Air lock activity started but now stopped

[FLhomeBrewer]

I brewed a 5 gallon all grain batch Saturday night. Going for a Pale Ale but a little more hoppy. I pitched Wyeast 1056 American Ale yeast. This is the first time I've used liquid yeast and followed the instructions on the bag. I pitched the yeast and started noticing a lot of activity in the wort after about 4 hours. By 12 hours I had a lot of airlock activity and a nicely forming krausen. Now, 36 hours later, there are no air lock bubbles but the krausen seems to continue forming.

Is there something wrong with this batch?
This is my tenth batch and all of them so far have had good air lock activity for at least several days.
I live in Florida and the coolest place in my house is an interior closet maintaining about 72 degrees, this is where the fermentor is sitting.

 

[Jag75]

What's your reading on it ?
Also is the closet 72 or the beer . Because if the closet is 72 then your beer may be up to 80 during active fermentation

 

[balrog]

So you still smell it? (suspect a leak rather than going through airlock)

 

[FLhomeBrewer]

Post boil gravity was 1.066
Closet temp is 72, I do not have a temp sticker on the farmentor so not sure on it's temp.

Thanks balrog, I'll check if there's a leak elsewhere. My sinuses have been plugged since we've had heavy pollen counts lately here, I can't smell anything right now!

 

[Jag75]

What kind of fermenter is it . You hear about the big mouth ones leaking . My buddy has one and the seal on the lid is terrible. Odd thing is you were getting airlock action at first for a few days . I had one the finished in 4 days . I checked the readings on my hydrometer and it was done . Couldnt believe it .

 

[FLhomeBrewer]

Yep, it's a 7 gallon big mouth. Now that I think of it, I didn't check the o ring for the lid before putting it on. But, yes there was a lot of air lock activity at first, hence my confusion as to it stopping all of a sudden. I'll check it out when I get home.

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

If your closet is72 your beer is more like 77. At that temp you ripped through fermentation...higher temps quicker fermentation. You might have a small leak in the lid. At high fermentation there is so much co2 activity it overloads the leak and you get airlock activity....when it slows down it goes out the leak and your airlock stops even though it still fermenting....I wouldnt worry about. What I would worry about is the temps. To high of temps can lead to beer that taste like rubbing alcohol. Your probably about 10 degs higher than you should be and at the absolute top of the recomended temps for that yeast

Dont judge fermentation on an airlock....its totally unreliable

 

[FLhomeBrewer]

Just checked it and did not notice any air leaks. The air lock seems to have pressure on it, the krausen seems to have decreased slightly, and I don't see anything floating around in the wort as I normally do.
What temps should an ale ferment?
Anyone have tips on keeping it cooler during ferment, especially here in FL you'll rarely have a place in your house under 70 degrees?
I could put it in my fridge in the barn, but it's about 200 ft from my kitchen, don't really want to carry a fermentor that far.

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

Ale temps are usually around 68 liquid temp.....look up Swamp Cooler....seems like it might be a good idea for you

 

[BrewInspector]

Yes, it is/was fermented warm but then so we're all your previous batches.
Look into ways to lower the temp for future batches. Water bath, swamp cooler, ice, refrigeration, will all improve the final product.

The question was... No more bubbles, is something wrong?

No.

Likely just a slight leak which is absolutely nothing to worry about. Now or in the future. Leave it alone.
Positive pressure will keep any contamination out.
You have the visual confirmation that fermentation was occurring.

 

[FLhomeBrewer]

Just pulled a gravity reading. I'm about 40 hours into the ferment, it is at 1.026. It started at 1.066 and should finish out around 1.015! All my other ferments have seemed weird too, but again I am new to home brewing, this is my 10th batch.
Thanks guys, I'll just let it finish out, see what happens!

 

[WaltG]

I have a fermonster which is similar and found a bit of keg lube on the O ring tightens up the seal better than a nun's....well.. you get the idea...

 

[seatazzz]

That is a HUGE amount of headspace in the fermenter. There's one reason your airlock activity decreased. As fermentation slows down, the yeast aren't producing as much co2; a lot of it is now in suspension in your beer, with a good blanket of it covering the surface. I'll agree with the above, your temperature was a bit too high. Leave it alone a few more days, and test again.

A swamp cooler is very cheap and easy to make; all you need is a shallow tub (I've used a standard Rubbermaid tub in the past), and an old t-shirt. A fan trained on it at a low setting will help as well. Just enough water to cover the bottom of the t-shirt draped over your fermenter is all you need; the t-shirt will wick the water up, and help keep your fermenter cool.

 

[balrog]

40 hours in is very short.
Patience, grasshopper.

 

[Jag75]

Do they even sell swamp coolers in Florida lol

 

[ESBrewer]

Sounds good. Never trust the airlock. If the krausen is there it is fermenting for (100.0%) sure. You can't always notice the gas leaks even if they exist, this is what I have learnt myself. A miniscule gap somewhere could let all the pressure/co2 out (and later some amount of oxygen in). Gases just behave like this. If you can't see bubbles coming out but there is a big krausen, you should try to fix any gaps while the fermentation is active so that post fermentation air won't lurk in and cause unwanted oxidation. If the gap is very small, it may take some time for oxygen to diffuse in, though.

Sometimes it takes 24-72hrs before the fermentation really kicks in and the beer may still be fine eventually. But you should aim for lag times of maximum 24hrs to minimize the chance of any contaminants growing and causing off flavors. You need to have a fresh starter (if using liquid yeast) and pitch at appropriate rate. Also make sure the yeast won't see a temperature shock at the moment of pitching (&the temperature is correct). Yeast nutrients are a good and cheap insurance, even if not absolutely necessary to make good beer.

 

[FLhomeBrewer]

That is a HUGE amount of headspace in the fermenter.

Yep, it's just under 5 gallon in there and it's a 7 gallon fermenter but I think 7.5 gallon would fit in there. I also brewed a small 1 gallon neipa batch and my other fermenters were full so I dumped the 1 gallon neipa in that 7 gallon fermenter. I just drank the neipa last weekend and it turned out great!. The neipa never had any air lock activity but a lot of activity in the wort and a nice krausen.

Do they even sell swamp coolers in Florida lol

Swamp coolers don't work too well down here! Even if I went with seatazzz advice on a wet tshirt, I'm not sure how much cooler it could really get. We are still in "winter" here so my house is usually low 70's. Once we hit May my thermostat is set for 78 at night and 82 during the day! So that closet will probably be 75+ constantly. I'll just start using my fridge in the barn and hook it up to a temp controller.

Thanks for the advice!

 

[Jag75]

You could do the frozen water bottles in a jacket which I've done . It becomes a hassle at times . I use a portable ac unit in my room which helps. Being in an Florida a fermenter like the ss or spike with cooling set up might be money well spent . I will get the spike cf5 sometime soon I hope.

Fridge with temp controller is perfect . I just read that in your post .

 

[kh54s10]

You could do the frozen water bottles in a jacket which I've done . It becomes a hassle at times . I use a portable ac unit in my room which helps. Being in an Florida a fermenter like the ss or spike with cooling set up might be money well spent . I will get the spike cf5 sometime soon I hope.

Fridge with temp controller is perfect . I just read that in your post .

You just described what is called a swamp cooler except you use a container, put the fermenter in it fill with 6-12 inches of water and add ice to control the fermentation temperature.

 

[Jag75]

You just described what is called a swamp cooler except you use a container, put the fermenter in it fill with 6-12 inches of water and add ice to control the fermentation temperature.

This whole time I really thought you guys meant an actual swamp cooler blowing into a chamber lol. Learn something new every day

 

[FLhomeBrewer]

So I found the air leak! There's a small puncture in the air lock itself. I remember when I was cleaning the air lock my 2 year old daughter grabbed it and put it in her mouth, she must have bit it!

Does anyone use those 3 piece air locks? Do they work just as well?

 

[Jag75]

Yes I use them . Works the same .