couple of newbie questions

Brewed my first PM batch monday, and I have a few questions for you.

Its cold down here in san antonio, but not cold enough because my airlock smells like bananas! I decided to put my fermenting bucket in anouther bucket of water hoping this would help tonight. Is this going to shock and kill my yeast?

Monday night I started the brew, thursday morning it was bubbling crazy, and this morning is really slowed down, now it is bubbling maybe once every 20 seconds. Is this normal?

I know most of you say RDWHAHB but I have no home brewed beer to drink .

the main fermentation is probably almost done, it is normal for it to do that

RDWGo buy a six pack. Ya its fine you could probably check it with a hydrometer if you really wanted to see what was going on but I would just leave it for another 2-3 weeks.

CDbrews said:

the main fermentation is probably almost done, it is normal for it to do that

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Jesus, I did'nt relize it was that fast. I figure it would ferment hardcore for atleast 10 days.

it depends on the yeast and how high your OG was, but I often get a real flurry for the first couple days, then it tapers off. Most of the time it's done before the week is out, but I usually give it a couple weeks as I think the flavors are smoother the more time you wait.

You can do the water bath if you are trying to get a cooler fermentation, but somewhere in the 60s works for most strains of ale yeast. Even if you cool it down into the 40s, you will just make it sleepy and slow.