Hello all,
I have made a few batches of homebrew in my life, but have always used
corn sugar for fermenting.

This time around I aquired three cans of pre-made malt syrup, and set out
looking for some sugar.
Some guy at the local homebrew store suggested I use powdered malt extract
instead, indicating it would give the beer a richer, 'darker' flavor. So,
I did try that, and the result is that my beers have been actively
fermenting now for 20 days. I sure would like to bottle and sample my
beer, but when, oh when will they ever stop fermenting? I just used the
dry yeast packets that came with the cans.

Also, of the three batches I started, two of them foamed up substantially
in the first few days, and even spilled out into the airlock and out,
creating a fun mess. But the third, while actively fermenting like the
rest, never bubbled up more than a few centimeters.
What might this mean? The carbon dioxide escaping from the airlock smells
sweet, just like the other brews, just no foam. Aside from the obvious
signs of fermenting, it looks 'flat', the bubbles pop the moment they
break the surface of the beer, the other two have surface bubbles to this
day.

Any ideas?
Thanks,
Amateur beermaker
Kevin Hinze
[email]rudie@sihope.com[/email]

Just let it sit until it's done doing its thing. Fermenting it slowly
makes for a better beer, anyhow (which is why lager was invented).

I doubt if the fact that you used malt instead of sugar had anything to
do with it. I make all-malt brews exclusively, and have never had any
trouble. Of course, it doesn't bother me if it takes a long time to
ferment. I generally let it sit for six weeks, anyhow. Sometimes, I
only use one ferment, and sometimes I transfer the still-bubbling brew
into a glass carboy to finish off.


Ray Drouillard


"K Hinze" <rudie@sihope.com> wrote in message
news:pan.2003.07.22.22.24.20.709295@sihope.com...[color=blue]
> Hello all,
> I have made a few batches of homebrew in my life, but have always used
> corn sugar for fermenting.
>
> This time around I aquired three cans of pre-made malt syrup, and set[/color]
out[color=blue]
> looking for some sugar.
> Some guy at the local homebrew store suggested I use powdered malt[/color]
extract[color=blue]
> instead, indicating it would give the beer a richer, 'darker' flavor.[/color]
So,[color=blue]
> I did try that, and the result is that my beers have been actively
> fermenting now for 20 days. I sure would like to bottle and sample my
> beer, but when, oh when will they ever stop fermenting? I just used[/color]
the[color=blue]
> dry yeast packets that came with the cans.
>
> Also, of the three batches I started, two of them foamed up[/color]
substantially[color=blue]
> in the first few days, and even spilled out into the airlock and out,
> creating a fun mess. But the third, while actively fermenting like the
> rest, never bubbled up more than a few centimeters.
> What might this mean? The carbon dioxide escaping from the airlock[/color]
smells[color=blue]
> sweet, just like the other brews, just no foam. Aside from the obvious
> signs of fermenting, it looks 'flat', the bubbles pop the moment they
> break the surface of the beer, the other two have surface bubbles to[/color]
this[color=blue]
> day.
>
> Any ideas?
> Thanks,
> Amateur beermaker
> Kevin Hinze
> [email]rudie@sihope.com[/email][/color]

On Tue, 22 Jul 2003 23:44:05 +0000, Ray Drouillard wrote:
[color=blue]
> Just let it sit until it's done doing its thing. Fermenting it slowly
> makes for a better beer, anyhow (which is why lager was invented).
>
> I doubt if the fact that you used malt instead of sugar had anything to do
> with it. I make all-malt brews exclusively, and have never had any
> trouble. Of course, it doesn't bother me if it takes a long time to
> ferment. I generally let it sit for six weeks, anyhow. Sometimes, I only
> use one ferment, and sometimes I transfer the still-bubbling brew into a
> glass carboy to finish off.[/color]

I thought about transferring the brew to a secondary carboy, but I would
rather wait until it's naturally done. I can imagine that I might
sacrifice some potential alcohol/flavor by transferring it out of its
primary fermenter. I'd just like for it to be done in time to gift some
bottles to my Physics prof before the end of summer semester.. heheh..

I didn't think that the lack of bubbling in one batch had anything to do
with the type of sugar, is there another common reason this might happen?
I am of course concerned about contamination of my brew, but like I
originally posted, it doesn't smell weird, just no buildup of bubbles.

Any thoughts on lack of foam buildup, what that potentially indicates?

Thanks Ray for your comments..
[color=blue]
> Ray Drouillard[/color]

Kevin Hinze
[email]rudie@sihope.com[/email]
[color=blue]
>
> "K Hinze" <rudie@sihope.com> wrote in message
> news:pan.2003.07.22.22.24.20.709295@sihope.com...[color=green]
>> Hello all,
>> I have made a few batches of homebrew in my life, but have always used
>> corn sugar for fermenting.
>>
>> This time around I aquired three cans of pre-made malt syrup, and set[/color]
> out[color=green]
>> looking for some sugar.
>> Some guy at the local homebrew store suggested I use powdered malt[/color]
> extract[color=green]
>> instead, indicating it would give the beer a richer, 'darker' flavor.[/color]
> So,[color=green]
>> I did try that, and the result is that my beers have been actively
>> fermenting now for 20 days. I sure would like to bottle and sample my
>> beer, but when, oh when will they ever stop fermenting? I just used[/color]
> the[color=green]
>> dry yeast packets that came with the cans.
>>
>> Also, of the three batches I started, two of them foamed up[/color]
> substantially[color=green]
>> in the first few days, and even spilled out into the airlock and out,
>> creating a fun mess. But the third, while actively fermenting like the
>> rest, never bubbled up more than a few centimeters. What might this
>> mean? The carbon dioxide escaping from the airlock[/color]
> smells[color=green]
>> sweet, just like the other brews, just no foam. Aside from the obvious
>> signs of fermenting, it looks 'flat', the bubbles pop the moment they
>> break the surface of the beer, the other two have surface bubbles to[/color]
> this[color=green]
>> day.
>>
>> Any ideas?
>> Thanks,
>> Amateur beermaker
>> Kevin Hinze
>> [email]rudie@sihope.com[/email][/color][/color]

K Hinze wrote:[color=blue]
>
> Hello all,
> I have made a few batches of homebrew in my life, but have always used
> corn sugar for fermenting.
>
> This time around I aquired three cans of pre-made malt syrup, and set out
> looking for some sugar.
> Some guy at the local homebrew store suggested I use powdered malt extract
> instead, indicating it would give the beer a richer, 'darker' flavor. So,
> I did try that, and the result is that my beers have been actively
> fermenting now for 20 days. I sure would like to bottle and sample my
> beer, but when, oh when will they ever stop fermenting? I just used the
> dry yeast packets that came with the cans.[/color]

Did you take a gravity reading? That's really the _only_ way to know
for certain what's going on. It could be done fermenting and just
outgassing CO2 due to temp. and/or pressure variations.
[color=blue]
> Also, of the three batches I started, two of them foamed up substantially
> in the first few days, and even spilled out into the airlock and out,
> creating a fun mess. But the third, while actively fermenting like the
> rest, never bubbled up more than a few centimeters.[/color]

Doesn't really mean anything. Were all 3 fermented at the same temps?
Same ingreients? Same yeast?
[color=blue]
> What might this mean? The carbon dioxide escaping from the airlock smells
> sweet, just like the other brews, just no foam. Aside from the obvious
> signs of fermenting, it looks 'flat', the bubbles pop the moment they
> break the surface of the beer, the other two have surface bubbles to this
> day.[/color]

You _really_ need to get a hydrometer and learn to use it. They're
inexpensive and easy to use. Aside from that, take a look at
[url]www.howtobrew.com[/url] for great information.

---------->Denny
--
Life begins at 60 - 1.060, that is.