Airlock not bubbling

Ha! Made you look.

But seriously, brewed a simple, light pale ale on Monday night. Nottingham yeast, OG of 1.055 with Perle @ 45 and Cascade @ 15 & 5 plus 7 day dry hop. Poured it into my new beer bucket primary which I picked up on Sunday from my LBHS to free up my carboys for long-term cider aging.

No airlock activity after 24 hours, didn't think much of it. After 36 hours of nothing I cracked open the top and sure enough, fermentation is going great. Attempted to reseal the lid carefully but now after 48 there's still nothing in the airlock.

Not much to do now but wait for my brew to finish fermenting, only without the satisfaction of checking on the bubbling.

This sucks, a significant part of the fun is missing.

I've been there a few times. That's why I exclusively use carboys now. EVERY TIME I see a lack of bubbles in an airlock, a thick kraussen is present once I open the lid.

Bubbling is not a sure indicator of fermentation, just changes in pressure, which could be due to heating of the beer or CO2 produced by fermentation.

Annoying, yes. Uneventful, definitely. There's nothing better than walking into a room with a bubbling airlock.

I've got a bucket doing that too. Still use it...but was a bit annoying. That said mostly I watch airlocks now to see if I need. Blow off tube. For that I need to see crawling krausen not bubbles.

Just watch it..
then watch it some more...
then it will happen...
really
igotsand

Lightly tap the airlock to make sure it's not stuck?

I'm on my 3rd batch and each one has behaved differently.
But each have shown proper fermentation through hydro tests.
I check at 5, and then 10 days.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWU91Rvjw4A&feature=youtu.be

Both fermented exactly the same. I just did this as an FYI.