Bubbling started!!! ... then stopped

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Nickhouse80

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Hello all,

I am very, very, very new to homebrewing. I bought a homebrew "kit" and an "American Light" recipe. I followed the guidelines pretty close but didn't have a thermometer to know the exact temperature of the cooled wort or water to hydrate my yeast. I saw bubbling from my ferminter after about 11 hours and I was pumped! Then I came home and all bubbling had stopped. Can anyone help explain this and have I ruined my beer?

Extremely happy to find this site! Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Nick
 
you should be ok. my first batch did this same thing. what kind of yeast did you use? some can finish up hilariously fast. my Safale-04 was done bubbling (but not fermenting) in around 24 hours.

if you post the yeast strain you used, i'm sure someone more experienced can give further reassurance.
 
I just did a blonde ale that fermented for about half a day and then stopped. I think you should be fine. Check the gravity on your hydrometer (which you do have, right?) and compare it to the recipe, and as long as it's close, bottle it and wait three weeks and taste it. I'll bet that it's fine. Some yeast just goes nuts for a short period of time and then chills out.

Also, a good thermometer is only like $10. Same thing if you don't have a hydrometer, they're like $20. $30 and you'll probably end up with much better beer.
 
Not to worry, many brews stop bubbling in a short period of time, that does not mean that fermentation is finished. Airlock bubbling is an inexact way to determine what is really happening with your brew. Let it sit for a full 10 days, then start taking hydrometer readings to determine if it is finished; if the reading remains unchanged on consecutive days, you're ready to bottle.
 
It sounds fine to me. The hardest part comes now- doing nothing until the beer has been in the fermenter for 7-10 days. After that, you can use a sanitized turkey baster or wine thief and take a sample and measure the SG. Then, of course, drink the sample.

Are you planning on using a secondary fermenter, or just going right to bottles?

Oh, and by the way, welcome to HBT! :mug:
 
Thank you very much for your replies,

I believe the yeast that came with the kit was Munton dried (if that explains anything) but I don't remember anything else about it. I plan on buying a good thermometer in the next day or two. I do have a hydrometer that came with the kit as well. I also plan to use a secondary fermenter because I've read it makes the final product much better. The kit also came with a liquid crystal thermometer that sticks to the side of the fermenter. The batch is hovering right around 72-74 degrees F. How important is the temperature of the brew during fermintation? I figured as long as its pretty close I'll be ok. This was my first batch so I don't expect everything to go perfectly.
 
temperature during fermentation is pretty critical. too high, and you end up with banana beer. too low, and your yeast may not wake up.

Always let it go at least 7 full days in primary, even if the hydrometer says its 'done' at day 4.
 

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