Brewferm Christmas has started fermenting...again?!?!

[a1baz]

Hello

Quick question if you don't mind. I'm brewing a batch of the above, its my 5th kit so i'm quite new. Initial fermentation went well, lots of foam etc and then died down. The bottling SG is 1020 and after a week it was around 1028 and slowly crept down until yesterday (after 12 days) it was about 1025. I was a bit concerned because it looked very cloudy and had a few odd lumps of yeast floating around the top, however this morning it had half an inch of foam on top as if it had started vigorously fermenting again?

This seems a bit odd to me, its never happened before, the temperature of the beer is stable and i haven't stirred it up or anything.

Any ideas?

Cheers

[floydmeddler]

Maybe temperature is to blame? Give it a taste and if it seems OK, let it run!

[a1baz]

I don't see how it could be temperature, like i say the temperature is stable, it's in the house with a immersion heater in keeping it at a steady 24.5 deg C.

I'm just going to leave it and see what happens, there's not much else i can do tbh. I'm just a bit concerned that it may loose some of its body if the SG drops much below the recommended bottling SG of 1020.

[Chris The Fish]

ive never tried a brewferm Xmas, however its probably the only one i havent tried!

This does sound a bit odd although i wouldnt worry unduly. if you keep your eye on the gravity and when it hits your required 1020 (or there abouts) you can rack to a secondary, this takes the beer off the main yeast cake at the bottom of the bucket. It may still drop a point or two but not too much.

Its also worth noting that the fermentation process is a strange thing, ive had brews which have dropped like a stone yet showed little head, and vice versa - beers which have had mountains of foam yet dropped very little.

if your that worried about loosing your body there are things that can be done (adding unfermentable sugars for one) but i wouldnt worry too much, Brewferm beers are great if left for about 3 months so even if it drops to 1010 when left over that period the initial alcohol hit would have mellowed and i reckon give you a very drinkable beer

HTH

CtF

[a1baz]

Thanks for the advice, i'll try and take a reading through the foam and bottle it as soon as it gets to 1020 (if it isn't already).


Cheers!