I'm fairly certain this question has not been asked before.

Okay so last weekend I did my first official AG brew. I made my own MLT and everything worked out pretty good. I came pretty close to hitting the OG spot on. My new wort chiller worked like a champ too, not sure how I ever did this without one!

Anyhow I don't have an O2 system so I do the aquarium pump trick and just let it go for 20ish minutes. This creates a decent amount of bubbles on top. After aeration I poured in my inflated pack of Wyeast West Yorkshire Ale 1469.

I know that bubbles are not a sign of fermentation, but lets be honest here, the first 3-5 days you always see some nice bubble action going on. I've had zero bubbles. If you look at the carboy it looks like it's fermenting though. It has a nice 2-3 inch head of nice thick yeasty looking stuff.

Here's my two thoughts:

1) The Wyeast landed on the bubble pack from aeration and I need to every so carefully swirl the carboy.

2) This is a brand new plastic carboy and I'm using one of those plastic stoppers with the 2 tubes on it for easy siphoning. Perhaps those don't fully seal on the plastic carboys?

Okay so I know the bubble part HAS been asked a billion times, but pretty sure I've never seen the yeast landing on the aeration bubble pack theory before

You've never heard of it because it makes no sense.....

Actually you're not the first to have this cocamamy idea.

What do you think the bubbles are made out of? Wort.....the yeast is in contact with bubbles who's surface is made up of the wort you aerated. It's not bubbly water or anything, it's WORT....

Going back to the original thing...bubling means nothing, and many beers never bubble....your airlock is not a fermentation gauge, it's a valve....it bubbles or it doesn't....But you say you have fermentation, that's all that matters.

You should have made a starter though...that would have proved to you your yeast was viable before you pitched it.

I'm not really sure what you're asking. However, other than not using a starter for your yeast, it sounds as though you've done everything right. Leave it.

If your brew has krausen (nice thick yeasty looking stuff) on top, the yeast are doing their thing.

If you are seeing krausen (the thick foam on top) then you are getting fermentation. Trust your eyes and the yeast. DON'T trust the airlock. It is 99% likely it is just a bad seal. RDWHAHB.

Wow ninja'd like crazy.

i don't understand. if it's fermenting then the yeast is in there.

what type of airlock? 3-piece ones have a tendency to just get "stuck open" due to the pressure and you won't see bubbles. you can try flicking the airlock.

otherwise, it's probably not perfectly sealed. which isn't a big problem

Yeah I should have made a starter, but the OG was only 1.057 and my stirplate is broken so I got lazy and just smacked the pack to make sure the yeast was viable. The yeast pack did swell like crazy.

Next time I'll do a starter. I have permission from the wife to buy a new stirplate once AHS gets them back in stock.

Krausen was the word I was looking for earlier (still on my first cup of coffee). It has a nice thick layer of it. Those plastic caps probably just don't seal right on the plastic carboys. Think I should put a rubber one in there before fermentation stops so I don't accidentally aerate the beer post-ferment?

Post ferment, you will still have a blanket of CO2 on top until you rack. Let it be.

Here's a third alternative for you. Did you forgot to put any liquid in the airlock?