Houston....do I have a problem?

48 hours since I made my first batch. 36 hours ago my airlock was bubbling nicely. Yesterday is slowed down some. Today.....nothing really going on with the airlock?

Its a brown ale in a 6.5 gallon pail.

Recommendations?

Time to freak?

Thanks!

mcnerd

RDWHAHB

You are fine. Sounds normal. Just back away from the bucket, let the yeasties do their thing.

Take a peek inside if you want - you'll probably see a thick brownish layer of foamy krausen, which would be a good indicator that all is well.

Don't rely on the airlock as a gauge of fermentation!! It's fine!! Trust us!!

+1 on RDWHAHB

BTW mcnerd, what part of Missouri you in?

Speaking from Houston, I doubt you have a problem but it's hard to tell from what you told us. If you want, shake your fermenter around some and rouse some yeast that may have tried to go to bed a little early. Or, if you really want to know where you are, do a gravity check. If you are at or fairly close to your target FG, you have no problem at all. If you are far off, you may need to get busy with some TLC.


TL

@bluelinebrewer St. Louis

Temp of the pail is sitting around 73 degrees. Should I look for a cooler place in the house maybe?

Popped the top for a quick peak. The level has gone down some, some foam on top....and a bunch of stuff that looks like poop on the sides. Smells like beer.

Thanks for the tips so far.

mcnerd

mcnerd said:

Smells like beer.

Click to expand...

That's an excellent sign.


TL

Typically I would expect "bunch of stuff that looks like poop" to bring out a negative response.

Is there a better name for that stuff than poop?


mcnerd

Yeast sh*t aka- krausen.

Usually makes homebrewers happy as it means the yeast are doing their job...

See JLem's post above.

Just to east your mind a little bit... I brewed an IPA last night, pitched yeast at around 10 last night, and came home from work today, and there was no "bubbles" in the airlock. I popped open the lid, and there it was, about an inch thick of that stomach soothing foam on top of my beer. Just keep it in mind, the airlock doesnt always mean fermenting activity. This was my first batch that this has happened, and I will admit it caught me off guard. Turns out it was just my lid leaking more of the CO2 that it took to push the airlock up. All is good! :rockin: