...stuck...

i brewed up a porter on sunday morning and today (wednesday) the airlock has ceased bubbling... normal?

Could be done. Could have a leak somewhere. Could be stuck. Take a reading this weekend, see where it's at.

jamesnsw said:

Could have a leak somewhere. .

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you made me think, the Universal Carboy Cap i used just didn't seem tight enough. I swapped it out for a nice tight bung and within minutes it was bubbling again.

thanks!

Same with me...brewed a porter on Sunday, very slow bubbling today. Put in a new/old bung, and the bubbling started up again. I know the airlock isn't a precision gauge, but I do like watching the bubbles!

i was concerned because the last batch i made (my first) didn't stop bubbling until 10 days or so

Don't use your airlock as a tool to determine when fermentation has started/stopped. That's what your hydrometer/refractometer is for. The airlock is just a $1.00 piece of plastic that lets air out without letting anything in.

I throw a rubber band around my carboy cap, keeps it nice and tight.

Your airlock is not a fermentation gauge, it is a VALVE to release excess co2. [/B]

If your airlock was bubbling and stopped---It doesn't mean fermentation has stopped, or is stuck

If you airlock isn't bubbling, it doesn't mean your fermentation hasn't started....

If your airlock starts bubbling, it really doesn't matter.

If your airlock NEVER bubbles, it doesn't mean anything is wrong or right.

Fermentation is not always "dynamic," just because you don't SEE anything happening, doesn't mean that any-thing's wrong,, and also doesn't mean that the yeast are still not working diligently away, doing what they've been doing for over 4,000 years.

The only way to truly know what is going on in your fermenter is with your hydrometer. Like I said here in my blog, which I encourage you to read, Think evaluation before action you sure as HELL wouldn't want a doctor to start cutting on you unless he used the proper diagnostic instuments like x-rays first, right? You wouldn't want him to just take a look in your eyes briefly and say "I'm cutting into your chest first thing in the morning." You would want them to use the right diagnostic tools before the slice and dice, right? You'd cry malpractice, I would hope, if they didn't say they were sending you for an MRI and other things before going in....

Thinking about "doing anything" without taking a hydrometer reading is tantamount to the doctor deciding to cut you open without running any diagnostic tests....Taking one look at you and saying, "Yeah I'm going in." You would really want the doctor to use all means to properly diagnose what's going on. It's exactly the same thing when you try to go by airlock....

More than likely fermentation is done or close to it, and your airlock simply doesn't NEED to bubble any more.

And even if it IS done fermenting, that doesn't mean that the yeast isn't done doing it's job.

Just leave it alone for at least another 8 days OR MORE, they you can take a hydrometer reading and decide if you want to secondary it...OR you can do what many many many of us do and leave your beer alone for a month, that will let the beer finish fermenting and then let the yeast clean up after themselves, that way they will get rid of all the byproducts of fermentation that often lead to off flavors, and if new/impatient brewers move to soon, they end up stuck with.

Even John Palmer talks about this in How To Bew;

How To Brew said:

Leaving an ale beer in the primary fermentor for a total of 2-3 weeks (instead of just the one week most canned kits recommend), will provide time for the conditioning reactions and improve the beer. This extra time will also let more sediment settle out before bottling, resulting in a clearer beer and easier pouring. And, three weeks in the primary fermentor is usually not enough time for off-flavors to occur.

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