No Bubbles...I fell for it!

Hopefully some new brewers read this and learn from me haha.

My buddy and I have brewed over 100 gallons since may, never had a problem. I consider myself more than a new brewer, a novice/amateur if you may (by no means a pro or expert). I pitched yeast on Sunday in a brew and saw no bubbles in the blowoff...I got scared and today I opened to take a hydrometer sample. To my surprise there was plenty of krausen and the hydro sample even showed a 2 point drop in gravity!

I fell for the old "no bubbles!!! Is it fermenting?" trick. Anyway, since I had never seen this happen I just wanted to give you new guys more proof that no bubble does not mean no fermentation. Trust in your brew I say!

Been brewing for 2 years now and just had this happen to me. Pitched on Thursday and nothing doing in the airlock by Sunday, so I was worried. Figured I'd look at it in the morning and hit the LHBS on the way home for new yeast if nothing was happening. Opened the lid and much to my surprise, the Krausen had already been and fallen. Never saw a blip in the airlock.

Terje

Thanks for the posts, guys. This was a definite confidence booster (that and the hydrometer) that I'm not doing something wrong.

Yup, might be time to pick up a new cap for your fermenter.

Andrew5329 said:

Yup, might be time to pick up a new cap for your fermenter.

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Why? Just so the airlock bubbles? The yeast don't care either way.....

Revvy said:

The yeast don't care either way.....

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They just want to be left alone with all of their sugar. I should invent a "Do Not Disturb" sign for people to hang on their fermentors. Just think, do you want people looking at you when you gorge on your favorite food? Not me!

HawksBrewer said:

They just want to be left alone with all of their sugar. I should invent a "Do Not Disturb" sign for people to hang on their fermentors. Just think, do you want people looking at you when you gorge on your favorite food? Not me!

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You mean like this?

YES!!! That is it. Blow it up to 8 1/2 x 11 and we're in business. Can we add sound effects like a whistle every time you try to open it in the first two weeks? That would be awesome.

Revvy said:

Why? Just so the airlock bubbles? The yeast don't care either way.....

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Wouldn't a leaky lid let O2 in?

Gameface said:

Wouldn't a leaky lid let O2 in?

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An airlock is a VENT a valve to release EXCESS co2...A "leaky lid" does the same thing. A fermenter is not an air tight environment. You can't have airtight, AND a situation where you don't have an explosion, unless you're fermenting in a conical or a keg....You NEED to release the built up pressure somehow.

Whatever means used to achieve that end is fine. The yeast don't care. In fact many folks with arthitis and other issues don't snap the lid down on their buckets anyway, and may folks just put tinfoil, plastic wrap, metal cookie sheets or even plexiglass sheets on top of the bucket instead.Some folks just use a blowoff tube exclusively. It's really not crucial to be tight.

What Revvy said. CO2 is heavier than air. It builds up and forces the air out of the fermenter. Excess CO2 gives you those bubbles.

Once it is stable, you get a nice layer that prevents oxygen from getting into the beer.

Revvy said:

It's really not crucial to be tight.

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...or is it? Wakka wakka!!

Bubbles!!!!!!