is this normal for fermentation?

so i started fermenting a porter 4 days ago and the airlock has completely stopped bubbling. i open it up and saw that there were few bubbles on the surface. I'm still a noob and was wondering if it is normal to have the fermentation slow this much so soon?

o.g.: 1.038
temp: 60 degrees

Sounds fine. 1.038 should finish fast! Best not to open the lid a lot.

F.G?

absolutely normal. just keep in mind that just because the airlock isn't moving, doesn't mean the yeast is not still working. With the low starting specific gravity that you had, it makes sense that you fermented quickly; less sugar = less work for yeasties.

As has been stated repeatedly in other threads, the ONLY way to determine if fermentation is finished is to do hydrometer readings.

I have a batch of Deception Cream Stout currently in secondary. It seemed to have gotten stuck, so I warmed the room up a bit [67°F to 72°F] and GENTLY stirred the liquid. Without so much as ONE bubble in the airlock, the specific gravity dropped FOURTEEN points in about 24 hours. I think this strain of yeast needs to be called STEALTH yeast!

glenn514

thank you i can relax now! and the recipe did not list a final or original gravity so i just tried to get it as close to 1.040 as i reasonably could. any suggestions for a F.G. to stop it at?

your not going to stop the beer at any set FG, it will finish where it wants to finish based on all the other vairiables the went into creating the wort. just give it a good 14 days then do three gravity readings in a row one each day. if they are unchanged it has finished. However, it may still benefit from another week or two left in the primary to let the yeast clean up nasty/ messey flavors it may have created during primary fermentation. forget about this beer for a while and go brew another one. patience is always well rewarded!

thank you