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

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I did a kit for a California Common that used a dry yeast.

The directions were to pour the yeast over the top of the beer and let it set for 10 minutes. After that, give the concoction two stirs with the spoon.

This visually did nothing. Why did I stir it twice? What were to happen if the yeast were to be stirred completely into the beer?

It's obviously fermenting and start somewhere before 10 hours after finishing everything.
 
I am brewing a batch of mr beer octorberfest. Its been a week and the bubbles have stoped it seems I took a reading and i am at 1.015 or so I started at 1.040. I am wondering if i should let go an other week, and will it spoil? Thanks in advance

Welcome, Let it ride, yeast do wonderful things for beer after active fermentation has stopped. I'd let it sit for another week, then when the gravity stays the same for 3 consecutive days then move on. A lighter beer I may put in a secondary for a week, if not, keg or bottle.
 
May seem like a dumb question but it has me worried. This my first batch ever and it was going pretty well, fermentation started right around 12 hours. Well now my airlock shows no pressure from co2 or bubbles coming up. Should i be worried its stopped fermenting??
 
No. Don't worry. Airlocks are somewhere around 0% reliable as a gauge of fermentation. All it does is show when C02 is escaping through the airlock. It does not show if C02 is escaping somewhere else ( loose lid, gap, etc.)

Wait a few more weeks and take a Gravity reading. Don't fret over your beer... the Yeast don't know you're anxious.
 
I made my first batch of beer last night (an Amber Ale) and I am patiently waiting for fermentation to start. My question, concern, is that there is sediment (trub?) at the bottom of my carboy but no real foam at the top of the carboy. Is this normal? I pitched dry SAFALE US-05.
 
Like the title says, 48 - 72 hours. Some take less. Any more than 72 is usually not a good sign. That's not to say you'll end up with undrinkable beer, but you typically want your yeast to get to work right away. It's important to note, however, that you do not want to pitch too warm. This is a typical newbie mistake. If it's really warm, you could harm the yeast. But even slightly warm could introduce off flavors. I keep my yeast in my pocket while I'm brewing to warm it up. Then I generally pitch at around 75.
 
Second batch in under way in fermentation (a Brown Ale). Same thing as w/ my first batch of IPA...no activity in the Arilock. I'm thinking that 5 gallons in a 6.5 gallon platic tank gives it too much room to not reach the top to warrant activity in an airlock. Just a hunch.
Like I said the ifrst batch had xero activity in the airlock and had ZERO issues. The IPA was wonderful.
 
Second batch in under way in fermentation (a Brown Ale). Same thing as w/ my first batch of IPA...no activity in the Arilock. I'm thinking that 5 gallons in a 6.5 gallon platic tank gives it too much room to not reach the top to warrant activity in an airlock. Just a hunch.
Like I said the ifrst batch had xero activity in the airlock and had ZERO issues. The IPA was wonderful.

I pitched 10 gallons into 2 - 6.5 gallon buckets on Saturday and had 3 burps per second from the air lock within 3 hours. (Yes, well oxygenated wort and a healthy yeast cake will do that for you.) It doesn't take much to increase the air pressure enough to rock that airlock, regardless of how much head space. If it is creating C02, that stuff has to go somewhere.
 
I just brewed my 4th batch- An American Double IPA with Warrior, Simcoe and Cascade hops. It's been 36 hours and still no sign of activity in the air-lock. The brew is in a plastic bucket, so I can't see if anything is happening.. I'm half tempted to take off the lid so I can take a look. Would this be a poor choice?
 
I just brewed my 4th batch- An American Double IPA with Warrior, Simcoe and Cascade hops. It's been 36 hours and still no sign of activity in the air-lock. The brew is in a plastic bucket, so I can't see if anything is happening.. I'm half tempted to take off the lid so I can take a look. Would this be a poor choice?

What bithead said. Also, if you know what your level was when you first poured the wort into the fermenter, you can check & see if it's risen at all. If you can't see, turn off the lights & shine a flashlight in. I believe opening the lid should be a last resort & only used to take a gravity reading.

While a thick Krausen isn't the only sign of good fermentation, it is reassuring! :mug:
 
I would say after a week to take a hydrometer reading, just to make sure its making some headway. Then at 2 weeks check to make sure you're close to final gravity. If there is little movement, or it stops short, try to warm the ferm up and give it a swirl to get the yeast roused up...but only do this if it needs it. Just my $.02
 
Thought I had a case of no fermentation. No airlock activity for 2 days. Opened lid and found krausen. Closed lid and waited 4 more days with no airlock activity. Took a hydrometer reading and all is well. I noticed a tear in the rubber washer in the lid of the plastic fermenter - replaced the washer and got a few hours of airlock activity before it petered out.
 
I've read through most of the 50+ pages in this thread and may have missed it, but I think this is a good place for a reminder: Don't Worry, Have A Homebrew! If you don't have any homebrew, have someone else's. If they don't have any, then go out and buy a commercial brew and have one of those. Yeasts are living organisms, and I am convinced they have their own personalities, attitudes, and even their own agendas.

I've always used both White Labs that we get in a vial and the dry varieties. I have always had yeasts take off almost as soon as I pitch them. Not this last time, though. My most recent brew is an A/G light ale. I hit all my gravities within a few points, which was good for me because I usually don't get that close. This was the sweetest tasting wort I've made, so far. Used White Labs #WLP001, but activity started 36 hours after pitching. I keep my fermenter in the room all my guitars are in, which is maintained at 66-68 degrees. It was difficult, but I resisted opening the fermenter. What I did do, though, was move the space heater a bit closer to the fermenter. Maybe the extra warmth gave the yeast some encouragement.
 
I have my very first batch of brew in my primary. Brewed on Tuesday afternoon. By wednesday midday, air lock already showing activity. Thursday, going real good. By friday, slowing down. Today, saturday airlock is bubbling about one every eight seconds. Was planning on moving to a secondary. Would now be the time to do this or should I wait longer?:confused:
 
I have my very first batch of brew in my primary. Brewed on Tuesday afternoon. By wednesday midday, air lock already showing activity. Thursday, going real good. By friday, slowing down. Today, saturday airlock is bubbling about one every eight seconds. Was planning on moving to a secondary. Would now be the time to do this or should I wait longer?:confused:

Can we presume this batch is an ale, as opposed to a lager? I leave mine in the primary for 7 days, then 14 in the secondary, which is what you'll find in a lot of recipes.

Airlock bubbling is only the CO2 produced by the yeast. The airlock keeps the fermenter from blowing apart from too much pressure being built up. Although in one of my brews the airlock blew off the fermenter, which I thought was pretty funny. In any case, fermentation is still happening, most of it during the first 7 days, even if you see the bubbling gradually slowing or stopping completely. So there's no real correspondence between bubbling and what's going on inside the fermenter. At around the end of the 2nd week, your beer should be ready to bottle.

Racking to a secondary fermenter gets the wort off the sediment on the bottom which can add unwanted flavors to the beer. But it's not really necessary, especially in brown ales. A lot of times I just leave the beer in the primary for two weeks, then bottle. For me, it's more of a matter of personal preference, but then I haven't yet made any brews where I had to rack to a secondary.

Anyways, congrats on making it through your first brew. :ban: I would say the worst part is over, but really the worst part is waiting until you can open the first bottle of beer you made yourself!
 
Thank you for the info. The next batch I'll be more relaxed and enjoy the process. Yes it is a red ale. Brewers best kit.
 
This is my first all grain. I am making a Bavarian Cherry Wheat. I added a 5oz of corn sugar to the wort just to add some gravity, it was a bit low I though. This thing is going like crazy it has so much foam that it plugged up my air lock. I used a hose and put it to a sterilized water bath. It sound like a scuba diver in there. Is there such a thing as fermenting to fast? If so what is the outcome of it?
 
I've never added sugar to the wort, but I have had yeast take off like that.

There are a lot of discussions on HBT about this topic. I did quick search and found this one. I would say DWHAHB!
 
Most people seem to be worried about the yeast not working. This is my second batch, and with both of them the krausen filled the carboy and has overflowed into the airlock. There is so much gas escaping, that most of the water in the lock has been pushed out. Was my wort too warm when I pitched the yeast? The temp. on the carboy says 70, the house temp is set at 68, and when I put the wort into the carboy it's temp. was about 75. The first batch was an American Amber, and made a great beer, This one is a Scottish Ale.
 
My favorite thing about this thread is that I read the whole thing today, and every time someone posted that their fermentation was taking too long to start, i would think "relax, you just gotta be patient!" But at the same time, I'd be lying if i said I wasn't also thinking thinking "man, i sure hope my brew (my first one, started it last night) has started fermenting by the time i get home!"

Fortunately for me and my "better you than me" approach to patience, it had indeed started fermenting when I got home. :p
 
Major bummer. I brewed the AHS Anniversary Stout Mini Mash this past Saturday. It was my first time doing a mini mash so it took me awhile to get going but everything went smoothly. I used Danstar Windsor Dry Yeast for the brew. Everything should have been fine except I somehow managed to forget to seal the lid on the bucket. I didn't notice until yesterday but now I'm starting to get worried that I done goofed. I took a quick peek yesterday and nothing looked like it was happening.

The Amber Ale I brewed today is already bubbling away so I'm kind of bummed that I may have potentially ruined the stout.

Sorry I'm making another one of these posts; I swore I wouldn't after I lurked for a few weeks but I'm not sure how I should proceed from here. Would the best course of action be a hydrometer reading?
 
If the lid was not sealed properley there would be gas leaking out of it and not the air lock, I would take a reading to see what you have and seal the lid and let if finish or rack to a secondary.
 
I'm brewing a Red Ale w/ WLP007 yeast. OG was 1.052 (1.055 target) and I started seeing bubbles in ~16 hours. It has been 4 days now and it seems like the bubbling has pretty much stopped. I was gonna rack to a secondary sunday (6 days total in primary), but do you guys think that this would be too long in the primary since the bubbling has stopped?
 
Well.. its day 5 right now on my first batch. The waterlock was bubbling vigorously the first day then started to curb off. A layer of krausen has formed but waterlock activity stopped completely at day 3. I'm not too worried but a little reassurance would help.
 
Wait around for another week or two, then pull a hydrometer reading. Yeast dont "forget" how to ferment after they've started. It's what they're born to do.

It's 100 times more likely that your fermenter has a slow leak that's allowing an easier way for the CO2 to escape than the airlock. During the height of fermentation, there was probably more pressure being built up than the slow leak could pass....
 
Yeah, I'm using an HDPE bucket so I was wondering if that was the case. I guess its just a waiting game at this point.
Thanks for the quick response XXguy.
 
As has been said in this and other threads, and on other forums- the airlock is not an instrument that is particularly accurate in measuring fermentation. A lot of the standard "Ale Pail" bucket fermenters have no lid seal, it just snaps onto the bucket rim.

If you want to eliminate this type of leak, US Plastics makes buckets (their 7 gal. bucket is virtually ideal for 5 gal. batches) with a real neoprene 'O'- ring in the lid, which seals the bucket. I got three of these, with lids, for about $33 delivered. Drilled a hole in the lids with a 1/2" paddle bit and installed grommets available at fine homebrew stores everywhere.

The only foolproof way to see where your fermentation has gone is to pop that lid, take a sample and put the hydrometer in.
 
rico567 said:
The only foolproof way to see where your fermentation has gone is to pop that lid, take a sample and put the hydrometer in.

Or be lazy like me and slowly put the hydrometer into your bucket... Don't suggest it but taking samples a couple days in a row with the thief got old to me.. Now I got a refractometer and I just pull a drop and save the tasting for kegging day. I use a foot long 1/8 inch ss tube and just go threw the airlock hole so I don't even need to take my bucket lid off...
 
It just occurred to me while working in the lab today that an easy method to prevent the leaks might be using Parafilm. For me, its convenient and available. Any thoughts or experiences on using this for a better seal?
 
So I parafilmed it.. got a few bubbles. Then the water lock stopped again. I'm thinking I stretched the film out too much in one area.

At least I know it is still producing CO2 slowly. Thanks for the help guys.
 
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