Airlock bubbling slowly?

I've got my beer in the primary fermenter (don't have a secondary), and the airlock seems to be producing a bubble about every 2 1/2 to 3 seconds. Is that slow? I don't know how vigorously it should be bubbling.

I had some yeast issues, which could be the problem:

1) It wasn't shipped on ice
2) I didn't put in the fridge the first night I had it
3) I took it out about 15 minutes before I pitched it (instead of 3-6 hours before)

It is White Labs Belgian Wit yeast (WLP400, if I remember correctly).

Or, maybe it's not a problem at all...not sure...

I know this is all pretty general info, but does anyone have any input?

Thanks all!

It really doesn't matter if your airlock bubbles or not, or the fast or slowness of it...It's a vent, not a "fermentation gauge."

Read this....https://www.homebrewtalk.com/1217925-post3.html

All is well

Aaahh...it is all so clear now...

Thanks a lot man!

Revvy said:

It really doesn't matter if your airlock bubbles or not, or the fast or slowness of it...It's a vent, not a "fermentation gauge."

Read this....https://www.homebrewtalk.com/1217925-post3.html

All is well

Click to expand...

There are two ways of measuring the rate of a chemical reaction: in the case of fermentation, measuring how fast the reactants are used up (with a hydrometer) or by measuring how fast the product is produced. This is basic high school scientific investigation technique. Whereas the airlock isn't a terribly accurate method of measuring the rate of the one of the products (carbon dioxide) being produced, it can't be discounted as a gauge of fermentation completely. It just isn't as effective as the hydrometer - assuming the fermentation vessel is a completely closed system.

Homebrewtruth said:

- assuming the fermentation vessel is a completely closed system.

Click to expand...

This is the point. UNLESS YOU HAVE A CLOSED SYSTEM. And a typical hombrewers setup, be it a bucket or a craboy with a bung IS NOT A CLOSED SYSTEM.

The only closed systems a few may have are if they're fermenting in a keg or a conical.

So yes it CAN BE discounted.

Sorry pal, daily we see this on here. Contrary to what you may think, neither a bucket OR a carboy with a bung is airtight. As I stated above you don't want it to be airtight, unless it's a keg or a Stainless conical, unless you like beer/ wine on your ceiling.

The airlock is one of the most superfluous things in brewing, that new brewers seem to put the most stock in.

I've said it over and over and trolls like to try to get me, or even accuse me of lying (which I don't get why I would lie about something like this) but over the years of LOTS of batches of ALL SIZES and BOTH carboys and buckets, better bottles or glass, carboy caps or bungs, new buckets old buckets, s-types and 3 piece, I get about 50% airlock failure rate (but 100% success rate of fermentation) and it's any number if things, usually simply a non tight seal in the bucket or carboy or grommet....but to me the reason doesn't matter....the point is just trying to glance at an airlock and know what the beer is doing, just is NOT accurate.

My belief is that 1 occurrance is an anamoly, 2 may be a coincidence, BUT 3 or more occurance is an epidemic...and that's the case for folks relying on airlocks all the time, to me if 1 brewer comes on saying his airlock is not bubbling, AND he takes a reading and finds fermentation is going fine, that's an anamoly...

But DAILY on here there are at least 10 threads stating the exact thing...so MAYBE there is something to this idea that airlocks can be faulty. AND if they have the potential to be faulty, then how can we trust them to tell us what's going on?

You can quibble about it all you want, or deal in semantics, but we deal in sheer volume of users on here, and daily we have airlocks not bubbling, and many of them where a gravity reading indicates that fermentation is happening beautifully.

And yes, in an IDEAL situation (like let's say fermenting in a keg with a tight seal and no leak from around the airlock) the airlock SHOULD bubble 100% of the time (providing there's not too much headspace.) If more co2 is created than can be contained in the spavce of the fermenter, THEN an airlock should bubble....because an airlock is a valve.

But MOST of us don't have IDEAL situations, and rarely is a plastic or glass fermenter airtight- it really isn't supposed to be anyway...SO we aren't in the best situation to have IDEAL 100% accuracy of an airlock...


So that's why it's a good idea NOT to relie on or stress out about what it is or isn't doing. Just realize that airlocks bubble or they don't, they start, they stop, they bubble fast, they bubble slow, and they bubble or don't whether fermentation happens or not.

Like I said, the only accurate thing that will tell you what your beer is or isn't doing, is taking gravity readings.

nd how does an airlock that may or may not bubble, or can bubble slow, or fast or not at all, can start and stop due to changes in barometric pressure, temperature, or whether or not the cat or vacuum cleaner bumped into it, help you to know how or even if a brew is fermenting at any given time? Half the time my airlocks NEVER bubble. And sometimes the lowest gravity beer will have an airlock blowoff whereas I could be brewing a barleywine that barely bubbles?


Bubbling and fermetnation are NOT the same thing. And you really need to separate the two ideas. Airlocks tell you the WHAT is happening, that co2 is or isn't getting out of the fermenter....but they aren't telling you the WHY. If it's fermenting or not, or off gassing or not. If it's done or not....

A HYDROMETER is the only indicator of how a beer/wine is doing at any given time. An airlock is purely a vent, a VALVE to release built up co2, it's not a "magic fermentation gauge."


Airlock activity is irrevelent. Just gravity points on a hydrometer.

The rate or lack of or whether or not it bubbles at all, or if it starts and stops has more relation to the environment the fermenter is in, rather than fermentation itself. All it is is a vent, a valve to let our excess gas, especially co2, nothing else. It's not a fermentation gauge whatsoever.

Maybe the mods could give us a sticky on this one. I know there is the "visible signs of fermentation" sticky but the questions seeme to be more related to airlock activity, whether or not the batch is stuck or done, and brewers understanding that no recipe or prior experience can dictate when a batch will be finished. It is done when it is done.

Revvy said:

This is the point. UNLESS YOU HAVE A CLOSED SYSTEM. And a typical hombrewers setup, be it a bucket or a craboy with a bung IS NOT A CLOSED SYSTEM.

The only closed systems a few may have are if they're fermenting in a keg or a conical.

So yes it CAN BE discounted.

Click to expand...

First off, I don't know why you keep on inappropriately referring to me as pal. Second, it's clear you don't have a very scientific mind, based on what you've just written. And try and keep your posts succinct; you've harped on like a broken record in that post, repeating your badly written pseudo-science like a mental patient on a bad acid trip.

You've basically written that an airlock can be discredited as an indicator of fermentation as well as a gauge, going a step further in your ridiculousness. If an airlock is bubbling every second or so, this can be discredited as being an indicator of fermentation? That, sir, is absurd.

There's some sense in what you have written. But it's written sensationally, and struggles to indicate you have any common sense, let alone the analytical and scientific mind needed to write as confidently as you do.

Revvy said:

This is the point. UNLESS YOU HAVE A CLOSED SYSTEM.

The rate or lack of or whether or not it bubbles at all, or if it starts and stops has more relation to the environment the fermenter is in, rather than fermentation itself. All it is is a vent, a valve to let our excess gas, especially co2, nothing else. It's not a fermentation gauge whatsoever.

Click to expand...

Really? Atmospheric pressure and temperature has more relation to forcing gases out of the fermentation vessel than all that yeast creating cubic metre upon cubic metre of carbon dioxide? You really should go back to university, probably hand in that degree you have and tell them they've made a terrible mistake.

I love this sentence: 'All it is is a vent, a valve to let our excess gas, especially co2, nothing else. It's not a fermentation gauge whatsoever.'

Especially CO2, nothing else. Can I have permission to quote this in the pub? It's comedy at its finest.

You really need to proof read your writing. Or at least copy and paste your work into Word. Maybe then I wouldn't think you were such a charlatan, spouting off your ill used vocabulary to your intellectually blind brewing congregation.

let me go see if i have some popcorn...

This is why I like my Mr.Beer kits. No traditional airlock, just two small slits in the threaded portion to let CO2 out at its whim. I don't use a hydrometer either...

People can have a difference of opinion without being jerks. This apparently is NOT one of those times. This thread is closed because this must stop. NOW.