Expert: John Snyder - 4/9/2008

Question
QUESTION: this is my first try at brewing my own beer so i most likely messed up already. I am using a Beer Makers premium Australian lager mix, and a glass carboy with a fermentation lock, and it has been six days and the SG reading is 1.015, it was around 1.02 yesterday and those are the only readings i took because the instructions never said i should take readings when i started it so sorry about that, the instructions say to bottle it when the S.G is steady below 1.008 and this is suppose to happen in 5-7 days, and to keep it between 20-25 degrees, on average it has stayed at about 21 it tastes a little weird but i have not had Australian lager before. Also it produced alot of head on the 2day and  started bubbling out of the fermentation lock so i took that off and cleaned it, then it calmed down and the head has slowly been disappearing and there basically is none left now , but it is still producing gases because the fermentation lock keeps bubbling every 3-4 seconds, any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated sorry for lacking so much information. idk it sorta tastes like day old beer, idk i will give it another go after this round, well thanks for your time.

ANSWER: By your description,of the fermentation process thus far,i would say that you had a good fermentation,and a great start of fermentation.I'm assuming the 20 to 25 degrees are Centigrade.I would also wait 2 to 3 weeks before bottling.Bottling too soon doesn't give the beer enough conditioning time,as the gas bubbles you mentioned at 3 to 4 secs suggests.The main fermenation has finished,now the yeast is just consuming the larger sugar molecules.In addtion too soon of transfer to bottling could result in too much CO2 and cause an internal pressure high enough to explode your bottles.

I think you are on the right course.

In the future I wouldn't remove the vapor lock during the fermentation as you could introduce air into the product and ruin the taste.Also when transferring to bottles be very careful of picking up air.  

The taste you described is normal at that stage,maturation is just starting.

good luck the rest of the way

         John

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks for the advice and i will try not to take off the lock, but how do you get out a sample to test it with a hydrometer?  (i guess you take your sample fast and put it back on, or is there some fancy way of doing it?)  and after i leave it for 2-3 weeks do i still add corn sugar to make it gassy? and how do you tell when it should be bottled? i am very new to this so sorry for all the questions. there are just so many sites saying different things to do about different beers, but i am enjoying learning how to do it, and hope to be able to make my own mash sometime, thanks again and i hope it works out.

Answer
Take your sample,right after you fill your fermenter,then put the airlock on.Since you have no sampling port,be careful not to allow air into the fermenter,when sampling later in the fermentation process.Unless I missed something,you add the sugar to your bottles,when you transfer your beer to your bottles.The residual yeast in the fermented beer ferments that sugar to make CO2(carbonates your beer)Allow at least 3 weeks,before checking 1.