Absolutely No Airlock Activity

[rtichota]

I haven't seen a single bubble...

I have several varieties of yeast cultures on slants which I propagate into a large enough volume to pitch for my brews. This particular time I used London Ale WLP013 that had been slanted for 9 months, definitely pushing the boundaries from what I've read/heard. After 24 hours and zero activity I decided to quickly make up a starter of Irish Ale WLP004 (much newer slant) and pitch that. It was a quick step-up - around 24 hours from slant to 1 cup to 1 pint to pitch, and the foam began to build and pretty soon we're at high krausen. I haven't seen a single bubble out of my airlock. I've read a hundred times not to judge the fermentation process by the airlock, but I've always seen bubbles.

Now, of course I had changed something - I replaced my drilled rubber stopper that goes in my 6.5 gallon carboy with the purple cap. It is a snug fit, and I assume it is air tight.

Has anyone ever not seen a single bubble while the fermentation process is going on?

Has anyone used the purple cap for their 6.5 gallon carboy and had a problem?

I'm kinda stumped, let me know what you guys think - leak in the cap is the only explanation I can come up with, but it doesn't seem likely given how well the cap fits.

 

[Bensiff]

If you are fermenting with sacc you are producing CO2 in the process, the gas has to go somewhere. Maybe a terribly slow fermentation? But, I'm guessing that if you are slanting your yeast you've fermented a good number of brews can know what you are doing, so I would start thinking an air leak somewhere in your system...no experience with purple caps, but I know the orange ones do the job.

 

[KYB]

I've used a bucket with a blowoff tube going into the lid (grommet removed) and never saw any bubbling. I assume air was escaping at the tube/lid connection. No big deal. Wherever the leak is, air will be blowing out, so nothing will be getting in.

 

[Zamial]

The purp cap is the right one for 6.5 gallon carboys...My question is the cap's caps. There are 2 tubes on these caps. Is the one that the airlock is not on have a nice tight seal on the cap? the gas will go with the path of least resistance...that may mean pushing your tube cap up...

Seeing as this is a glass carboy can you see stuff happening inside it? can you take a hydro sample and see if the gravity is dropping? What happens if you take your hands and gently squeeze the cap sides to the carboy (ensuring a seal)?

 

[rtichota]

Thanks for the tips guys, I'll be taking a gravity reading today, and looking into the cap seals. I'm not terribly concerned, but it sure would be nice to locate the leak.

 

[TheMan]

You are overreacting big time. Airlock means very little. You need to give it more time as well. Fermentation can take 24-72 hours to start. No need to repitch until it's been 3 or 4 days and it shows no gravity loss.

You likely have a leak as others have said. I've had many fermentations go that never showed any airlock activity. They all turned out great.

 

[wildwest450]

I stuff a short stirbar in the other tube, seals up tight, I always get good bubbling.


_

 

[diverpat]

Has anyone ever not seen a single bubble while the fermentation process is going on?

I have a beer in the fermenter now that never bubbled once, I mean not even a hint of a bubble. I have it in a bucket with a blowoff tube. I can push the top of the bucket and watch the water in the blow-off tube react to the pressure on the lid so I'm pretty sure there are no leaks.

I monitored the SG over 2 weeks and it slowly went down to the target FG. It is Saflager 34/70 yeast at an ale temp 65f, so maybe that is the reason.

It was troubling not to have any bubbles to watch but the end result was the same as one with a raging air lock.

 

[jbug440]

I just bought a new 6 galon BB with an orange cap. My blow off tube goes into a 2 liter coke bottle filled half way with star san. My last brew had lots of foam and heavy krausen but no bubbles in the coke bottle. I took a zip tie and snugged up the cap. 20 seconds later I had bubbles. I think your cap is slightly leaky but that's no big deal.

 

[rtichota]

You are overreacting big time. Airlock means very little. You need to give it more time as well. Fermentation can take 24-72 hours to start. No need to repitch until it's been 3 or 4 days and it shows no gravity loss.

You likely have a leak as others have said. I've had many fermentations go that never showed any airlock activity. They all turned out great.

Like I said before, I'm really not worried about it. I'm more just curious if others have had this experience because I've always had bubbling in my airlock for every batch I've made in my 5 years of brewing.

 

[schweaty]

Use a hydrometer or refractometer to measure your gravity.

 

[paraordnance]

I have 3 orange plastic hoods instead of bungs, I never seen any airlock activity if I use them, they dont seal tight. They will not let anything inside but they dont hold pressure thats the fact. I dont even bother to rig the airlock any more, I throw one of these orange hoods on a carboy and leave it as is, if blow off tube required I will attach one to the top of a hood. Never fails, who needs airlocks, they are noisy buggers

 

[rtichota]

Thanks paraordnance, that's good to know, and answers my question perfectly. The caps are so much more convenient than a drilled stopper.

Schweaty - I'm not using my airlock to gauge fermentation. My OP said that the Irish Ale went to krausen so clearly the yeast are doing their job, that was never the question. My question had to do with the fact that if CO2 is being produced and going out of my airlock, like your cute little service announcement says, then it's going to bubble - why isn't mine? Answer: the cap leaks

 

[Hex]

I use strip ties...

 

[rtichota]

I'm headed to the carboy to try this right now

 

[rtichota]

and that answers that...zip ties around the cap did the trick and it's happily bubbling away now. Thanks for all the input!

 

[TheBroonery]

I've had the same thing on a batch that is in my primary right now. No pressure on the lid, no pressure on the airlock. I was concerned after a couple days so I popped the lid (there was krausen) and checked the gravity (it had gone from 1.04~ TO 1.03~) so fermentation was occurring. I think that the bucked lid has a leak somewhere that is allowing the pressure to escape from somewhere other than the airlock, but it is fermenting fine (and tastes good too). After I transfer it to the secondary I'll be able to clean the bucket and really investigate it. This certainly is a first!

 

[Hex]

A word of caution about strip ties. Just make sure you have a blow off tube handy for the first couple of days. My last batch blew out through the airlock then got clogged with some hops turb. I was lucky that I monitored that batch closely, as soon as I found it clogged, I pulled the airlock, and a BIG release of pressure ensued.

A zip tie and a clogged airlock could produce a carboy bomb.


I have also noticed that there are two types of lids available for the buckets--one lid comes with a large rubber O-ring which seems to seal air tight, the other lid is just a snap fit, and I believe that they do not seal as well.

 

[mikebowman]

i had a batch in primary a few weeks ago that had no airlock activity at all, unless i pushed down on the lid of the bucket. after a few days i got a little worried, and so i took the lid off and snuck a peek. beautiful high krausen, fermented wonderfully, smelled and tasted delicious when i racked it. should be bottling soon

 

[paraordnance]

I use strip ties...

but why would you?? At first I was looking for way to seal that hood to the carboy (I don't use buckets) so I can see some bubling action, then I realized after few successfull fermentations that I don't even need airlock on top of that thing, CO2 can safely escape under the hood and there is no way anything can get inside. I love these hoods now, you can easly attach blow off tube if you have to without removing the hood, and they really easy to sanitize, I just spray some starsan before I throw one on carboy

 

[Hex]

but why would you?? ...

My carboys are in my garage, which is a semi-public place for our family. I use strip ties to ensure one of the 'kids' doesn't sneak a peek and ruin a batch. Tamper proof seal. I also think watching the bubbles helps to predict krausen height and fermentation activity. I also love a fresh sniff. To each their own, and I will use them in the future.

 

[Bensiff]

I have 3 orange plastic hoods instead of bungs, I never seen any airlock activity if I use them, they dont seal tight. They will not let anything inside but they dont hold pressure thats the fact. I dont even bother to rig the airlock any more, I throw one of these orange hoods on a carboy and leave it as is, if blow off tube required I will attach one to the top of a hood. Never fails, who needs airlocks, they are noisy buggers

I use the orange ones on my 5 gallon carboys and 6 gallon BB and they seal well enough that CO2 goes through my blow off. As well, they are water tight as I clean them by adding 1 gallon of PBW mixture to the carboy/BB, put the cap on and then invert over a small trash can to get the crap ring cleaned off.

 

[paraordnance]

I use the orange ones on my 5 gallon carboys and 6 gallon BB and they seal well enough that CO2 goes through my blow off. As well, they are water tight as I clean them by adding 1 gallon of PBW mixture to the carboy/BB, put the cap on and then invert over a small trash can to get the crap ring cleaned off.

there is probably a dosen or so differnt designs of carboys, apparently the ones I have differ from yours

 

[TheBroonery]

I figured out the cause of no airlock activity in the primary here.. there were some thin shards of plastic from when the lid was machined and one of them was laying across the gasket, not allowing it to seal completely. Upon closer look I'm surprised I hadn't seen these shards before, I've had this lid for 6 or 7 years now. Fortunately everything is ok and the batch is enduring secondary fermentation in the carboy right now.