0 Airlock Activity

Ok, so I am in the midst of brewing my first batch of beer.
Time it took from start to transferring the wort into the carboy
3.25 hours.
I am making a light ale
I began by boiling the water, adding the malt, continuously stirred, added two rounds of hops and then let that boil as well.
I then cooled the wort to 75 before the transfer, added yeast, after the transfer.
Put the airlock on (capped airlock), and brought the batch to my garage, where it is in perfect conditions.
This was all done on september 24th, I have about 4 Gallons worth brewed.
I have been checking the batch every day, and for the first few days, there was some foam, that resided. I have yet to see ANY activity in the airlock.
Not sure what I have done wrong, or why there is no activity.
any ideas???

Thanks.

The CO2 has been escaping from a vent other than your air lock. If you had foam (krausen), you had fermentation. All is well. Close up the bucket for another two weeks then bottle of keg. Congrats on making beer

It sounds to me like you did get a fermentation, you just didnt see it.

There is a variety of things that can cause this, however my guess is that you have a leak somewhere. If there is a krausen (foamy head in the bucket) then your beer is/was fermenting. My guess is that you are finished with your primary fermentation, so you should probably go ahead and either rack into a secondary, or bottle.

Just to make sure that you are finished you can take a gravity reading, but after 2 weeks your beer is either fermented, or spoiled (probably fermented).


If the beer really didn't ferment then you should check the following:
Your yeast, was it healthy and pitched at a cool temperature? I always keep a package of dried american ale yeast around for "emergencies".
-or-
Was there too much sanitizer left in the bucket (this can be a problem when using bleach)

Hydrometer reading will tell you what's up. Also a simple taste will also let you know if you had success. I always taste everything in the process, from ingredients to the finished beer and all steps in between.

I have a lot of brews that don't have airlock activity in buckets. They turn out fine!

Bad seal on bucket. No big. Just won't let the CO2 out through the air lock.

Relax. Take a reading. Drink beer.

I would like to add that I can't remember the number of times I looked at my airlock and thought "why isn't it moving" and then realized the vodka I use had evaporated. I throw a shot of vodka in there and....blurp, blurp, blurp.

Braufguss said:

Relax. Take a reading. Drink beer.

Click to expand...

I like how you think!

I am in the middle of taking a reading with the hydrometer.
Also I did endup taking a small taste...wasn't too bad for my first brew, looks like all will be well *Fingers Crossed*
Appreciate everyones help!!!