Huge Gravity reading dip

Hey guys, I'm new to the forum and also to brewing. I started my first batch on November 29th. It was a muntons pilsner beer kit. I didn't get an OG reading. It's fermenting in a plastic bucket with 23 L of wort in it with the lid loosely on, no airlock. I haven't seen really any activity going on but there is a little ring around the bucket so I assume it's doing something. Anyway I ended up taking a gravity ready yesterday which was day 2 of the ferment, and it was 1.042. Today I peeked inside and looked at my hydrometer as I left it in there(advice from the guy at the brew supply store) and the gravity was at 1.010. This seems like a huge loss in gravity in just a day is it not? Is everything all good you think?

I find it can take a while for the yeast to get started but once they are going they can rip through 30 points of gravity in a day no trouble. Sounds like you have a good active fermentation going.

One thing to check is the temperature that you are fermenting at. Yeast will work faster at higher temperatures and that's not necessarily a good thing as they produce off-flavours at high temperatures as well.

It would be worth recording the temperature - in general you want to be at the low end of whatever the kit instructions say. If you are too hot then there isn't anything to be done now (since the beer is almost finished fermenting) but next time do everything you can to keep at the low end of the temperature range.

Do a search for "swamp cooler" and that will make a huge difference to the quality of you next brew.

Lots of really great info on these forums, hope your brew goes well for you.

You may have krausen and yeast clinging to the hydrometer making it heavier. Floating lower would indicate a lower SG than the actual SG.

Cool, thanx for the info guys, and I think the temperature might have been a little on the higher side. In my house. I know lagers prefer to ferment a little cooler. I'll look into some temperature control methods.