SOOOO......How is it that (no airlock bubbles)

I am staring at my glass carboy and i see a nice 1 inch head of foam and a flurry of stuff floating, falling and swirling around but not an ounce activity from my airlock. how is that you can see its fermenting away but nothing bubbling. I know the lock is fine cuz i saw it work on my last batch. fermentation just started really going today and i have it currently at 64. the yeast is denny's favorite 1450 which I've never used before and it seemed to take longer to get going than other types I've used (no i didn't use a starter this time.bad brewer bad) is there a scientific reason my curiosity is peeked

Because bubbling does not equal fermentation.

Probably just early in fermentation or there isn't a tight seal on the top of your carboy.

You have a leak. Likely your carboy cap isn't as sealed as you think.

Gas finds the least resistance to escape, so there's a gap that is less resistance than the airlock water.

Well i am still at a loss. My brew has been fermenting steadily for 3 days now but my s style lock still wont bubble. have tried 2 cap and two locks. place plastic wrap over the mouth of the carboy and punched a hole in it to force a better seal. i can see the lock is under pressure because most of the water is on the other side of the lock. all i can assume is its not fermenting fast enough to produce a lot of gas. i let the temp rise from 60 to 66 to see if it makes a diff

If you see active fermentation in the carboy I wouldn't mess with it too much. As others have said, airlock activity doesn't mean much. Your yeast are doing their thing.

Glynn said:

Well i am still at a loss. My brew has been fermenting steadily for 3 days now but my s style lock still wont bubble. have tried 2 cap and two locks. place plastic wrap over the mouth of the carboy and punched a hole in it to force a better seal. i can see the lock is under pressure because most of the water is on the other side of the lock. all i can assume is its not fermenting fast enough to produce a lot of gas. i let the temp rise from 60 to 66 to see if it makes a diff

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If it's fermenting, there's no problem. Don't fix it if it isn't broken.

Leak. Yeast don't swim. They move around due to the CO2 that is coming out of solution, rising and churning the wort. That CO2 must be leaving your carboy somehow. Wrap some seran wrap around the bottle neck and stopper if you want to see the airlock move.

Take your Spray bottle with starsan mix and spray around the air lock/cap. See if it's bubbling anywhere.

I think you said you were using a carboy? Is your airlock in a stopper? I tried one of those rubber caps that fit over the neck of the carboy that has a couple of outlets. They do not seal very well. When I used that I never saw bubbling. But, if it's fermenting.. there just has to be bubbles. The CO2 has to go someplace. There is a leak somewhere.. but, I'd not worry about it unless your "binky" is visible bubbles.

Is there water in it? Sorry...had to say it.

I have pitched the yest around 36h ago, there is no bubbling and the solution from my two bubble airock is being pushed out which means that fermentation has started. The tap of my fermentor became convex and when I pushed it downwards some of the CO2 got out through the airlock but it does not make its way out on its own. I am afraid that the solution will finally get out of the airlock... Any advice?

szymonx11 said:

Any advice?

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Yes - leave it be. Your lid (it sounds like you are using a bucket) isn't sealing very well. But no worries, the pressure inside will prevent nasties from getting in.

thanks for the reply, it is allright now. The bucket is sealing well, it is only half full so it took some time to produce enough pressure to push the co2 out.

Yep, I had the same problem this weekend. No bubbles....but tons of Krausen in the bucket. Was gonna re-pitch but decided to swap out lids this morning. Sanitized a new lid and popped it on there. Bubbling like a MOFO now Happy Brewer = happy life.

Rock_Toy said:

Yep, I had the same problem this weekend. No bubbles....but tons of Krausen in the bucket. Was gonna re-pitch but decided to swap out lids this morning. Sanitized a new lid and popped it on there. Bubbling like a MOFO now Happy Brewer = happy life.

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If you see krausen, everything is fine. Airlock bubbles are not at all important to the process. You would've been fine leaving the original lid on.

Smell it. If you can smell the "bubbles" (CO2 emission) you are good.

hunter_la5 said:

If you see krausen, everything is fine. Airlock bubbles are not at all important to the process. You would've been fine leaving the original lid on.

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I know that but it is still unsettling to not "see" the bubbles. The brewing process is an interactive event for me and I like to "hear" the beer doing its thing. Swapping out a lid isn't too difficult and it confirmed what I already knew was happening