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**dstranger99** · 02-13-2013, 01:45 PM

I see alot of posts here regarding fermentation. No airlock bubbling paranoia, should I repitch it's not bubbling, is my beer ready, it stopped bubbling, etc...

I've done 2 batches in the past month, never saw the first batch bubble, thought I just missed it (maybe it was working while I was sleeping). So, I rack it a month later, saw the Krausen ring, all good !!

Did the 2nd batch this past Sunday, 2 or 3 days pass, no airlock activity? Yet when I open the cabinet where the bucket sits I smell booze!!! Now I'm getting suspicious.

Guess what, I shake on the airlock, it's a little loose

(like my old girlfriends Vag)...The air still had been seeping out of the buckets airlock hole!! It was just time for me to change the airlocks washer!!!! No harm, no foul.

Personally, I thought those little washers lasted forever, but they do get stretched out (like my old girlfriends vag)......

**Stauffbier** · 02-13-2013, 01:48 PM

More commonly, at least for me, the bucket lids wear out and allow gas to escape. I have one bucket that never bubbles out of the airlock.

**Brewnoob1** · 02-13-2013, 01:53 PM

I don't have any bucket that really bubbles out of the airlock anymore

**dstranger99** · 02-13-2013, 02:12 PM

I never have that problem with a carboy, I'm doing a small 3 gallon AG this weekend, The carboy never lets me down, I just love to see those bubbles for some reason, Like a child, I'll sit there and watch it......... lol

**Brewnoob1** · 02-13-2013, 02:14 PM

Oh, I'm the same way with a carboy. Most of the time I'm just lazy and buckets are easier to deal with. Do you find yourself smelling the airlock vapor? Mmmmm I love that. Beer goodness in the nose during fermentation.

**unionrdr** · 02-13-2013, 02:19 PM

I'd overfilled the airlock by a little last night,& had liquid in the bottom of the stem too boot. fixed that & it's bubbling slow & steady now at 65F. Not gunna get drunk while brewing anymore.

**dstranger99** · 02-13-2013, 02:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brewnoob1

Oh, I'm the same way with a carboy. Most of the time I'm just lazy and buckets are easier to deal with. Do you find yourself smelling the airlock vapor? Mmmmm I love that. Beer goodness in the nose during fermentation.

Absolutely, I had my nose right at the airlock last night, even pushed on the lid to get more vapor up my nose, It's like a good fart that only the person who made it can enjoy !!!!

**unionrdr** · 02-13-2013, 02:21 PM

But beer laden yeast farts smell so much better!

**Revvy** · 02-13-2013, 02:22 PM

It can happen with carboys, it can happen with buckets, it can happen for various reasons, and even if it happens to only ONE person, it shows how un-reliable an airlock is as any type of "fermentation gauge." That's why we tell people to ignore what a cheap piece of plastic does or doesn't do....

I said it for years, and got trolled for it. Back when I even bothered to check anymore half the time I never saw a bubble, but I ALWAYS had fermentation. Now I never bother to look at my fermenters, I pitch my yeast and come back a month later. Unless I'm adding something. Or racking the beer.

And airlock is a vent, and if the co2 vents from elsewhere, that's fine too.

It's not like it was in the 70's, modern yeast rarely ever doesn't work....It's never failed me.

**Hang Glider** · 02-13-2013, 02:30 PM

I miss watching the bubbles - but inside my fermentation temperature control system, all is hidden. Alas...better beer, less visual...