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I put a Munton's Connoisseur Wheat into a fermenter 15 days ago. It was supposed to ferment in 4-6 days, but it is still bubbling every few minutes. I'll wait until it stops bubbling to bottle it up, but it does seem odd that it is taking so long. Anybody else ever have one take way too long to ferment?
I would think you used way too much malt and/or sugar in your wort. It happened to me and a friend once when we were novices to home brewing and we ended up with a pretty wicked batch of high-test malt liquor.
I would think you used way too much malt and/or sugar in your wort. It happened to me and a friend once when we were novices to home brewing and we ended up with a pretty wicked batch of high-test malt liquor.
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Nope. Heat water. Add the can of Hopped Malt Extract. Add a measured amount of corn sugar. Dump in fermenter. Add water. Pitch yeast. That's all there is to it.
I think the fermenter was scratched up enough to trap bacteria and some side-reactions were taking place.
You add roughly 1 tablespoon to the last ten minutes of boil. It is a fining agent that helps facilitate protein binding, causing the "large" proteins to precipitate out (the trub, all of that stuff left on the bottom of your kettle). It is supposed to help prevent chill haze and generally help produce a clear beer.
The slime is a funny experience, we lived by the RDWHAHB and occasionally something went wrong like that. I agree with Irish moss, its one of those things I used because I was told it was better but for my drinking habbits and eye I have not noticed that much of a change.
I started my first brew on Saturday the 15th. It is a New Castle Brown Ale style kit, and I made a few mistakes. I think I pitched a little too much yeast, I think I used too much brown sugar when brewing. Also the first 3 days of fermentation were perfect and airlock water was bubbling, then temperature here in So Cal unexpectedly dropped and I woke up and saw my garage was at 55 degrees and the bubbles had stopped. I moved it into the house where we keep it around 74, and left it there for a few days, but I failed to think about the temp is probably 5 degrees higher in the bucket, so it was probably 79 degrees in the bucket which is too hot. The weather got better so I just moved it back into the garage yesterday, bubbles still haven't started again so I wonder if it has stopped fermenting. I drew a sample yesterday, 5 days into fermentation, to look and smell, and everything actually seemed pretty good except for a strong alcohol smell.
I started my first brew on Saturday the 15th. It is a New Castle Brown Ale style kit, and I made a few mistakes. I think I pitched a little too much yeast, I think I used too much brown sugar when brewing. Also the first 3 days of fermentation were perfect and airlock water was bubbling, then temperature here in So Cal unexpectedly dropped and I woke up and saw my garage was at 55 degrees and the bubbles had stopped. I moved it into the house where we keep it around 74, and left it there for a few days, but I failed to think about the temp is probably 5 degrees higher in the bucket, so it was probably 79 degrees in the bucket which is too hot. The weather got better so I just moved it back into the garage yesterday, bubbles still haven't started again so I wonder if it has stopped fermenting. I drew a sample yesterday, 5 days into fermentation, to look and smell, and everything actually seemed pretty good except for a strong alcohol smell.
Typically, more yeast is generally better, and it is hard to over pitch, but it does happen. What does your recipe look like and how much did you pitch?
It could be possible that the colder temps in the garage halted fermentation, but if it didn't pick back up when after you brought it inside than it could very well have completed. Fermentations that complete in 24 hours are not unheard of. It could also very well still be fermenting. Just because you do not see activity in the airlock does not mean a thing. You can either just let it sit for another two weeks to be sure or you can take a reading. If the SG is at where it is supposed to be, then it is done. If it is not, check it again in a few days to see if it dropped. If it did not drop since the first reading, you have a stuck fermentation.
It is possible the rapid increase in temp caused the yeast to "go on strike".
If your fermentation is stuck you have to pitch more yeast. You can try adding some yeast nutrient, but I'd go with more yeast.
Adding "too much" brown sugar: If you added too much sugar, you will get a more alcoholic, but drier, beer. I wouldn't worry too much about the excess molasses flavor.
Now onto the big concern: strong alcohol smell...If you can smell alcohol in beer then you probably produced higher alcohols, aka fusel alcohols. Basically, other alcohols in addition to ethanol. You don't want to drink those unless you want a headache. This occurs from over-pitching, fermenting at too high of temps, and just generally from the yeast going into overdrive. It also occurs from contamination. How sanitary were you?
Posting the recipe and your process is really the only way to diagnose the problem. If the beer has finished fermenting and tastes fine, you can try drinking some and see what happens (headache or not). If you get a headache, I would dump it.
Did you taste the sample?
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