I have two 5 gallon brews fermenting just a quick check I put them in the fermenter Sunday evening they went crazy for a day or so now they are bubbling at every 13seconds and the other one at every minute and a half is this good?
Use the airlock as a gut-check on the progress of the fermentation. Other than that, its not worth placing too much faith in gas flow. Use the hydrometer
+1
if you start counting bubbles, you're going to depend on bubbles, and one day, when you get no bubbles, you'll freak out.
It's just a gas valve, nothing more.
I'm new and I've seen this said a few times, but it is perplexing. Yeast eat sugar and poop alcohol and CO2. The CO2 has to go somewhere so why wouldn't bubble activity be a good indicator of fermentation activity? Unless you don't have a good seal on the primary, but that's a different issue altogether and the lack of bubbles should cause you to check the seals on your fermenter.
That's exactly the point. The airlock is only an indication of fermentation activity if all your seals are good. If your seals aren't good, you can still have fermentation occurring.
I guess it's confusing for a new brewer because I never see people respond with "If you don't have a good seal on your fermenter then you may not see any activity in the airlock even if fermentation is happening." It's usually just "The airlock isn't a good indicator of fermentation, relax and check the gravity."
I would think the lack of a good seal is an issue that needs to be remedied so you don't have oxygen or other nasties entering the primary.
My worry was that I made my very first batch late at night and put it in the primary and came back around 10 AM the next morning and it was happily producing 2 bubbles every 2 seconds out the airlock. Then within 24 hrs after that it had almost stopped bubbling all together and shortly there after isn't bubbling in the air lock at all.
fourth post...I say the airlock is a good tool for determining fermintation.Unless of course you have a leak in your bucket?For some reason I will just trust that the yeast and water and sugar are going to behave like their suppose to.when the bubbles slow so has fermintation?Why all the hate for the airlock?
So that is why we "hate" on the airlock. Although, as I said earlier, seeing it bubble like mad the morning after you pitch is a wonderful sight. You just have to know that even if it isn't bubbling, it doesn't mean the yeasties aren't doing their thing.
This is a good reason to have web cam on your airlock that way you can watch it at work!!!
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