Airlock Has Stopped Bubbling

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Dice_Boken

Active Member
Joined
Apr 16, 2017
Messages
26
Reaction score
1
Yesterday I was brewing my first 5 gallon batch of beer, Scottish Ale from Brewer's best, and after a few hours the three piece airlock was bubbling heavily. I woke up this morning and noticed it had stopped bubbling completely. It this normal? This is a partial extract using both liquid and dry malt extract so I know the yeast has something to eat. Also my OG was 1.020 but I assume since I took the reading immediately after adding water that it just wasn't mixed right.

image.jpg
 
As others have stated: Bubbling (and krausen) mean next to nothing.

Bubbling & krausen do mean that your yeast is definately active.

Lack of bubbling and fallen krausen do NOT mean the yeast is done, or there is a problem.

The only way to be sure that yeast are no longer active is 2+ stable hydrometer readings over several days.

You are most likely fine; the initial "party central" population explosion of yeast has slowed down as they've eaten most of the easy sugars.

Now they've slowed down to concentrate on the harder chewing sugars, and "tidy up" by-products of the first population explosion.
 
If that 1.020 original gravity reading is correct and you pitched a full pack of yeast (and fermentation temperature is in the right range) your beer may finish in record time. Walking away is usually the best option but if it were my first batch I'd be checking it out in a few days (O.K., true confession, I would have looked already).
 
I did just take a hydrometer reading and it was about 1.015 so it has gone down a little bit, though it's certainly nowhere near done, it's only been 48+ hours. I think the 1.020 reading was false because I had just added the water to get it to 5 gallons. Maybe next time I will check the OG before adding water.
 
Those buckets often leak where the lid seals to the bucket. When fermentation is really active, it will show in the airlock because the lid leak is not enough to get the CO2 out. As fermentation slows, the airlock will stop working when the amount of CO2 produced is low enough that the leak in the seal is sufficient.

Leave it alone and let it finish.
 
Let me know if you think this brew is done yet...

[ame]https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4jzT_KTTZ0Q[/ame]
 
I think the 1.020 reading was false because I had just added the water to get it to 5 gallons. Maybe next time I will check the OG before adding water.

If you check gravity before adding top up water, it will be very high and false because the wort is concentrated. Check gravity after you have the total volume of the recipe and have stirred it well to mix. Also, don't forget to take a temperature of the sample and adjust the gravity reading for the temp. My hydrometer is calibrated for 60F and I have to add gravity points at higher temps.
 
Also, don't forget to take a temperature of the sample and adjust the gravity reading for the temp. My hydrometer is calibrated for 60F and I have to add gravity points at higher temps.

+1 on this.

My most recent batch, I couldn't understand how I had missed target gravity so much based on the recipe calculator.

Turns out I was actually within a few points of my goal once I corrected for temperature.

It's really important that you get familiar with gravity measurements - regardless of whether you're using a hydrometer or a refractometer.

It's the only sure way you can tell where you're starting from, where you end up, and what's happening with your fermentation.
 
Leave it alone for at least 2 weeks. It is fermenting.

A couple questions and things to think about going forward: Did you use dry yeast? If not, did you make a starter? Was the yeast fresh? Once you start making 5 gallon batches, unless you are using dry yeast, you should always make a starter. At this point, for this batch this doesn't really help or answer your questions, so consider it food for thought.

Regarding the bubbling: The type of lid you have is notorious for not sealing very well. Don't worry about it. Just be aware that it doesn't build up enough pressure to get the bubbler going once fermentation starts slowing, because it is leaking. It will still ferment for a while and it is OK. If you really, really want to see bubbling, seal it with some packing tape. There is still plenty of CO2 on top of the wort and still being generated. When the SG readings are stable over 3 days it is done. But, it wouldn't hurt to leave it for a few days or a week more. For your next batch pick up a lid with a seal gasket. Home Depot sells one for under $2.

Your OG is the value of the completed batch of wort, after you add water and mix it in. You must use this value because that is the volume of the beer you are getting and you need a before and after fermenting gravity reading of the same volume of liquid to get the correct ABV.

More un-solicited advice - When you first add the yeast, you want to get some oxygen into the wort to help get the yeast going. Mix it well - shake your bucket, rock it, bounce it, anything you can do to get oxygen in the wort at the start of fermentation. Oxygen is good at the beginning, but not at the end. Check the OG after mixing well. That is the number you want.

An OG of 1.020 is really, really low. I suspect that it wasn't mixed very well when you took your OG sample (fermenting itself will mix it once it starts). If that's correct, even if it ferments down to 1.005, you would only have a 1.9% beer. Since this is a kit I doubt that is correct. Read the instructions again to make sure you followed them correctly.

if you are using a hydrometer you can compensate for temp as others have said. But, the compensation is only .001 for each 10 degrees or so plus or minus 60 degrees. That's not enough to make much of a difference. Without sounding like a jerk, are you sure you know how to read your hydrometer? Are you converting from brix?

Good luck and welcome to bigger batches. RDWHAHB.
 
Dice, if you have 20 minutes to kill, Craig has a video which probably says more than you want to know about airlock bubbling. There are a few things I'd nitpick (e.g., yes you can let your beer ferment while you are out of town, just take necessary precautions) but there is a lot of good information.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WMc0xDbEbo[/ame]
 
Back
Top