fermentation slowwed way down. normal?

I brewed around 4 in the morning Thursday. It's now sat evening and fermentation has slowed way down! Is this normal so soon? It was bubbling about 1 bubble per second for 2 days now its about 1 bubble per minute or so. Is it ok? Or am I paranoid?

It's perfectly fine, the brewing process starts rapidly, then slows down, then the yeast cleans the beer up a bit. Just let it sit for 3 weeks and you should be golden.

At the top of this section there is a sticky called Fermentation-can-take-24-72-hrs-show-visible-signs. Check it out in your spare time...you will see that the frequency or intensity of the airlock bubbles have little bearing how how far along your beer is. As the poster above said...let it do it's thing for a good 2-3 weeks. The best way to tell if it's finished is with a hydrometer. After successive readings with no change over a number of days your fermentation should be finished. Then most people leave it in another week or so to let they yeast "clean-up" before bottling. So, you're good so far

Also do not use a bubbling airlock to judge the progress of your fermentation. The only way to be sure what is happening is to take gravity readings.

A beer can bubble on weather or temperature changes or not bubble because of an air leak or even that it is just not producing more co2 than can be contained in the vessel.

quite normal . Sometimes it goes off so quick it blows out your air lock and you have to stick a tube in down to a glass of beer and wait for the excitement to stop and sometimes it is just fast going and in a couple days slows and then 3 days almost nothing . 4 days may be done mostly but really you should wait a week at very least so yeast can clean up their mess.
Always put some wort in a beer bottle , after you have added the yeast of course , and fold up a paper towel and twist tie it on the bottle so as to keep out crap . Use this to check your FG so you do not have to tap your fermenter .
Just because FG is same for two days does not mean you should bottle it or secondary it . Let it clean up . I got some very good advice from a guy on here that said 3 weeks in primary two in secondary

Ok so you guys know its a high gravity. I think we decided it was probably OG 1.076. It's been in primary for 8 days now I guess. Some people have told me leave it primary for 3 weeks then just bottle. Others say 3 weeks primary 2 weeks secondarythen bottle. Others say 1 week primary 1 week secondary bottle..... So I was thinking maybe ill go middle of the road and do 2 weeks primary 2 weeks secondary then bottle. What do you guys think? I want to put the oak chips in the secondary so I do want to secondary I guess.

TheCollector said:

Ok so you guys know its a high gravity. I think we decided it was probably OG 1.076. It's been in primary for 8 days now I guess. Some people have told me leave it primary for 3 weeks then just bottle. Others say 3 weeks primary 2 weeks secondarythen bottle. Others say 1 week primary 1 week secondary bottle..... So I was thinking maybe ill go middle of the road and do 2 weeks primary 2 weeks secondary then bottle. What do you guys think? I want to put the oak chips in the secondary so I do want to secondary I guess.

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IMO you leave the beer in primary 2 weeks and then rack onto the oak chips in secondary. Be sure to sanitize the oak by soaking in some bourbon, whiskey, vodka or boiling for several minutes.

You will want to pull a taste sample once per week to evaluate the flavor and package when you are satisfied with the infusion of flavor.

Thanks for the help guys. The wait is killing me lol. Next question Temp fluctuations.... It fermented at about 76 the first few days. I checked the temp last night and it was at like 62 or 64 I raised it up off the floor in my pantry where it is setting. Will that make any problems?

My 2 cents is this . The longer it sits in primary the less crap you will have to deal with when bottling . Secondary is not necessary but if you siphon off the primary then you will have fairly clean secondary and then even cleaner bottle time . How ever I do not normally use the secondary just sometimes .
The only difference I can see is that if you bottle quickly then you have more crap in the bottom of the bottle and you still need to let it sit for a long time , maybe longer to allow for it to condition and taste real good .
One week primary needs about 2 months in the bottle to taste good at least with brown or dark ales .
Do not know about putting in them wood chips so no advice there .

TheCollector said:

Thanks for the help guys. The wait is killing me lol. Next question Temp fluctuations.... It fermented at about 76 the first few days. I checked the temp last night and it was at like 62 or 64 I raised it up off the floor in my pantry where it is setting. Will that make any problems?

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At 76 degrees I'm not surprised it fermented that quick! What kind of beer are you brewing, there are a few styles that benefit from those exempts but most ales actually prefer where your temps are at now

If this was a traditional type ale then there is a concern for off favors at those warm temps. I would suggest extending the primary a couple weeks to help clean up. Have you taken a taste to see how it is?

No no taste test yet. I wasn't gonna touch it for three weeks in primary then bottle I guess. You think that will help with any off flavors? And its a high gravity IPA from Midwest brewing called octane IPA. I think my OG was 1.076

TheCollector said:

Thanks for the help guys. The wait is killing me lol. Next question Temp fluctuations.... It fermented at about 76 the first few days. I checked the temp last night and it was at like 62 or 64 I raised it up off the floor in my pantry where it is setting. Will that make any problems?

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I ferment mine in the utility room where the heater is . i keep it around 72 degrees most of the time . When the heater comes on it is about 78 - 80 for a while . Sometimes when real cold I use a space heater to keep it up to at least 70 . I also move mine around at times like into the front room where it is about 68 most of the time usually for after the main fermentation is done .
Just do not let it get over 80 or you may end up with some off flavors that may or may not taste bad . Try to stick to below 75 .
this is taking it that your temp is room temp and not the temp of the beer . The beer is always hotter than the room . How ever them thermometers you stick on the outside of the bucket usually give about room temp. I stand a thermometer on top of the bucket.
I sit mine on top of the washer .

TheCollector said:

No no taste test yet. I wasn't gonna touch it for three weeks in primary then bottle I guess. You think that will help with any off flavors? And its a high gravity IPA from Midwest brewing called octane IPA. I think my OG was 1.076

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That's a pretty good plan and yes, ideally that should have Ben fermented in he mid 60's. give it a taste when you take a reading and if you sense any off flavors then leave it sit for another couple weeks.

Always keep in mind that active fermentation can raise the temp in the primary 5-10 degrees

MarcusKillion said:

I ferment mine in the utility room where the heater is . i keep it around 72 degrees most of the time . When the heater comes on it is about 78 - 80 for a while . Sometimes when real cold I use a space heater to keep it up to at least 70 . I also move mine around at times like into the front room where it is about 68 most of the time usually for after the main fermentation is done .
Just do not let it get over 80 or you may end up with some off flavors that may or may not taste bad . Try to stick to below 75 .
this is taking it that your temp is room temp and not the temp of the beer . The beer is always hotter than the room . How ever them thermometers you stick on the outside of the bucket usually give about room temp. I stand a thermometer on top of the bucket.
I sit mine on top of the washer .

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Not to hijack the OP but this is not great advice for fermenting most ales, these temps are just way too high unless you are brewing Belgians, Saisons and actually the stick ons do a pretty decent job of monitoring the actual beer, not the ambient

Not all yeast are the same and you ideally want to try and ferment towards the mid range for most yeast strains.

Ok guys UPDATE

Boiled the oak chips in a cup of water and added them to the bucket! I sprayed the lid and rim of the bucket with starsan before opening it. Question....could I have added the cup of water that I boiled the chips in with no ill effect? For more oak flavor? The directions said tho drain it off and add just the chips so that's what I did.

That water would contain nasty things like oils and such I would bet .

Ok so I finally got the hydometer back out and looked it over and I'm pretty sure.....its OG is 1.064 not 1.076...... So what do you think the FG will end up at? What does that translate to as far as abv?

That seems lower than expected for the ingredients no? It's considered a high gravity IPA by Midwest brewing where I ordered it from.