I'm a newbie hoping to get some advice from you guys (or ladies!). I have
my first batch, a creme stout extract kit, perking in the primary. I was a
little worried about my White Labs yeast as it took 8 mailing days to reach
me due to the 4th of July holiday. The temperatures are quite hot in
Alabama currently. Anyway, I made a starter culture Friday night and boiled
up my wort on Saturday night. I was happy to see rapid bubbling on my
primary around 24 hours or Sunday night. I was getting a bubble stream
every 7 seconds. I was perking nicely on Monday morning and at lunch but
has slowed considerably by the time I got home from work. I am now only
getting a bubble every several minutes.

My big question, is this normal or did I have a bad yeast. It was White
Labs Burton Ale pitchable tube. I do have some Nottingham dry yeast but
hated to add two different yeasts if I didn't have to.

I am a wine maker and usually have a strong ferment for at least a week.

Any advice would be appreciated. P.S. I've never had a creme stout.
Anybody like them?

"youdaman10" <youdaman10@yahoo.com> wrote in message news:<vh6g01j97u8087@corp.supernews.com>...[color=blue]
> I'm a newbie hoping to get some advice from you guys (or ladies!). I have
> my first batch, a creme stout extract kit, perking in the primary. I was a
> little worried about my White Labs yeast as it took 8 mailing days to reach
> me due to the 4th of July holiday. The temperatures are quite hot in
> Alabama currently. Anyway, I made a starter culture Friday night and boiled
> up my wort on Saturday night. I was happy to see rapid bubbling on my
> primary around 24 hours or Sunday night. I was getting a bubble stream
> every 7 seconds. I was perking nicely on Monday morning and at lunch but
> has slowed considerably by the time I got home from work. I am now only
> getting a bubble every several minutes.
>
> My big question, is this normal or did I have a bad yeast. It was White
> Labs Burton Ale pitchable tube. I do have some Nottingham dry yeast but
> hated to add two different yeasts if I didn't have to.[/color]

Everything sounds fine. Primary fermentation is usally rerally active
for a day or two, then it starts to peter out.


Phil

Youdaman,

You have much good advice here but let me ask: where in Alabama are you
located? I am Gulf Coastie, recently returned from Hawaii. Have extensive
brewing experience in hot weather with improvised temp control. Hawaii is
neither as hot in summer nor as cold in winter as LA (for those of you who
don't know that's Lower Alabama). What I did was make a water bath for the
fermenter. Used an EXTREMELY large plastic planter and fashioned a top that
would accomodate the air lock. Filled with water until the fermenter would
barely float and kept a floating aquarium thermometer in with it. This
accomplishes 2 things: the increased volume (due to the water bath) reduces
the day/night temp fluctuation on the fermenting wort and you can use frozen
containers of water to maintain a fairly stable lower temp. Especially if
your wife lets you do it in an air conditioned area in the house (mine
won't, I used a metal storage shed). I typically checked the temp in the
morning before work, put in a quart frozen container of water, took out the
melted one and refroze it. Check at lunch if lucky enough to get home then;
if not then when I get home from work. Usually add a couple of containers
then. I was able to maintain a +or- 4 degree temp around 66 degrees.
Haven't set up my equipment since getting home and have some new ideas I
want to try for both summer and winter brewing. Good luck.

J Adams
ATCS USN
"youdaman10" <youdaman10@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:vh6g01j97u8087@corp.supernews.com...[color=blue]
> I'm a newbie hoping to get some advice from you guys (or ladies!). I have
> my first batch, a creme stout extract kit, perking in the primary. I was[/color]
a[color=blue]
> little worried about my White Labs yeast as it took 8 mailing days to[/color]
reach[color=blue]
> me due to the 4th of July holiday. The temperatures are quite hot in
> Alabama currently. Anyway, I made a starter culture Friday night and[/color]
boiled[color=blue]
> up my wort on Saturday night. I was happy to see rapid bubbling on my
> primary around 24 hours or Sunday night. I was getting a bubble stream
> every 7 seconds. I was perking nicely on Monday morning and at lunch but
> has slowed considerably by the time I got home from work. I am now only
> getting a bubble every several minutes.
>
> My big question, is this normal or did I have a bad yeast. It was White
> Labs Burton Ale pitchable tube. I do have some Nottingham dry yeast but
> hated to add two different yeasts if I didn't have to.
>
> I am a wine maker and usually have a strong ferment for at least a week.
>
> Any advice would be appreciated. P.S. I've never had a creme stout.
> Anybody like them?
>
>[/color]

Thanks for all the advice (and by the way, I'm in Opelika). I swirled the
primary a couple of times and it started to bubble again. It is now Tuesday
night and has a slow but steady bubble. Maybe I didn't get enough oxygen
into the wort?

Anyway, my home is kept around 70 in the summer. My main heat concern was
due to the shipping conditions and not that inside the home.

Hopefully, it will continue and work things out. Like I said, I really hate
to add another yeast strain.


"John" <adamsj002@charter.net> wrote in message
news:vh90e3lccb3l7a@corp.supernews.com...[color=blue]
> Youdaman,
>
> You have much good advice here but let me ask: where in Alabama are you
> located? I am Gulf Coastie, recently returned from Hawaii. Have[/color]
extensive[color=blue]
> brewing experience in hot weather with improvised temp control. Hawaii is
> neither as hot in summer nor as cold in winter as LA (for those of you who
> don't know that's Lower Alabama). What I did was make a water bath for[/color]
the[color=blue]
> fermenter. Used an EXTREMELY large plastic planter and fashioned a top[/color]
that[color=blue]
> would accomodate the air lock. Filled with water until the fermenter[/color]
would[color=blue]
> barely float and kept a floating aquarium thermometer in with it. This
> accomplishes 2 things: the increased volume (due to the water bath)[/color]
reduces[color=blue]
> the day/night temp fluctuation on the fermenting wort and you can use[/color]
frozen[color=blue]
> containers of water to maintain a fairly stable lower temp. Especially if
> your wife lets you do it in an air conditioned area in the house (mine
> won't, I used a metal storage shed). I typically checked the temp in the
> morning before work, put in a quart frozen container of water, took out[/color]
the[color=blue]
> melted one and refroze it. Check at lunch if lucky enough to get home[/color]
then;[color=blue]
> if not then when I get home from work. Usually add a couple of containers
> then. I was able to maintain a +or- 4 degree temp around 66 degrees.
> Haven't set up my equipment since getting home and have some new ideas I
> want to try for both summer and winter brewing. Good luck.
>
> J Adams
> ATCS USN
> "youdaman10" <youdaman10@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:vh6g01j97u8087@corp.supernews.com...[color=green]
> > I'm a newbie hoping to get some advice from you guys (or ladies!). I[/color][/color]
have[color=blue][color=green]
> > my first batch, a creme stout extract kit, perking in the primary. I[/color][/color]
was[color=blue]
> a[color=green]
> > little worried about my White Labs yeast as it took 8 mailing days to[/color]
> reach[color=green]
> > me due to the 4th of July holiday. The temperatures are quite hot in
> > Alabama currently. Anyway, I made a starter culture Friday night and[/color]
> boiled[color=green]
> > up my wort on Saturday night. I was happy to see rapid bubbling on my
> > primary around 24 hours or Sunday night. I was getting a bubble stream
> > every 7 seconds. I was perking nicely on Monday morning and at lunch[/color][/color]
but[color=blue][color=green]
> > has slowed considerably by the time I got home from work. I am now only
> > getting a bubble every several minutes.
> >
> > My big question, is this normal or did I have a bad yeast. It was White
> > Labs Burton Ale pitchable tube. I do have some Nottingham dry yeast but
> > hated to add two different yeasts if I didn't have to.
> >
> > I am a wine maker and usually have a strong ferment for at least a week.
> >
> > Any advice would be appreciated. P.S. I've never had a creme stout.
> > Anybody like them?
> >
> >[/color]
>
>[/color]

I have made a couple of cream stouts and really like them, 1 thing I found
was needing to aerate the wort before pitching. I would give it at least a
week to week and a half in primary then about 2 weeks in secondary or longer
to mellow it out and let the flavor come through. I'm no expert but just my
..02
"youdaman10" <youdaman10@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:vh6g01j97u8087@corp.supernews.com...[color=blue]
> I'm a newbie hoping to get some advice from you guys (or ladies!). I have
> my first batch, a creme stout extract kit, perking in the primary. I was[/color]
a[color=blue]
> little worried about my White Labs yeast as it took 8 mailing days to[/color]
reach[color=blue]
> me due to the 4th of July holiday. The temperatures are quite hot in
> Alabama currently. Anyway, I made a starter culture Friday night and[/color]
boiled[color=blue]
> up my wort on Saturday night. I was happy to see rapid bubbling on my
> primary around 24 hours or Sunday night. I was getting a bubble stream
> every 7 seconds. I was perking nicely on Monday morning and at lunch but
> has slowed considerably by the time I got home from work. I am now only
> getting a bubble every several minutes.
>
> My big question, is this normal or did I have a bad yeast. It was White
> Labs Burton Ale pitchable tube. I do have some Nottingham dry yeast but
> hated to add two different yeasts if I didn't have to.
>
> I am a wine maker and usually have a strong ferment for at least a week.
>
> Any advice would be appreciated. P.S. I've never had a creme stout.
> Anybody like them?
>
>[/color]

I moved this creme stout from the primary to the secondary today at about
the one week point. I took the opportunity to taste my creation since it is
my first. I was quite surprised to find it quite pleasant already. It was
still a little cloudy but had great flavor albeit flat. I assume the
priming sugar will remedy the flatness. The flavor was not quite as sweet
as I expected, only enough to take the edge off the typical stout
bitterness. I think it will be great after a little carbonation.

What do you know, I think it turned into beer.


"BKBooth" <bkbooth@cablerocket.com> wrote in message
news:3f15e540$0$796$2c56edd9@news.cablerocket.com...[color=blue]
> I have made a couple of cream stouts and really like them, 1 thing I found
> was needing to aerate the wort before pitching. I would give it at least a
> week to week and a half in primary then about 2 weeks in secondary or[/color]
longer[color=blue]
> to mellow it out and let the flavor come through. I'm no expert but just[/color]
my[color=blue]
> .02
> "youdaman10" <youdaman10@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:vh6g01j97u8087@corp.supernews.com...[color=green]
> > I'm a newbie hoping to get some advice from you guys (or ladies!). I[/color][/color]
have[color=blue][color=green]
> > my first batch, a creme stout extract kit, perking in the primary. I[/color][/color]
was[color=blue]
> a[color=green]
> > little worried about my White Labs yeast as it took 8 mailing days to[/color]
> reach[color=green]
> > me due to the 4th of July holiday. The temperatures are quite hot in
> > Alabama currently. Anyway, I made a starter culture Friday night and[/color]
> boiled[color=green]
> > up my wort on Saturday night. I was happy to see rapid bubbling on my
> > primary around 24 hours or Sunday night. I was getting a bubble stream
> > every 7 seconds. I was perking nicely on Monday morning and at lunch[/color][/color]
but[color=blue][color=green]
> > has slowed considerably by the time I got home from work. I am now only
> > getting a bubble every several minutes.
> >
> > My big question, is this normal or did I have a bad yeast. It was White
> > Labs Burton Ale pitchable tube. I do have some Nottingham dry yeast but
> > hated to add two different yeasts if I didn't have to.
> >
> > I am a wine maker and usually have a strong ferment for at least a week.
> >
> > Any advice would be appreciated. P.S. I've never had a creme stout.
> > Anybody like them?
> >
> >[/color]
>
>[/color]