Airlock on Porter stopped bubbling early.

On Monday night I made porter (a kit, my second brewing attempt). The porter was placed in a 6.5 gallon glass carboy with an airlock. The airlock started bubbling almost immediately after being put into place, and continued to bubble VERY aggressively through tuesday evening. The active airlock bubbling was accompanied by visible aggressive fermentation "action" and foaming. After a total of only 24 hours, the bubbling had decreased to almost nothing.

At this point (Wednesday), I see NO bubbling a all. My IPA (in a 5 gallon glass carboy) from Sunday night is still bubbling strongly, and my Wheat (in a 6 gallon plastic bucket) just started up today, and is going strong. I'm becoming concerned that there may be a contamination problem or that the yeast has ceased activity early.

Is this a sign of a problem? Is there a remedy?

Thanks in advance for all yalz informed comments.

Do you have a hydrometer? The best way to telll if fermentation has stopped is by getting the same gravity reading over a period of three days or so.

I wouldnt worry too much about contamination, as it sounds like the yeast had enough of a foothold to build up krausen.

What temperature range are you fermenting in? Higher temperatures will result in faster fermentation, but also off-flavors. Did you aerate the wort at all?

If you take a specific gravity reading that seems high for a terminal gravity, you might pitch more yeast, preferably from a well aerated starter.

Hope this helps

-magno

First off, I have a hydrometer - and I'll take some readings.

Fermentation started at around 74 degrees, but was lowered to the 70-72 range over the course of the first night, and it has remained there.

As far as aeration, I siphoned into a carboy, then threw yeast in a bucket, then poured the porter in the bucket, then poured back into the carboy. The reason? I forgot to check the 5-gallon mark on my new 6.5 gallon carboy and so I wanted to double-check the level. Does that count as aeration?

Aeriaton was fine, if yeast went nuts like that. My guess is that different malts have more of the minerals, vitamins, etc, that yeast need. So a different recipe (with a different yeast) will ferment at different rates. I'll bet you are good to go. I've been putting the carboy box over the top of my carboy- I cut a hole in the bottom for the bubbler. It keeps the heat in, and it actually gets warmer from the fermentation. I can easily lift the box to take a peek at progress. So I fermented at 71, then it cooled to 66 after a couple days. Some guys use a couple tee shirts, or a sweater...

Just took a reading -
Porter is at 1.010 - which I guess is textbook.

Wheat appeared from the airlock to be finished up - but when I opened the bucket, there was a little bit of visible activity on the surface. The reading came out at about 1.020, so I'm going to wait on the Wheat. There is a lot of gunk on the surface of the Wheat, and I've read a secondary fermenter is highly reccomended for Wheats - should I use a secondary?

I'm going to check the Porter tomorrow and if the reading is the same - I'll consider fermentation complete. The only question is - should I rack the porter to a secondary? Also, the porter tastes watered down - I expected it to taste thicker, and heavier. Is that normal for this stage in the process?

This is my first experience brewing and I really want to cut down on risk of contamination - but if it will make the beer taste SIGNIFICANTLY better, I'll rack it. What do you guys think?

The IPA is still bubbling away - its been going for five days now. Tasted good when I sampled it - very hoppy. There is a lot of gunk in the IPA from the hops - maybe a secondary is in order.

To use a secondary or not to use a secondary - that is the question. Also, is it really more important with some beer varieties than others?

Burnsie,

Yep, an FG of 1010 is just fine. Out of curiosity though, what was your OG?


Really, the fact that your porter fermented that quickly is a good sign that you pitched the yeast into a well-aerated wort, probably at a pretty much ideal temperature. It simply meant that the yeast was happy enough to finish its work in less time than normal.

I'd suggest you rack the porter. I suppose it is a matter of "religion" rather than anything else. Some claim it makes the world of difference and always does it, others say it matters little and bottles right away. I'm in the middle, though I feel that even if the benefits of racking are very small, it is worth waiting the extra bit for that.

As for contamination as a result of racking . . well, clean well, disinfect and be damned careful. If you do, it'll be fine.

Cheers,

Jens-Kristian

Secondary time is a very good idea for the wheat.

Mouth feel for porters depends a lot on the amount of crystal malt in the mix. A half pound of maltodextrin can do wonders for body and mouthfeel. Boild it in a quart of water and add it to the secondary or priming pail.