Fermentation without airlock activity

This is my second brew ever- a partial Mash Guinness Clone from LHBS. Pitched the yeast at 76F, OG was 1.044. It is in my brand new primary fermenter with the lid on tighly and water in the airlock and the airlock is fit tightly into the gromet.

After 5 days or so I have not had any action in the airlock. However, the hydrometer now reads 1.020. How is this possible? I know most of you are going to assume i didnt put the lid on tightly etc, but i have taken it off and snapped it back into place multiple times to be sure, and my first batch had a ton of activity in the airlock. so i believe everything should be fitting together properly.

what could be going on here? thanks for any help

Either there's a leak somewhere, or it fermented out when you were sleeping and you missed it. But I assure you, fermentation does not take place without CO2 offgassing.

thanks for your quick response! assuming there is a leak, is that anything to worry about? am i greatly increasing the chance of infection etc?

Not unless it is open where stuff can fall into the fermenter. I have seen a 1 day ferment before on 5 gallons and noticed bubbles starting on the top of the beer only to have a krausen ring and nothing happening the next day. Just so happens to be the only beer I had with diacetyl in it. It took me a couple of days to check the gravity thinking it would show more signs, but it went to 8 GU from 48 GU's that fast. I pitched on top of a previous cake and at 75*F so that is what I am chalking it up to. Fastest since then is 3 days with nothing but great results, at proper pitching rates and temperature control.

Two things:

1) I recently had a the same thing happen to me and my beer turned out fine.

2) If you are using a bucket -- mine was an Ale Pail -- make sure you have a good solid seal. Unfortunately, my ale pail did not come equipped with the rubber gasket that many come with, and I'm almost certain that was the problem. Flip your lid over after you rack and take a look.

MT

That is the Guiness Gods playing tricks on you for trying to clone Guiness!!!

(I'm Irish)

I'm a new brewer but this has happened to me on my first two brews. The first one had very little airlock activity and the second one has had zero activity.

Both fermented in the same pale and it doesn't have the rubber gasket. I bought another pale to have two fermenters and it does have a gasket, so I'll be trying it next time.

I, like you, hope that it doesn't have any negative effects. It feels like it has a good seal when I snap it down, but there must be a tiny leak somewhere.

I've had it happen, too. don't worry about it at all- I've never had a problem with any of the countless beers and wines I've made. That is just one of the reasons why we always say around here that you can't rely on airlock activity to gauge whether or not fermentation is done. It's just not that reliable.

The instructions with the gravity info got thrown away, does FG 1.020 sound right?(OG was 1.044)

it has been stuck there for over a week, but it seemed too high to be done...

Humm, I would think it would be lower being an irish ale yeast was probably used on a guiness clone. You only got 43% attenutaion??? Irish ale and most others are going to ferment to 70% ish attenuation. Are you sure you took gravity readings at the right temperature? I think you should have gotten down to at least the 1.012-14 range.

yeah thats what i thought.

1.044 OG was taken at 76F when i pitched, the 1.020 reading was taken at 62F. (multiple times just to be sure.)

...sounds like i need to repitch? (or can i just shake it up a bit?)

is your hydrometer rated at 60*F or 68*F?

I'm not sure, does it matter? all of the tests were done with the same hydrometer.

Read your hydrometer and it should say what it is rated at. It matters a point or two, I have your OG reading at 1.046 @76*F so there are two points different from what you have taking into account a hydrometer rated at 60*F. I have you at 1.045 with a hydrometer rated at 68*F. As far as your FG I have you at 1.020 @ 62*F (hydrometer rated for 60*F), and 1.019 @ 62*F (hydrometer rated at 68*F). It is just a few points and I don't think your readings are far off, I don't know why it isn't more attenuated.

This has happened to me twice, both times with the el cheapo Ale Pail ...

Both times batch was fine (though I DID peek underneath quickly to confirm that the yeast were happy, and they were!

I am sure your batch will be great!

I will re-assign the ale pail to holding road salt for this coming VT winter.

Better Bottles are looking very good right now...