From rapid bubbles to no bubbles in five days?

Kinda worried, brewed Saturday, stayed basic as it was my first brew. Next morning I have great activity in the airlock bubbling about every 5 to 10 seconds. May have slowed a little yesterday but nothing too crazy but today it seems like I am getting no bubbles at all. I know I should not rely on the bubbling in my airlock and should focus on gravity readings but lucky my I dropped my hydrometer and broke it during clean up. Need to get to the LHBS and pick up a new one. Just freaking out a bit as I didn't expect it. Any thoughts on this? I probably just need a beer.

It's fine. This is totally normal. I've made great beers where there was nary a bubble after 72 hours.

Don't think I've ever seen a bubble past day 5. Nothing to worry about.

Yep, have a beer! Like you said, don't rely on bubbles. Typically for a low to medium gravity beer, we get lots of airlock activity about 24 hours after pitching yeast and then it really slows down after maybe 2 days, then you hardly see a bubble after that. It doesn't really mean anything useful as far as determining anything that you need to be concerned with, only gravity readings will tell you what is really going on. Just leave it alone for a couple weeks and let it finish up before taking your gravity readings, spend this time adding to your bottle collection by drinking some good beer.

Thanks guys, was worried but you gave me peace of mind, just really excited with this being my first brew.

Pick up a hydrometer as soon as you can and take a reading to see how close you are to your FG. The yeast may have already done their job.

joaoking said:

Kinda worried, brewed Saturday, stayed basic as it was my first brew. Next morning I have great activity in the airlock bubbling about every 5 to 10 seconds. May have slowed a little yesterday but nothing too crazy but today it seems like I am getting no bubbles at all. I know I should not rely on the bubbling in my airlock and should focus on gravity readings but lucky my I dropped my hydrometer and broke it during clean up. Need to get to the LHBS and pick up a new one. Just freaking out a bit as I didn't expect it. Any thoughts on this? I probably just need a beer.

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I had the same problem too and my yeast reached FG in a matter of a few days. I was shocked.

It was a very basic recipe as it was a beginner kit that included extract hops and dry yeast. Could be possible I guess.

Piling on...it's normal in most cases.

Just finished my first brew. Pretty much the same story. Third day bubbles stopped. Fourth day gravity said done. Moved to carboy to clarify.

Generally, to ensure fermentation is complete, don't rely on a single point measurement. Instead, look for the same/stable gravity reading on three consecutive measurements spaced a day or two apart. Leaving the beer in the fermenter a little longer almost never hurts and usually helps.