First Batch and Rockin' Airlock Suddenly Quit After One day

[Chocolatey_Stoutz]

This is my first foray into homebrewing. I opted to start with the Thundercookie Gingerbread Stout kit offered by Jasper's Home Brewing at Boomchugalug.com. (They offer exceptionally high quality kits by the way.) I added unsweetened cocoa powder and 4.oz of semisweet bakers chocolate at the end of the boil. I pitched dry yeast and within a couple of hours my airlock was intensely bubbling right along. This lasted for approximately 20 hours. I went to sleep to a fervently fermenting wort and awoke just a couple short hours thereafter and found myb airlock had signifucantly slowed to about 8 bubbles a minute. By the second day my airlock was bubbling only once every 30 seconds or so. On the third night my airlock was barely bubbling once a minute.

I tried to swirl my fermenting bucket, but mostly ended up shaking and sloshing around the wort inside. I was hoping this would kickstart the yeasties again. They were doing so good and I was so proud.

I am now reading this may cause my beer to taste bitter. Which you can probably tell by the whole gingerbread cookie and cocoa powder, bakers chocolate and nibs motiff, this is the last thing I want. (I'll be adding the nibs to the secondary.)

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[thatshowyougetants]

Rdwhahb!

 

[JRapp]

What temp were ya fermenting at? But yeah, relax it will be good.

 

[Chocolatey_Stoutz]

What temp were ya fermenting at? But yeah, relax it will be good.

I'm keeping the primary fermeneter in my kitchen pantry. The downstairs temperature has remained at 70 and then 71 degrees for the past few nights.

I guess I am just confused because of how well things started and then how abruptly everything stopped. I mean I am sure my lid is airtight, otherwise the airlock wouldn't have bubbled so well to begin with.

My kit arrivedf damaged in transit and the LME bag had ruptured and spilled a little. But, I compensated by raising from 1/4 to 3/4 cup of maple syrup. The ABV is supposed to be 8.1%. So, I don't think a brew with such a high amount of fermentables could have successfully fermented out in less than a day.

Thanks for all of the help.

 

[mike_in_ak]

This is my first foray into homebrewing. I opted to start with the Thundercookie Gingerbread Stout kit offered by Jasper's Home Brewing at Boomchugalug.com. (They offer exceptionally high quality kits by the way.) I added unsweetened cocoa powder and 4.oz of semisweet bakers chocolate at the end of the boil. I pitched dry yeast and within a couple of hours my airlock was intensely bubbling right along. This lasted for approximately 20 hours. I went to sleep to a fervently fermenting wort and awoke just a couple short hours thereafter and found myb airlock had signifucantly slowed to about 8 bubbles a minute. By the second day my airlock was bubbling only once every 30 seconds or so. On the third night my airlock was barely bubbling once a minute.

I tried to swirl my fermenting bucket, but mostly ended up shaking and sloshing around the wort inside. I was hoping this would kickstart the yeasties again. They were doing so good and I was so proud.

I am now reading this may cause my beer to taste bitter. Which you can probably tell by the whole gingerbread cookie and cocoa powder, bakers chocolate and nibs motiff, this is the last thing I want. (I'll be adding the nibs to the secondary.)

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Don't swirl, everything's going according to plan. The yeast reproduced, started making lots of booze, and then slowed down. Buckets aren't airtight, so don't worry about the lack of airlock activity. You obviously have fermentation.

If you're really worried, take a hydrometer sample on day 7 and then on day 10. If its the same reading, you can move to secondary. Or throw the nibs in the primary and let it sit in there for however long you want it on the nibs.

 

[Chocolatey_Stoutz]

Don't swirl, everything's going according to plan. The yeast reproduced, started making lots of booze, and then slowed down. Buckets aren't airtight, so don't worry about the lack of airlock activity. You obviously have fermentation.

If you're really worried, take a hydrometer sample on day 7 and then on day 10. If its the same reading, you can move to secondary. Or throw the nibs in the primary and let it sit in there for however long you want it on the nibs.

Thanks for the help. Is it a problem that I already rocked the fermenter? I won't do it again.

 

[BobbiLynn]

Thanks for the help. Is it a problem that I already rocked the fermenter? I won't do it again.

People slosh their carboys around all the time, it'll be fine.

I only look at my airlock to see if it's blown off or not. And other variables too, like with a bucket, something presses on the lid, a ton of bubbles suddenly come out and no more bubbles for a while. Do you have a cat?

My point, don't worry about what the airlock is doing, just ferment for the correct amount of time and it'll be great!!! You'll know when it's done if you got the fermenting temps right. Way too hot and you could get some fusels and too cold, it doesn't taste ready yet, just leave it longer. Buy a little yeast nutrient caplet from your local homebrew shop if you are that worried about it.

 

[unionrdr]

The airlock slows down or stops after initial fermentation is done. It'll then slowly,uneventfully creep down to FG. Shaking it like that might introduce o2,which can give a wet cardboard taste at this point. Shouldn't have done that. If you're not sure about something,come on here & ask first. We'll help you out.

 

[solbes]

Although you don't want to re-aerate a wort thats finished fermenting, I wouldn't worry too much. Don't keep it around for more than 4-5 months and I doubt you'd see any problems show up with oxidation. More than likely your bucket had mostly CO2 inside anyway when you sloshed it around (assuming you didn't open the lid). That won't hurt beer a bit.

I would be a little concerned with fusel alcohols with an est ABV of 8% and an ambient temp of 70-71 though. The fermenting wort can be 3-8 degrees higher than ambient as they get working. I hope you pitched the yeast in the mid 60's. You want to pitch on the low end of the yeasts temperature range. You can ramp up after 36-48 hrs if desired. If it was a little high this time, make a change for the next batch.

 

[Chocolatey_Stoutz]

Although you don't want to re-aerate a wort thats finished fermenting, I wouldn't worry too much. Don't keep it around for more than 4-5 months and I doubt you'd see any problems show up with oxidation. More than likely your bucket had mostly CO2 inside anyway when you sloshed it around (assuming you didn't open the lid). That won't hurt beer a bit.

I would be a little concerned with fusel alcohols with an est ABV of 8% and an ambient temp of 70-71 though. The fermenting wort can be 3-8 degrees higher than ambient as they get working. I hope you pitched the yeast in the mid 60's. You want to pitch on the low end of the yeasts temperature range. You can ramp up after 36-48 hrs if desired. If it was a little high this time, make a change for the next batch.

Oh brother. I didn't know better. My ice bath didn't work becuase I bought the ginormous one that can't fit into my sink. I just added the wort to about 2 2/2 gallons of room temp. water thinking this would lower the temp. Next time I'll put the fresh water in the deep freezer while I complete the boil.

I couldn't get that stupid cheapo fermometer to work. How do you use that thing?

The airlock stopped when I sloshed the fermenter. But now I realize I have far worse problems. When I shook it up some beer sloshed out that tasted like chocolate vodka. I actually thought that was a good thing. Must have been those fusel alcohols you were explaining. Thanks for the education.