Curious and Interesting Airlock Activity (3) Diff Beers

mgortel said:

I am not concerned about this.....but here are some interesting results on airlock bubbling of my (3) current brews in Primary.

The first (2) brews I pitched dry yeast the 3rd brew was a liquid Wyeast German ALe yeast.

First (2) beers airlock activity ran for 2-4 days....the liquid yeast brew is still bubbling away after 5 days.

I realize airlock activity is not a sure indicator of fermentation still happeneing......PLUS the big difference (aside from the different types of beers) is the fact that the fist (2) beers are in the same type of Pale Ale...and the 3rd beer is in a differnet fermenting bucket...with what I think has a better seal.

So...possibly, the first (2) beers were leaking CO2 out around bucket lid after 2-3 days of fast fermenbtation which could be seen in airlock, or....the first (2) beers were fast fermenters for some reason...and the WYeast pitched beer is a slow steady fermenter (as you can see from the slow bubbling of airlock)

1) Blonde Ale
May 14, Pitched yeast, wort = 65F (Dry yeast, Safale S-05)...OG=1.050
May 15, 8:00AM Airlock is showing start of fermentation, 1 bubble / 10 seconds
May 16, 8:00AM Airlock bubbling like crazy, 64-65F
May 17, 6:00AM Airlock acivity 1 bubble/4 secs, 65F
5:00PM No airlock activity

2) Irish Stout
May 14, Pitched yeast into 64F wort, (Safale S-04) OG=1.048
May 15, 8:00AM Airlock is showing start of fermentation, 1 bubble / 10 seconds
May 16, 8:00AM Airlock bubbling like crazy, 64-65F
May 17, 6:00AM No airlock activity, 64F
8:30PM 5-6 airlock bubbles at once...when I randomly checked it.
May 18, 5:40PM No airlock activity, 64F


3) German Altbier
May 21, Pitch yeast, Temp at Pitch of yeast, 68F
May 22, 8:00AM No airlock activity, 63F
11:00AM 1 bubble /10 seconds, 63F
7:30PM 1 bubble/sec, 63F
May 23, 4:40PM 1 bubble/sec, 65F
May 24, Did not check airlock activity
May 25, 7:00AM 1 bubble/ 3 seconds, 63F
May 26, 8:00PM 1 bubble/ 3 seconds 63F

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mgortel said:

Sweeet.....thanks for the education guys on the difference in fermentation rates on dry versus liquid yeast.

Now...the next question....what are the pro's and con's (if any) for using one over the other..??? Maybe it depends on the beer style??

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SD-SLIM said:

Different flavors with all yeast used...I personally use every kind of yeast I can and sometimes mix dry and liquids...as I mentioned dry yeast are often prone to explosive beginnings while liquids are slow and steady...in the past dry was the only option, but now with liquids we have a larger variety and even some that can give you a 14% abv in 24 hours..so experiment!

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joeirvine said:

which ones can do that.... you've sparked my intrest for my next batch

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