Fermentation stopped?

Hi,

In a post below I described my first homebrew attempt (extract) this past Saturday.
All went well and I got my fermenter into the basement at around 4:00 Saturday afternoon. By 10:45 that evening the airlock began to bubble every few seconds and continued to do so all through the next day until I last checked it around 10:00pm last night (Sunday). It bubbled around every 3 seconds. I also put my ear against the bucket and the nearest example I can think of to describe the sound inside is that of a babbling brook with water churning.
This morning I checked it and there is nothing happening in the airlock and I hear nothing inside the bucket.

What might be going on here? Should I give it a shake?

Tommy

Congratulations, it's a beer! Chances are that the violent part of the fermantation is finished, it can happen that fast. Take a peek in there, you should see a bunch of gunk floating around and evidence that it was much higher up the sides at one point. Give it a few more days and rack to secondary. You can take a gravity reading if you want but you're probably fine.

Chairman Cheyco said:

Congratulations, it's a beer! Chances are that the violent part of the fermantation is finished, it can happen that fast. Take a peek in there, you should see a bunch of gunk floating around and evidence that it was much higher up the sides at one point. Give it a few more days and rack to secondary. You can take a gravity reading if you want but you're probably fine.

Click to expand...

Thanks. After reading your reply I opened up my fermenter and it was just as you said. Foam/gunk on top (krausen?) sort of like a nasty brown head and a cascade or gunk residue higher on the sides. I took a whiff and it smells like beer, very unlike when I first placed it into the bucket. I can smell the hops and it actually smells drinkable.
I won't have time to rack it until the weekend but I'm sure another 6 days won't hurt. I would think it may be better (?).

Thanks, the excitement is back!

Tommy

Yeah, leaving it in there will be fine. The rule of thumb is 1 week in primary, 2 weeks in secondary and 3 weeks in the bottle. Give or take, every brew is a little different, you'll learn when it's 'time.'