fermentation length

took off in less than six hours. ran good for 12 hours slowed down to 1 bubble a min in the next six hours and then stopped. nothing...not a single bubble in 3 days. never had 1 do this. safbrew-33 dry yeast. used this yeast a lot no problems. re-hydro...all my yeast. does this sound normal? have not lifted the lid to take any readings. not a real high gravity beer. this just seems odd to me. extract kit. stirred the heck out of the wort. never had this happen before.

Do you have an hydrometer?

what is that? are they useful?

I've had a few finish primary in two days. Leave it alone for at least a week, and if you can stand it, three weeks. Then crack the fermentor and if you figure out what a hydrometer is and how to use it, check the final gravity (the search function in this forum and in the Home Brew Wiki help a lot with this sort of thing). Then check it again a couple days later and if the reading is exactly the same and in the 1.005 to 1.015 range, the beer is ready for bottling or kegging.

yes i can check it. i always rack to secondary.. i just have never seen this before. i guess i was asking if you guys have.

spottedbass said:

I always rack to secondary.

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Lots of folks are moving away from this step. I have a test batch running now. The idea that the yeast will clean up after themselves if you give them a chance is, errrr, enticing.

Yeah, but it takes forever! At least it seems that way.

spottedbass said:

yes i can check it. i always rack to secondary.. i just have never seen this before. i guess i was asking if you guys have.

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I have. I've also had beers that bubbled 2-3/min for a month in secondary.

The point? Airlock activity (or lack thereof) is pretty much irrelevant. Hydrometer readings are the best way to understand what's going on with your beer.

Only your gravity reading know for sure!

Just because the bubbles stopped is no indication that it's done. Without a gravity reading you don't know if you have a stuck fermentation or not.

BuffaloSabresBrewer said:

what is that? are they useful?

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A hydrometer is the ONLY way to know your beer is 'done'. its also the only way to know how much alcohol is in the beer.

a hydrometer is to brewers, as a tape measure is to carpenters. Sure, you can eye ball it...but when the house comes out sloped, you only have yourself to blame.

this is a kit, porter with some steeped grains. it says fg should be 1.014, hydro has read 1.020 for three days. og was 1.042, has been in primary for 8 days. what should i do next? i need the primary, can i just rack it to secondary for a few weeks? do i need to pitch more yeast? if so do i stirr the primary again? or would steeping grains cause this reading? kinda at a loss here, please help!!!

What temp has it been at? Who's kit is it?

true brew kit. 68-70 degrees the whole time.