one day though.
Step 1......get out the hydro and test it. No use reasealing if the yeast is dead. + You will tell if the yeast is dead as it gives off a wonderful (sarcastic) aroma :lol: .

Step 2.......Reseal lid You do not take off all the way...And do not push down as you turn as this will make it harder. Wrap your legs around and twist :wink:

Posted: Wednesday Oct 18, 2006 5:20 pm
by lethaldog
Wrap your legs around and twist
I tried this last night but she of the house wouldnt be in it :lol: :lol: :lol:

Posted: Wednesday Oct 18, 2006 5:22 pm
by Boonie
lethaldog wrote:
Wrap your legs around and twist
I tried this last night but she of the house wouldnt be in it :lol: :lol: :lol:
Me too :lol: :lol: :lol:

I knew that that quote would bring a comment :lol:

Posted: Wednesday Oct 18, 2006 5:23 pm
by ShizzleAlcohizzle
Had a muck around with the lid got it bubbling although a bit slow. The lid looks warped. Smells beautifull. :)

Posted: Wednesday Oct 18, 2006 5:24 pm
by lethaldog
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: You know i cant help myself boonie :lol: :lol: :lol:

Posted: Wednesday Oct 18, 2006 5:40 pm
by Boonie
ShizzleAlcohizzle wrote:Had a muck around with the lid got it bubbling although a bit slow. The lid looks warped. Smells beautifull. :)
You have not crossthreaded have you??. Mind you if it is bubbling, should be OK.

Did you get the hydro out? Takes a solid 3 minutes at worst :wink:


You know i cant help myself boonie
I knew it would be you Lethal or Chris from Canberra who would jump on that quote.....

Posted: Wednesday Oct 18, 2006 6:25 pm
by lethaldog
Hey completely off topic here, did you here that the boonie dolls are back, only thing being that you have to suffer massive torcher in which to get one.......... Thats right you need to BUY a carton of VB :lol: :lol: :lol:

Posted: Wednesday Oct 18, 2006 6:30 pm
by rwh
I thought they were going to be Ian Botham or something this year.

Posted: Wednesday Oct 18, 2006 6:37 pm
by lethaldog
Yeah me to and i think they still are gonna have that but today i saw the boonie ones advertised and apparently if you have both they will actually talk to each other :lol: :lol:

Posted: Wednesday Oct 18, 2006 9:37 pm
by Boonie
lethaldog wrote:Yeah me to and i think they still are gonna have that but today i saw the boonie ones advertised and apparently if you have both they will actually talk to each other :lol: :lol:
Spot on, I have to suffer for a doll :cry: . :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Good looking bloke though...... :lol: :lol:

Boonie is back with Ian Botham and yep they talk to each other.

Will have to "Invest" in a case.

Tried to get one last year, but sold out pretty quick.

Sorry to get off topic fellas.

Posted: Thursday Oct 19, 2006 7:50 pm
by ShizzleAlcohizzle
No cross threading Boonie just a crapped out old lid me thinks, it's been about 6 years since it saw it's last brew and has done quite a few.
I have a second new fermenter going as well, I'll probably buy another new one and turf the crapper.

Posted: Thursday Oct 19, 2006 7:55 pm
by lethaldog
dont turf it just use it to bulk prime with or something, i have a few dinosaurs around the shed but they all get used from time to time for something to do with the beer, trust me keep it and i guarantee it will come in handy :lol: :lol:

Posted: Friday Oct 20, 2006 1:22 pm
by Biggles
I too have a brew (CPA) down using Safale Yeast thats now been down 8 days and still bubbles very slowly. SG is 1016. Temp has been around 22-24 most of the time.
The yeast was an old out of date pack the local home brew shop gave to me, it was only out by a few months but it fired up when I rehydrated it.

Posted: Friday Oct 20, 2006 2:09 pm
by rwh
I bet that's fermented out, Biggles. Two constant hydro readings should confirm. The slow bubbling will be residual CO2 coming out of solution.

Posted: Friday Oct 20, 2006 4:22 pm
by Biggles
Is 1016 low enough for the CPA, I only added an extra 300gr of LDM, over the recomended 1kg of BE2. ?