Illustrated Beer Brewing Primer
Paul's Brewing Home Page
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FermentingFermenting is where you put the yeast to work. There is not a lot that you have to do, other than to make sure the carboy is at the right temperature. However, things can happen during fermentation that may call for action.
Within the 24 hours following pitching the yeast, you should begin to see foam appearing on top of the wort. If you don't see anything by 48 hours after pitching the yeast, add a packet of dry yeast. Sometimes the fermentation goes quickly, and foam is blown out of the blowoff tube. Let it foam for a day or two till it slows down, then pour out the foamy water from the blowoff bucket, rinse out the bucket and fill it with fresh water. Sometimes the fermentation will clog the blow off tube and blow the stopper out of the carboy. If you see this happen, make a gallon of sanitizing solution, wash and sanitize the stopper, and replace. Clean up any foamy messes and slop sanitizing water over the area, and over the outside of the carboy. Many brewers like to have a short lag time, and will brew up a starter, or a gallon or so of wort to get the yeast going. This is not a bad idea, but with the current liquid yeast products, there are enough yeast cells to get your brew going. Once you have your yeast foaming, then it is time to think about slowing it down by keeping temperatures cool. Temperatures in the lower 60F range will improve the quality of the beer. When you keep your fermenting beer cool, you rarely have problems with runaway foaming. I usually let the fermentation go for one or two weeks, depending on my schedule. It is best to allow the foam to drop, and the beer to clarify a bit, which may not happen until the end of the second week. Letting it sit in the primary for two weeks will not hurt the beer.
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Illustrated Beer Brewing PrimerIngredients :: Equipment :: Preparation :: Steeping :: Sanitation :: Mash Out :: Add Extract :: Boil :: Bittering Hops :: Wort Chiller :: Flavor Hops :: Aroma Hops :: Chill Wort :: Remove Chiller :: Aerate :: Carboy :: Pitch Yeast :: Cap :: Cool the Carboy :: Fermenting :: Corny Keg Rebuild :: Racking :: Reusing Yeast :: Transferring Beer :: Carbonation :: Prost! |
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