It's been about ten days since I started fermenting my beer, and it didn't create bubbles in the air lock until day two or three. The air lock is still bubbling, should I begin priming and bottling? Also, my kit only came with a fermenter, not a bucket to prime and bottle with. The fermenter has a spigot at the bottom of it, could I just add the priming solution and then pour out of the spigot to fill my bottles...or will that include too much of the unwanted proteins and such? Please let me know your thoughts, being my first time, it's a little confusing....and at times frusterating. Thanks in advance!
1 Answer
I recommend getting a bottling bucket and wand. It will make the operation a little easier. You need to stir in your priming sugar to get it homogenous throughout the beer. Otherwise, some bottles will be more carbed than others. Mixing in the fermenter will stir up all that sediment in the bottom, so that's no good. Secondly, yes trying to just bottle out the base will take too much of that trub into the bottles.
If you don't have a hydrometer, you need to get one. If its still actively bubbling after only 7-8 days of fermentation its probably still going. The only way to tell is to take a gravity reading once a day for a couple days. I routinely let my beers go for 14 days minimum before I even think of what to do next. In the case of being such a novice brewer the process often takes longer because of yeast issues.
Sorry that it seems so frustrating. I'd recommend looking into a couple good books like How to Brew or The Complete Joy of Homebrewing. Are you getting some advice from your local homebrew shop? Some shops do hand out really poor advice sometimes. Just stick with it and keep asking questions on sites like this. You'll get it all figured out pretty quickly. Making beer shouldn't be that tough.
