Fermentation Stalled?

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thepipesarecall

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Hey all, second brew here. So I brewed an extract batch with 9.15lbs of extract, few lbs of specialty grains, and I did a large yeast starter, about .45lb of DME. I had an incredibly aggressive first few days of fermentation, tons of blowoff etc, but now, 4 days later, the fermentation activity seems to have died off, which is strange I feel. Giving the carboy a strong swirl to rouse everything lets some trapped CO2 out, but it seems the actual fermentation has slowed alot, maybe 5 or 6 six bubbles a minute, whereas yesterday it was going along nicely. I'm using Wyeast 1028 London Ale here, any wisdom as to whats going on brewgods?
 
thepipesarecall said:
Hey all, second brew here. So I brewed an extract batch with 9.15lbs of extract, few lbs of specialty grains, and I did a large yeast starter, about .45lb of DME. I had an incredibly aggressive first few days of fermentation, tons of blowoff etc, but now, 4 days later, the fermentation activity seems to have died off, which is strange I feel. Giving the carboy a strong swirl to rouse everything lets some trapped CO2 out, but it seems the actual fermentation has slowed alot, maybe 5 or 6 six bubbles a minute, whereas yesterday it was going along nicely. I'm using Wyeast 1028 London Ale here, any wisdom as to whats going on brewgods?

Unless you've confirmed a stuck fermentation with gravity readings then how do you know? Most likely fermentation is done and you should give it some more time for the yeast to finish cleaning up.
 
I second the above post. I would take a gravity reading before swirling the primary to avoid introducing unwanted O2. Slowing after 4 days and 5-6 bubbles/min sounds fairly normal to me.
 
Sounds like a vigorous yeast starter. I'm not surprised that they got things done quick. A gravity reading would confirm the completion.
 
Take a gravity reading today & again in 3 days. If the readings are the same, your fermentation is complete. Its still good practice to let it sit for another week post-fermentation to let the yeast clean up any off flavors that may be present.

You can't really tell much, if anything, regarding your fermentation until you take multiple gravity readings. The amount of water I had my blowoff tube running into was once the cause of a lack of bubbling. I learned quickly that bubbling isn't something to stress about. That beer ended up being great & the fermentation was fine.

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