Visible fermentation taking FOREVER!!!

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ASXL41

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So I just made a Brewcraft kit early Saturday afternoon. It's now Tuesday and I haven't seen any signs of fermentation. I'm going to wait a few more days to open the bucket up. I know not all batches will show signs of fermentation even though it's actually going on. I just wondered if anyone else had similar effects with batches in the past. The beer is a streets of London porter from Brewcraft. I will give it a few more days and check the gravity. OR should I check it later today just to see if there is any difference?
 
i have a total of 6 five gal brews under my belt and 2 have taken about that long to start and the other 4 were all bubbling within 12 hrs. I can tell you though that these guys will want to know what temp the fermenter is currently at and if you rehydrated the yeast or pitched it dry and the pitch temp.....personally i would make sure your top is sealed well (had one that wasent bubbling until i actually sealed the top) and let it go another day before mucking with it......and RDWHAHB :)
 
Yeah, it'll be over 72 hours once I get home from work tonight. I'm going to check the gravity. And then if it hasn't changed I'll pitch another batch of yeast.
 
The temp has been right around 70 degrees. I hydrated the yeast for 15 minutes before adding it when I first got started. I check the bucket and it seems to be sealed properly.
 
Visible signs and bucket.....do you mean through the airlock? Buckets are notorious for having small leaks where you won't see much in the form of bubbles. Even krausen, it can happen quickly if you have a fast and vigorous fermentation. As you said, the only way to know is through a gravity reading. As mentioned above, if you told us a bit more on your process, we can help determine if something else went wrong
 
Everything went fine in brewing. No problems cooking wort and adding ingredients. I followed the directions from the kit to a T. I'll have to check the gravity tonight to see if I find a difference. After I placed the bucket in the normal place, I noticed a smell that I typically smell while fermenting. I haven't noticed that this time unfortunately.
 
Visible signs and bucket.....do you mean through the airlock? Buckets are notorious for having small leaks where you won't see much in the form of bubbles. Even krausen, it can happen quickly if you have a fast and vigorous fermentation. As you said, the only way to know is through a gravity reading. As mentioned above, if you told us a bit more on your process, we can help determine if something else went wrong

yeah, unless you're fermenting in a clear vessel, visible signs mean nothing. bucket lids are notoriously leaky, and many times when i use a bucket to primary, i see little or no airlock activity. the co2 vents out of the lid and not the airlock.
the only way to know what you've got is to take a gravity reading.
 
Okay. I'm not too worried. That is unless I check the gravity and it hasn't changed at all. I was going to primary the batch for a week and set it in secondary for two weeks.
 
I made a 1.055 amber ale that didn't bubble the airlock ONCE. I was concerned after about 4 days, so I checked the gravity, and it was already down to 1.021. Still no bubbles after 4 more days, so I checked the gravity and it was down to the expect FG of 1.012.

Full active fermentation, NO AIRLOCK ACTIVITY.

Moral of the story.....airlock activity is NOT the only sign of active fermentation. The only SURE FIRE way to detect active fermentation is GRAVITY READINGS!!
 
Oh yeah, that's what I'm learning. Just thought there would be some activity. Just have to wait till I get home tonight to check it out and see what I've got.
 
So my original gravity was 1.055. After approx. 72 hours, its down to 1.023. So nothing to worry about. I'll check it again Thursday/Friday and then rack it to secondary over the weekend.
 
So now it's out of primary, secondary, and in bottling already. Gravity didn't go exactly as the kit said, but still relatively close.
 
That right there is why I can't use a bucket to ferment. I would have the lid open every other minute. Right now my first brew is sitting at home in my carboy and I can't wait to see how it has changed since Tuesday.
 
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