Fermentation can take 24 to 72 hrs to show visible signs.

GenIke said:

Update: I did have fermentation. It was just much less active than my first brewing experience. Only had about 2.5" of krausen ring but gravity dropped form 1.060 to 1.029 so I think everything is fine. I did throw in another pack of yeast since I already had re-hydrated it.

Different beer and different yeast I guess. Patience

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In the majority of these situations patience is the key:fro:

That's right. All yeast strains perform a little differently...and it NEVER pays to rush your beer. Your beer should continue to drop to around 1.016 (give or take)...and it's fine that you added more yeast.

Enjoy!

After 24 hours the bubbles have stopped?? I made my first partial mash( Brewers Best Witbier) a 5 gal batch. The OG reading was 1.047 which was right in between the estimated og reading. Is this normal? All my other batches were Mr. Beer 2 gal batches.

If your OG was fine and you observed signs of initial fermentation, I wouldn't worry about it. I'm sure it's still fermenting and will make you excellent beer.

As has been said on here many times before, lack of airlock activity does NOT mean anything with regards to fermentation. The ONLY way is with a hydrometer. I have had beers that completely fermented and tasted awesome but didn't give me a single bubble in the airlock. All it takes is a bucket lid or airlock that didn't seal completely to allow the CO2 to escape without creating bubbles in your airlock.

Give it another week or two, then sample your SG twice, a few days apart, and if it's the same then your fermentation is complete.

Thanks, I was actually posting to state i did find this topic and answered my question. But i appreciate you answering me!!

I know the OP says 24-72 hours.....what about 2 and a half weeks? My Irish Stout has been in primary for 2.5 weeks now and I'm JUST NOW getting airlock activity. It's been in a ~70 degree bathroom in the tub half full of water and the water temp has been holding a steady 68 degrees. Thoughts? I was hoping to bottle this coming weekend but it looks like that may have to wait since fermentation is DEFINITELY still going strong.

The patience you exhibited there, by waiting 2 and a 1/2 weeks before posting, is highly commendable. However, there must have been some kind of action going on, possibly not easy to identify (lack of a visible krausen, a subdued fermentation) but nevertheless present. Airlock activity, whilst fun to observe, isn't a reliable indicator to guage fermentation. Time to get the hydrometer out and test a sample as that's the best way to assess how your fermentation has progressed.

Certainly a bit strange that, at the temps you mention, it wasn't a faster and/or more dynamic fermentation.

no airlock activity for 2.5 weeks and then bubbles sounds like an infection taking hold to me.

It's in a plastic bucket. Should I take the lid off and peek? I don't even know what the damage looks like in there yet. I've been trying to be patient and not worry haha.

i certainly would see what is going on. and take a gravity reading. if i don't get visible fermentation activity within 40 hours or so, i always check and smell before proceeding

Could just be some residual CO2 coming out of solution. Sometimes happens if the temp rises just a bit or the bucket gets jostled. It might actually be an infection in this case, but I wouldn't panic just yet.

Take a gravity reading. If the gravity is still dropping you probably have an infection. If its stable it was just residual CO2.

Ok, so going with everyone's advice, I broke the seal on the fermentation bucket and took a sample to check the gravity. When I opened it, this is what I saw:



It smells WONDERFUL! Just like a hoppy Irish Stout should smell. I don't smell any off flavors and to me (in my EXTREMELY NOVICE EXPERIENCE) it doesn't look infected. There are obvious signs of kraussen rise (and subsequent fall), there is yeast flocculation going on (clumps floating on the surface) and no visible signs of infection. I tasted it and it's quite bitter, I'm assuming because fermentation isn't complete yet (details below). Now on to the gravity information...

My OG was 1.042, right on the bottom of the suggested OG range. Today, 19 days into fermentation, the gravity reads 1.030. Here's where I get concerned. It wasn't until this past weekend (16-17 days into fermentation) that I had vigorous airlock activity. I figured that up to this point I had a weak seal on the bucket and was just accepting that. However, with no change in temperature (maybe 1 degree) and no physical agitation over the weekend (I was out of town), fermentation kicked off and I was getting serious activity in the airlock.

To me (again, very inexperienced) it seems as though there was just a SERIOUS delay (long lag phase?) in fermentation but everything seems to be going ok now. My guess is that I'm on the tail end of the "exponential growth" phase and now heading into the "stationary phase" with the yeast. Strange as it is, I'm just going to keep it fermenting in the same place for another 1-2 weeks and see what happens.

If anyone has any insight into this strange occurrence, please chime in, I'm all ears!

**EDIT**
I forgot to add that since Sunday night (2 days ago) the airlock activity had slowed some before I check the gravity this morning. Since I've put the lid back on, I have positive pressure and continual airlock activity again.

interesting. keep us posted

So I'm brewing an Irish stout and I used a dry yeast. I brewed on Sunday (almost three days ago) and there's no sign of fermentation.
I believe my problem is in my yeast, after boiling the water to hydrate the yeast I'm pretty sure I didn't let it cool enough, and hence i think i killed my yeast.
Is it too late to add more yeast and revive my beer? or should I just swallow my losses and toss the beer?

If your sanitation was good you can re-pitch. Not much to loose.

bleme said:

If your sanitation was good you can re-pitch. Not much to loose.

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Thanks for the quick reply! Will re-pitch tonight!

USMCPayne said:

Ok, so going with everyone's advice, I broke the seal on the fermentation bucket and took a sample to check the gravity. When I opened it, this is what I saw:

If anyone has any insight into this strange occurrence, please chime in, I'm all ears!

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Judging by what I can see in the picture, the krausen ring in your bucket looks pretty healthy and suggests that quite a vigorous fermentation took place. Hard to say exactly but it looks like there was a good couple or few inches of krausen at peak fermentation. That would suggest, to me, that you should have had a lot more attenuation than you are reporting.

There isn't any chance that your hydrometer is knackered, is there?? I know you are still seeing airlock action but that could well just be off gassing.

Well, I couldn't resist any more so I opened her up and took another gravity reading. Just judging by the "surface floaters" the yeast are continuing to settle, there were significantly fewer floating clumps and fewer clumps in the sample I took. Gravity read 1.016, down from 1.030 from just 2 days ago. Expected FG is 1.010-1.012, so I'm right in the ball park for what Midwest said (5-7 days until fermentation is complete and ready to transfer to secondary, which I am skipping). I am at day 21 now, but 5-7 days from when fermentation actually kicked off (on day 16). The sample tasted SIGNIFICANTLY better than 2 days ago (less bitterness, more malt flavor, less hop aroma though). I know all that is still up for dramatic change and I'm not judging anything until it's complete, but it looks like I'm still on the right track. I figure another week in the primary, then I'll bottle and let it condition while I'm out of town for a week and give it a preliminary try when I get back from being out of town.

***EDIT*** (To add clarity)
Brewed: 2/7/13
Rehydrated dry Muntons at 80F & Pitched at 80F
OG: 1.042 (Expected OG 1.042-1.046)
Airlock (and Kraussen): 2/23-24/13 (Day 16-17) (I was out of town when it decided to wake up)
Gravity on 2/26/13 (Day 19): 1.030
Gravity on 2/28/13 (Day 21): 1.016 (Expected FG 1.010-1.012)

Brewed my first ale 3 days ago. Looks to be 2-3inches of nice yellow foam on top that started within the first twelve hours.

Had some issues with my pitching/initial fermentation temperature. Had my stick on thermometer too high up on my fermenting bucket that had my pre boiled water in it so it wasn't reading the water temp properly. I quickly cooled my wort down to approximately 80F but when I poured it in the fermenter, the stick on wasn't even registering at it's max of 82F. I pitched the pre hydrated yeast anyways which was around 80F. I assumed it would cool down quickly but after an hour and a half it still wasn't registering. So, i set up some fans and a wet t-shirt and got it in to the 68-70 range in about 2.5 hours.

As far as I can tell, the yeast is fine. Lots of foam, still there after 2 days and it smells like fermentation. But, no air lock activity. I have come to accept that the air lock is not an indicator of fermentation but I just feel like it should be doing something by now, especially with the activity inside the bucket.

Basically, I just want to know if this is a normal occurrence, when it may start bubbling and what are the consequences, if any, if it does not bubble throughout the fermentation process.

Thanks in advance!

Just give it time. You see a kraussen ring so you know fermentation is going. Forget the airlock activity mine went from 1.030 to 1.016 without a single bubble. You're at least lucky that you're in a carboy and can see the kraussen. Mine is in plastic bucket and I can't see squat haha

USMCPayne said:

Just give it time. You see a kraussen ring so you know fermentation is going. Forget the airlock activity mine went from 1.030 to 1.016 without a single bubble. You're at least lucky that you're in a carboy and can see the kraussen. Mine is in plastic bucket and I can't see squat haha

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I'm actually in a bucket to, but by shining a light on the back you can see the ring of foam pretty well. I also might have took a really quick peek.

Made a BB smoked porter, all is well in the carboy now, but due to equipment malfunctions I wasn't able to get an OG reading. Not super concerned. Figure ill just see what the fg works out to be. Anyone have one that wound up being way off

I realize there is no reason to worry but of course I am.

Just made my second batch on Saturday afternoon (50hrs ago) and have had no bubbling yet. I did initially have it stored in my laundry room where it was probably too cold (60) so I moved it to a different room this morning where the temp is a monitored 70. Still no bubbling when I got home. I broke down, popped the top and took the attached pic. It smells right, appears to be foaming so I should be fine but I would appreciate some confirmation.

Thanks - Steve

If I don't get any bubbling at what point must I act and what should I do? The brewstore is quite a distance and I work all week so I need to have a plan.

Update: Nevermind, the beer just wanted me to look silly. I popped the top back on, made my post, went back to the storage spot and the beer is bubbling along.

Just started brewing again after many years. I decided to start with an ingredient kit since it's been a while; went with Brewer's Best American Amber ale. Was a little worried after 24 hours with no activity in the airlock, but now after 48 hours in the fermentation bucket it seems to be gurgling away happily. I don't know when the gurgling started -- I decided not to worry about it, and had to force myself to stop checking. The aroma coming out of the airlock is heavenly.

I’m a new member and new to brewing. I’ve helped other people brew a few batches but this batch is my first. I’m concerned about Fermentation due to no airlock activity.

Irish Stout brewed Feb. 24th
I originally took an OG reading of 1.075 which is quite a bit higher than the 1.042 that is was supposed to be. I believe part of the problem is that I took the reading with a Hydrometer after pitching the dry yeast. (I’m curious why Hydrometers are only accurate for OG???) My second issue, now that I look back on it, was that I put my bucket on a table in my cool basement. I don’t know what I was thinking because it’s probably 55 degrees down there. On the 26th I decided to pop down there and see if there was any activity in the airlock, nothing. So I moved it upstairs to my pantry where it’s between 64 and 67. After a week of no activity in the airlock I assumed the drop in temp to 55 or possibly less caused the yeast to stall. I bought liquid yeast and put in March 3rd, a week after the original pitch. I completely spaced doing another gravity reading, which after doing some reading on the forum I probably should have done before re-pitching. I did notice a ring of what looked like broken down hops near the top of the beer along the sides (krausen ring?) which seems to be a good sign. The beer smelled fine but there was no real foam on the top or bubbling. Now the re-pitch has been in there a day and half and I’m still not seeing any airlock bubbles. I’ve only opened the lid once to re-pitch to avoid opening it too often. I tried to be patient but I’m thinking being more consistent with my gravity readings would have helped.

If anyone has suggestions or general brewing practices that would help me out I would greatly appreciate it.

Topping up an extract batch? If so, the high OG reading is because the wort and top off water were not thoroughly mixed. No worries there.

Krausen ring on the bucket indicates you had fermentation. It's probably done. Take a hydrometer reading to check.

Hydrometers are accurate post fermentation, refractometers need adjusted for liquid's alcohol content.

Well, here's my $.02 as a new brewer (8.5 gallons in various stages of 'brew'..still haven't tased a drop).

My 1 gallon AG batch, which was to get my feet wet, fermented nicely in a gallon glass jug with stopper, plenty of activity, its carbing in bottles, I think it all went well, no OG reading though. It was stored between 65 and 67 degrees. Pitched around 75.

My 5 gallon batch, partial mash, Midwest Irish Stout extract kit, but I added 1 lb of 6 row (ordered 2 row, got 6 row), and one lb of oats, and mashed the grains instead of steeping, and did an early addition of the LME, This one had almost NO airlock activity in my bucket with airlock. After 3 days I noticed a krausen ring, and took a hydro reading since I was concerned, and (I know I pitched way too warm, probably 87ish) it Dropped from 1.055 to 1.023, left it in my basement at 62 degrees. for 10 more days, it looked done.

I moved it upstairs to the 65-67 range, and took a reading after a few day, and it dropped to 1.0205, and noticed some fine bubbles at the surface, so 16 days into the batch, its still going, probably bottle this weekend. (tasted good).


My 2.5 gallon AG, made up recipe for a blonde/cream ale (which is probably too high in flaked maize but we'll see), was an OG of about 1.041, and I pitched the WB-06 yeast at 75 ish, and it fermented nicely for 6 days with activity through a blow off tube, after it slowed I switched to the airlock and its almost done, but I can see bubbles still rising in the better bottle.

Basically, my take away is I've seen the 'leaky bucket no airlock activity' thing first hand, and as a new brewer it was scary (its why I picked 3gal clear bottles for future AG's so I can see the bubbles). But all 3 batches seem healthy and are "beer". Not sure how my super corny cream ale is gonna taste, but it sure looks nice.


CLIFF NOTES : Worried new brewers, you will find comfort using clear fermentation vessels with stoppers and blow offs...Non worried brewers, buckets make more beer.

Hugh_Jass said:

Topping up an extract batch? If so, the high OG reading is because the wort and top off water were not thoroughly mixed. No worries there.

Krausen ring on the bucket indicates you had fermentation. It's probably done. Take a hydrometer reading to check.

Hydrometers are accurate post fermentation, refractometers need adjusted for liquid's alcohol content.

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I wrote Hydrometer but I meant Refractometer. My kit didn't come with a hydrometer tube (dumb) but my brother had bought me a refractometer so my reading was with that. I did read up and saw that taking a measurement off the top could cause it to be high. I did take it off the top because I just had the small dropper that came with the refractometer. Maybe it wasn't mixed well enough when I took the reading.

Can I still get decent reading using the refractometer? I'm not worried about having the exact alcohol percentage as much as just knowing that it's done fermenting and can be moved to a secondary. Sounds like I might have to borrow a Hydrometer tube from my buddy.

Also is re-pitching after the initial dry yeast fermented going to throw off the flavor or anything?

Thanks for the reply, it makes me quite a bit less worried about it.

Nah, dude. The second pitch didn't do anything. It probably flocculated to the bottom. If it's done, skip the secondary and go to the bottling bucket to package.

Hugh_Jass said:

Nah, dude. The second pitch didn't do anything. It probably flocculated to the bottom. If it's done, skip the secondary and go to the bottling bucket to package.

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I figured it wouldn't but if the first pitch of yeast stalled because of the temp then it might finish the job.

I'm curious, why skip the secondary?

I planned on doing a gravity reading Sunday (14 days) and if it's right I'd move it to the secondary.

Normal gravity beers don't really need it. The yeast is done and is slowly dropping out of solution. This process can be sped up by using geletin. LINK

Both using primary only and primary/clearing vessal are acceptable in homebrewing. I'm in the primary only camp.

EDIT to say I primary only because

1)I've not noticed a difference between the two processes

2)I view secondary as an unnecessary step and I'm too fng lazy to worry about it.

Cool. I'll look into that. Thanks for all of your help. May the beer Gods smile upon you!

Just to add another nugget of info to this one...

My stout that started at ~.01054, and took two weeks of me not seeing a bubble to get to .01021, was moved to a room that was a few degrees warmer (65-67 vs 61-63) and over the last few days went from .01021 to
.01017.

So..can't bottle, which is a bummer, but certainly better than bottling bombs after two weeks in primary.

It has been 30+ hours since I brewed my first batch. There has been no sign of fermentation. I did not stir in the yeast. Is that a problem?

Dhyde25 said:

It has been 30+ hours since I brewed my first batch. There has been no sign of fermentation. I did not stir in the yeast. Is that a problem?

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dry yeast or liquid yeast, what was the predicted OG? if liquid yeast, what was the manufacture date on the package?

progmac said:

dry yeast or liquid yeast, what was the predicted OG? if liquid yeast, what was the manufacture date on the package?

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In addition to these questions, what is the current temp of the liquid? If the solution is too cold, the yeast may remain dormant or be a bit sluggish.

Stirring the yeast isn't necessary. Given the right environment, they know what to do. No worries there.

Also, how do you know there isn't fermentation?

Dry yeast. I am probably just being paranoid. I haven't checked the krausen yet, so I will do that tonight. Does it hurt the beer this early in the process if I open the bucket?

Nah dude, wash your hands well and open it up. You want to keep everything as sanitary as possible.

I'd bet you've got active fermentation going but the bucket did not seal. This would allow the co2 to escape and the airlock to remain silent.

Ok. I will check it out. Thanks for the advice.

This is what under the lid looks like. This was taken almost exactly 48 hours after I added the yeast. Does that right? O do I need to do something to it?