First Brew- Airlock stopped Bubbling

Ok I searched throught the forums first to see if this had been discussed- but every case seemed slightly different than mine. I made the wort Sat night and by Sun early afternoon my airlock was bubbling away! Almost a constant bubbling- at least every 2-3 seconds. Then Monday Morning nothing! We turned the air down to keep it warmer, gave the wort a quick stir and thought we were seeing some movement in the airlock again soon after but nothing. I emailed my brewshop and they told me not to worry just leave it for the full 7 days then move to secondary. Well we are using our Kegerator with a CO2 system rather than a secondary. Any suggestions/ideas? Should I add more yeast? Or did we have an amazingly fast fermentation?

It may be done the major part of its fermentation. Might as well give it the full seven days, even if it is done, you won't hurt anything.

And please don't stir it anymore!

48 hours ferments are not unusual. The fastest ferment I've had was 18 hours, I've also had ferments that lasted 8 months.

Leave it in the fermenter for two weeks so it can clear a bit, then keg it. Wait 4 weeks to tap.

Yup, it might be done, or your airlock might have lost it's seal. Check the airlock to see if it has positive pressure. If it's fine, then the yeast are about done. I'd still leave it for at least a week though.

My suggestion is to leave it alone, let it sit until you are ready to either bottle or move to a secondary and relax and...well, you know.

That is not at all an active ferment time that is outside of norms. Mostly the real activity is done in 48 hours or so at most.

Both batches that I have brewed stopped bubbling within 24 hours. I checked the gravity and they were about half finished. I put the lid back on and left them for at least 7 days. Tomorrow I'll check the gravity of the second batch and hopefully I can bottle it this weekend.

angfento said:

Well we are using our Kegerator with a CO2 system rather than a secondary. Any suggestions/ideas?

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I would still go for the secondary, as it would help to clear the beer. Sounds like you had a quick ferment, but don't be in a hurry to drink it. It improves with age, as they say.

I'd like to echo everything that's been suggested here, especially the part about not stirring the brew. IMO, once fermentation has begun, the only reason to stir the brew is to rouse the yeast if you have a stuck fermentation. But the only way you can tell that the fermentation is stuck, is if you take a hydrometer sample over a few days, and the gravity remains constant at a reading that's too high for the beer to be done. Even then, you only want to gently stir the yeast up.

Don't rely on airlock activity to indicate whether the beer is done. Airlocks are notorious for leaks, and even if there are no leaks, there still may be activity without a bunch of bubbling. Taking and comparing hydrometer readings is the best way to determine if your beer is done or not.

The 1,2,3 rule works well. 1 week in the primary, 2 weeks in the secondary, and 3 weeks in the bottle/keg. If you're not going to do the secondary, I'd give the primary an extra week. It can't hurt, and will really help.

Be patient grasshopper. Beer takes time. But its worth it.