My air lock stopped after 48 hours

I brewed an all grain Pecan porter. I pitched at 67 degrees. Everything was going along great. I have maintained a temp of 72 the whole time. I used wyeast Irish ale. It puffed up like it was supposed to. It just seems that the airlock has stopped too soon. Everything seems to be sealed properly. Any ideas? Am I just being paranoid? Should I go ahead and go to the secondary, or wait until after 5 to 7 days? Thanks in advance for your responses.

It may have blown through it's active fermentation in that amount of time. Read up on the current opinions of secondary fermentation before you decide to transfer it. I would say to leave it in primary for 2-3 weeks and then go straight to bottles or a keg from there.

If 72 was the air temp the wort probably approached 80. Even 72 is at the upper range so your fermentation has probably peaked. Airlock activity really doesn't mean much. Wait another week then take a gravity reading. You could also try swirling the wort a little to get the yeast back in suspension and see if fermentation restarts.

Not to worry. Yet.

Hydrometer reading is a must, especially for new brewers. Don't do secondary!!! Don't actually do anything for at least a week then take a reading and if close to your final gravity numbers, wait 2 days and take another reading to see if it has finished.

kh54s10 said:

If 72 was the air temp the wort probably approached 80. Even 72 is at the upper range so your fermentation has probably peaked.
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Not to worry. Yet.

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This bears repeating. You NEED to get your fermentation temps under control for your next brew. It will be the single best thing you will ever do to your beer, before yeast, befor boiling, before all-grain, before wort chillers.

Fermentation temperature control is everything.

daksin said:

This bears repeating. You NEED to get your fermentation temps under control for your next brew. It will be the single best thing you will ever do to your beer, before yeast, befor boiling, before all-grain, before wort chillers.

Fermentation temperature control is everything.

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And this can be as simple as putting your bucket/carboy in a large Rubbermaid filled with water. The water conducts heat much better than air and is also a great buffer against temp swings in ambient air.

Jim is right. Here is one I have going right now. Bucket, water, floating thermometer, and rotate ice packs out as they thaw.

+1 to all of the above. 67 sounds right, but if you are fermenting most ales that warm, it's still pretty warm for a clean tasting beer. I try to hit 62ish and at most ferment at 65.

You are close enough that a swamp cooler shown above will get you down into a better range.

I have a porter fermenting right now too, using White Labs Irish Ale yeast. (10 gal at 1.057og in a Sanke fermenter) Holding the fermenter temp at 68* activity fell drastically after 2 days. I warmed it up 71* after 4 days and it picked up a little bit but has not been as strong as WPL001 normally does at 68*. So i have been holding it there for the last 2 weeks. Ill take a hydrometer reading when I rack to kegs next week.

I cant help but wonder that "Irish yeast" just likes to be warmer for activity. even during the first 4 days the Air lock was just not as active as WPL001. Worst comes to worst, ill just rack to secondary and pitch a vial of WPL001 then let it sit for a few months.

Edit:I am also very awary that Airlock activity is not a true indicator of how strong the fermentation is going.

Different yeast behave differently. Some finish up real quick and others seem to linger on and on.

The best bet is to check the yeast specs from the manufacturer and target the lower end of the temp range. It will be done when it's done.

Airlocks are like Smeagol. When they're happily bubbling away you trust them as an indicator that everything is working. But when they stop, they're deceptively dangerous and cannot be trusted to guide your precious (beer).

Was reading up on the WLP004 Irish ale yeast (what i used) and a lot of comments on how fast it primary ferments, but takes a few more weeks to clean up all the diacetyl and for the yeast to flocculate.

So it looks like a case of RDWHAHB, its the yeast doing their thing.