what are my yeasties up to?

[attyindaburgh]

Sorry for my newbie question. I have my second and third batches fermenting and am almost at the two week mark in the primaries. The one is da yoopers pale ale and the other is a bell's two hearted clone. I had pretty good starts to both and now the have slowed down. I am using 6.5 gallon glass carboys and 3 piece air locks, following the blowoff tubes. Now I am getting maybe 1 or two bubbles per minute. Could that still be fermentation going on?

 

[TwistedHops]

Maybe, maybe not. I'm going to ask maybe a snarky question, but important. Do you have a hydrometer? Have you checked if the FG is stabilized? That's the only real way to know if fermentation is done. They're cheap! So go buy one if you haven't!

 

[attyindaburgh]

Not a snarkey question! I checked it on the da yooper cause she slowed down first. I used nottingham and kept it at ambient temps (59 to 60).

But I haven't checked it again to see if it stabilized.

It read 1.010.

 

[TwistedHops]

Check it again in a day, if it's the same, then fermentation is done and you're just seeing some carbon dioxide off gassing. Bottle up and enjoy! Cheers!

 

[jtratcliff]

CO2 can outgass with changes in temperature and/or pressure. There's a video that gets posted here occasionally of an empty carboy with a bubbling airlock.

The bubbles mean next to nothing in regards to fermentation. Only the hydrometer can tell you if you're done.