BeerBorg

ok a lil backround on recipe first im using a lbk with about 2.5 gallons of distilled water i used one 3.3 can of briess golden light, 1 package of workhorse yeast and 2 additions of hops(styrian golding)1 at boil and 1 with 5 mins of boil time left. i boiled for a total of 30 mins. cooled wort and pitched yeast.have in my basement temp around 66F


next day theres a giant yeast party goin on so im thinking ok good.....next couple weeks or so checking on it it seems like the process in goin good krausen dropped and beers seemed to be losing it cloudy look. so another week or so goes by 1 day shy of 3 weeks total time and i figure heck ill check on it maybe i could even bottle...NOT it looks like i pitched more yeast or somethin beers is kinda milky lookin and theres a lil foam on top again (just a small pile in the middle) and it tastes like its not fishished like a lil sweet kinda nasty tastin not really like beer and has weird color when poured in glass

is my beers ruined somehow? im thinking i shoud wait and see what happens

If it tastes funky it may be infected.

Can you define "kind of nasty" better?

well it doesnt have any off those off tastes ive read about like band aids or anything like that

it seems thick and kinda cidery in a way but different from the CAL cidery taste

First question : do you have a hydrometer? If you could take a reading and post a pic of the beer in the sample tube it might help. You don't want to bottle if it isn't ready yet.

Second question: You say it is kind of thick and cloudy, is it possible someone in your house could have disturbed the LBK? The trub may have gotten disturbed and redistributed into the beer.

no hydrometer.....but lhbs is nearby so i could grab one tomorrow

im sure it hasnt been disturbed.... its just been in basement with a towel over it the whole time but it does seem like a little more krausen is on the surface today like it is fermenting again

A hydrometer is a wonderful thing to have for brewing and should be at the top of the list for buying beer gear.

That being said the 3-2-2 method was started if I recall for new brewers who didn't have one because 3 weeks should finish most beers.

Is it possible that the basement cooled down enough to slow the yeast down and then warmed up again?

You may want to check the website for the yeast you used to read about it's characteristics.

Gman20 wrote:ok a lil backround on recipe first im using a lbk with about 2.5 gallons of distilled water i used one 3.3 can of briess golden light, 1 package of workhorse yeast and 2 additions of hops(styrian golding)1 at boil and 1 with 5 mins of boil time left. i boiled for a total of 30 mins. cooled wort and pitched yeast.have in my basement temp around 66F


next day theres a giant yeast party goin on so im thinking ok good.....next couple weeks or so checking on it it seems like the process in goin good krausen dropped and beers seemed to be losing it cloudy look. so another week or so goes by 1 day shy of 3 weeks total time and i figure heck ill check on it maybe i could even bottle...NOT it looks like i pitched more yeast or somethin beers is kinda milky lookin and theres a lil foam on top again (just a small pile in the middle) and it tastes like its not fishished like a lil sweet kinda nasty tastin not really like beer and has weird color when poured in glass

is my beers ruined somehow? im thinking i shoud wait and see what happens

You should use spring water instead of distilled.

The distillation process removes minerals from the water that yeasties like.

Spring water uses ozonation to kill bugs, and leave the mineral composition intact.

T8r's feeble opinion is purchase the hydrometer, sanitize the hydrometer, test the wort with said hydrometer tomorrow or shortly after. Then let it keep fermenting for 2 more days then take another sanitized hydrometer reading, compare readings, if 2nd reading not the same as first reading, it is still fermenting...test in another 2 days, compare and decide if it needs some more time UNTIL you get 2 readings the same back to back. THEN BOTTLE

Brewbirds wrote:A hydrometer is a wonderful thing to have for brewing and should be at the top of the list for buying beer gear.

That being said the 3-2-2 method was started if I recall for new brewers who didn't have one because 3 weeks should finish most beers.

Is it possible that the basement cooled down enough to slow the yeast down and then warmed up again?

You may want to check the website for the yeast you used to read about it's characteristics.

i guess its possible with the way the weather is is WI some of these nights been getting a lil chilly also used the M10 mangrove jacks workhorse so im thinking its a pretty "hardy" yeast temp wise

and another tidbit the krausen has definitely increased and so has temp. so as far as i can tell theres some fermentation goin on

Very informative, As I read these posts I find solutions to issues I am thinking will or may have with my first few batches. Still waiting for my kit but thanks everyone.

fermentation seems to be stopping again.....just got me a hydrometer so ill take a sample when it clears up and post a pic

A pic would be easiest to figure out if it is infected. With the batch I just brewed, I had a small krausen for 2 days then it dropped, then 5 days later I had a thick normal krausen. No idea why it happened this way, but you just have to trust that the yeast know what they are doing. As long as your sanitation was good you should be fine. Bottle and let us know how it goes.

was goin thru some old threads and still dunno why this happened and i forgot at the time to give an update but this batch stalled out and had 2 krausens in the lbk. but eventually it turned out fine and i was able to drink it

just in case this happens to anyone else out there