airlock activity

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HH60gunner

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Well I brewed up my first brew last night, but just have a small worry. Within the first half hour a good bubble let out of the airlock but I haven't seen anything since then. Could my yeasties not be doing there job? The lid feels pressurized but I thought that I should at least be getting a bubble every now and then by this morning. Do they still work sometimes and not let off any bubbling? I've got it sitting in a 6.5 gallon container if it makes any difference.
 
Yup...your yeasties could be doing their thing and you'll never know it.

Could have another air leak (which is fine as you'll have plenty of positive pressure in there to keep the airborne crap out of it) or it could have done it when your back was turned.

Wait a few days (read: 4 or 5) and steal a sample from it with a sterilized turkey baster and give a hydrometer reading...or if you don't have a hydro, give it a taste (Which as it is your first beer I'm sure you tasted the unfermented wort before you poured it into your fermentor)

It should taste "less sweet" as some of the sugars should have been concerted into alcohol by the yeasties.
 
Yup...your yeasties could be doing their thing and you'll never know it.

Could have another air leak (which is fine as you'll have plenty of positive pressure in there to keep the airborne crap out of it) or it could have done it when your back was turned.

Wait a few days (read: 4 or 5) and steal a sample from it with a sterilized turkey baster and give a hydrometer reading...or if you don't have a hydro, give it a taste (Which as it is your first beer I'm sure you tasted the unfermented wort before you poured it into your fermentor)

It should taste "less sweet" as some of the sugars should have been concerted into alcohol by the yeasties.


Thanks,

I'm sure you get noobs like me by the dozens making this exact same post. I appreciate how this forum doesn't have an elitist community that is quick to flame the noob right away.
 
Where the hell is Revvy? These posts used to be like the bat signal for him. :)

yea i know. i haven't seen him on here in a while. in his absence i guess ill make the usual disclaimer post then.

an airlock is not a fermentation indicator its a pressure release valve. buckets are well known for not sealing airtight. the CO2 is escaping around the lid instead of through your airlock. the only real indicator of fermentation is a drop in SG. if your worried use your hydrometer and check. if its gone down then you have fermentation.
 
Well it's true what they say... just give the little yeasties a chance to do their job. I came home from work today to find my airlock bubbling away like crazy. :) A nice relief to know that work is going on in there and I didn't noob it up so much that it was all for nothing.
 
Push down on your bucket lid, very slowly. If your bucket is perfectly sealed then your airlock will bubble. If it doesn't bubble then you're kind of clueless until you actually look into the bucket. One of my bucket lids has a hole drilled in it, and i put clear mailing tape over the top to seal it off (I screwed up making a blow off tube)
This lets me see into the bucket!!
 
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