Irish stout fermenting

Hello there i have a batch of irish stout being brewed and im worry about it.
Today is only the fifth day of fermentation and theres no activity at the airlock, is there something wrong or am i paranoid. I live in Pa and was wondering if theres anything wrong with my batch. Right now the carboy is cold but not ice cold.

Please someone help me out.
Thank you

An airlock isnt always the best sign of fermentation. If your airlock and stopped are not firm in the neck of the carboy, the co2 will just leak out the sides and not bubble up through the airlock. Do you see any signs of fermentation in the beer? Did you take a hydrometer reading to see if it has fermented. By the 5th day, a stout may be pretty much fermented out, depending on the yeast strain

I have seen signs of fermentation the first few days there was like 2 to 3 inches of dispersment of like foam from the fermentation taking place. The airlock is pretty tight on the carboy. The yeast strain is a irish ale strain from white labs.

I have never made a irish stout before so i was just wondering about it since i use to seeing the airlock going for a week instead of a few days.

Is there anything that i need to worry about with this batch?

I wouldn't sweat it.
If the temp dropped you might have stunned the yeast.
In which case I'd give it a swirl to try and wake it up.
Otherwise I'd let a sit another week and then check the gravity.

Thats what i have been doing for the last couple of days now. Is been giving it a swirl or two after that theres little activity and then it stops again.

I wouldn't mess with it too much.
You could take a gravity reading to see where it's at.
But personally I'd just leave it be for another week and then check it.

If i can find my hydrometer i will do that otherwise i will just let it set.
also would should the reading be for this kind of beer on the hydrometer?

insnekamkze86 said:

If i can find my hydrometer i will do that otherwise i will just let it set.
also would should the reading be for this kind of beer on the hydrometer?

Click to expand...

Haha no ones gonna touch that one huh?
We would need to know your recipe and your original gravity.

It will probably be under 1.020 but don't worry about it. Just let it sit a few more weeks.

I dont have my hydrometer my recipe is coopers irish stout extract small bag of dried dark malt, 2pounds of raw cane sugar and some burton water salts.

It will finish very dry. Maybe 1.008-.006. that much cane sugar and it will finish light.

what do u mean it finish dry and with cane sugar it will finish light?
Also after having it in my primary for two weeks im going to rack it to my secondary carboy for another two weeks then bottle correct?

Ive used this exact yeast 3 times recently with excellent results. The last batch I made was a robust porter OG 1.060 and finished @ 1.008. However, I noticed airlock activity 6 hours after pitching. Airlock blew off my carboy. 2 weeks later I thought it was done so I took a reading @ 1.020. Figured Id better let it sit another 10 11 days and it finished @ 1.008.

Cane sugar is about 100% fermentable. All you get out of it is Alcohol and C02. Alcohol is lighter than watter. So light body but not light Alcohol.

K but it should turn out a good beer though right even though its light body?

Relax, Don't Worry, Have A Homebrew! Five days is enough that fermentation could very well be done. If the temp dropped fairly quickly then you should gently bring it back up into the high60's-70 degrees. Go get a hydrometer and start using it, it will prevent this sort of panic in the future. And yes, it will be good still.

k its not done fermenting i just tried a little sip and it was horrible so i know its not done fermenting. How would i bring up the temp for the carboy? Could i pour hot or boiling water over the carboy, would that do it?

insnekamkze86 said:

k its not done fermenting i just tried a little sip and it was horrible so i know its not done fermenting. How would i bring up the temp for the carboy? Could i pour hot or boiling water over the carboy, would that do it?

Click to expand...

No, don't change the temperature unless it's under 62 degrees or something like that. If it's in a cold basement, then you can put it somewhere closer to room temperature. But since it's summer, it's probably way warmer than it needs to be. Most people are stuggling to get their fermentations lowered, not raised, at this time of year.

Just leave it alone for another week. Then, come back to it with a hydrometer and take a measurement. Then you can rack it to secondary if you want to. You're not helping the beer by messing with it, even though I know that the hardest thing to do is leave it alone!

K thank you, back here in PA its cold and not hot outside. I moved it from my laundry room to my guest bedroom where its warmer since it was like a basement cold in my laundry room area. The temp where it was originally just kept going down and down and not leveling out, now where it is its room temp and has leveled off some.

The reason why i was panicking is because the thermometer thats on my carboy wasnt giving me a reading when i started the batch on th august 31st. Since i moved it the thermometer is giving a reading; very odd. The temp of the batch now is between 70 an 74 degrees. The meter has the 70, 72, and the 74 degree mark lit up.

I got a couple of towels wrap around the carboy for a little bit so it can wake the yeast up some and it seems to be wking bc its also near my computer and i can see and hear the activity within the carboy. I will wait til the 14th of sep. before i rack it to another carboy, which is two weeks, if necessary i will wait longer.
For now i just leave it alone and let it do its own thing.

Made my 1st batch of Dry Irish and am fermenting in in a Northern Mouth Bubbler with air release, stored in a dark closet about 68*, the top came off over night there was so much gas and I sealed it back down, my concern is in that time the oxygen got to it. Is it still OK?

lambert598 said:

Made my 1st batch of Dry Irish and am fermenting in in a Northern Mouth Bubbler with air release, stored in a dark closet about 68*, the top came off over night there was so much gas and I sealed it back down, my concern is in that time the oxygen got to it. Is it still OK?

Click to expand...

Was the lid on the floor or had it just kinda popped up a bit and broke the seal? If it was just popped up a little bit I wouldn't worry about it at all, especially if it was still actively fermenting.

In the future you can also use some duct tape to tape the lid down. Others have said they've had luck flipping the gasket on the lid which supposedly helps it stay stuck down.

I buy those self adhesive ace bandage thingies and use those to hold that goofy lid on the Big Mouths