Fabulous Posted January 12, 2007 Share Posted January 12, 2007 I am new to the Coopers home brewing kits. Have brewed two so far..Lager and Stout that are bottled and fermented as per predictions. I have just put a Mexican Cerveza on 24 hours ago and the fermentation is extremely slow. The airlock is not bubbling and the froth although covering the brew is not very thick (10mm) with no large bubbles. My other brews were well and truly bubbling through the airlock at around 12 per minute after 24 hours. The mix is Cerveza can and 1kg BE2, 23litres. Starting SG 1032. Question. Is this normal for Cerveza or do I have a problem with sticking. The temperature suggests activity...room temperature is 24C, brew temp is 26-27C. Thanks, Phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fabulous Posted January 13, 2007 Author Share Posted January 13, 2007 I think I just learnt something but I don't know what :? Last night I checked the brew and there was no change, it appeared that it had stopped and no change in the SG. So I ensured the temperature stayed around 26C overnight. Woke up this morning and no activity from the airlock. I took the lid off and checked the wort and the foam had all but disappeared. Damn. So I put the lid back on to read some posts on this site to see what to do next. 5 minutes later I passed the fermenter. The airlock was bubbling away at 14/minute. A couple of hours later and it is still going. I assume that allowing some air in kicked it off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PB2 Posted January 14, 2007 Share Posted January 14, 2007 No, you can assume correctly that the action of removing the lid and then screwing it back on has achieved a more airtight seal and some or all of the CO2 - produced during fermentation - is now passing through the airlock rather than leaking out. Never, Never trust the airlock as an indicator of fermentation activity! Good beer can be produced without the airlock bubbling once. The foam has probably subsided because the fermentation has progressed beyond the high krausen (foaming) stage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke Posted January 14, 2007 Share Posted January 14, 2007 Hi Fab, Paul doesn't even use a lid and airlock!!! :shock: Glad wrap held on by the lid's o ring does the job just as well! I found out that extra wide glad wrap is the one to buy. Just use your hydrometer to see if fermentation has finished. It should go down to about 1.006 for the Cerveza. Cheers, Luke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaeger Posted January 15, 2007 Share Posted January 15, 2007 I had some trouble getting the O-ring to seal properly, too. I found that if you only push the ring in just enough to hold in place rather than all the way to the bottom of the groove, it will seal itself when the lid is tightened. Re: foaming, I've found that the start time is very variable. The Cerveza I put on yesterday had a full head of foam in hours; others (e.g. Australian Pale Ale) have taken up to a day to show signs of active fermentation. I've now learnt to let it be for a least a day before stepping in - takes a lot of patience, though. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy New Brewer Posted January 24, 2007 Share Posted January 24, 2007 have done 3 cervesa brews recently never had too much trouble and every body loves them they wont let me brew any thing else, but i have never had a final gravity reading of 1006 the lowest i have ever ended up with was 1010 also had 1014 and 1016 how did you get one that low and did it have a bloody kick to it or what (what was the approx %) 8) Cheers Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke Posted January 24, 2007 Share Posted January 24, 2007 Hi Andy, Phil's Cerveza started at 1.032. If it were to get down to around 1.006 the alcohol % would be around only 4.1%. The final gravity would depend on a few things, what fermentables were added, temperature, yeast, etc... I would expect 1.006 with the basic kit & 1kg of dextrose. Cheers, Luke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kieran Posted January 25, 2007 Share Posted January 25, 2007 I'll take my hat off to Fabulous because he did this: Starting SG 1032. and after ~30 hours.. (based on what he said in his posts) no change in the SG This is good, your yeast is doing no fermentation then.. it could either be stuffed, or just kicking off slowly. This is where it falls apart. Woke up this morning and no activity from the airlock. You should have done another SG test here, you would have seen a drop because... Never, Never trust the airlock as an indicator of fermentation activity! Good beer can be produced without the airlock bubbling once. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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