Help! First stuck (?) fermentation.

Brewed a chocolate stout from Midwest with Northwest Ale Yeast Activator - Wyeast 1332. I popped the smack pack that morning and it blew up like a balloon over the course of the day. Brewed about 6 hours later and dropped the yeast into a plastic big mouth bubbler siphonless carboy. 8 days later and I have seen plenty of bubbling on the top of the brew but haven't seen any activity in the s-bubble airlock.



Not sure what step to take next to try to kick this into gear. I am planning to move it into a glass carboy for secondary fermentation but am now unsure whether I should do this without having seen any bubbling in the airlock in the primary.

(This is the first time I have used anything but the glass carboy and haven't seen any indication that the bubbler is leaking either around the mouth or at the spout but, again, this is my first run with it.)

Help!! (And thanks in advance for any thoughts/advice).

 

This is definitely fermenting. You're in good shape.

Kind of a commandment here that a lack of airlock activity is not an indicator of fermentation problems, and especially when you've got that much apparent yeast activity (assuming that foam on top is krausen and not just foam from aeration)

 

Airlock's purpose is to let excess gas escape and are not to be used to indicate the quality of the fermentation. You would use a hydrometer to check on the fermentation but not yet. Your ferment may be mostly done by now but if you give the yeast more time they will clean up any intermediate products and then begin to clump together and settle out. The longer you let it set, the more yeast falls out of suspension until months later there will be so little yeast left in suspension you would have to add some to promote carbonation.

Unless your beer requires a long aging period (several months) or you intend to add fruit don't bother with secondary. It has been proven that most beers do at least as well with just a primary and by leaving the beer where it is, you lessen the chance for oxidation or infection.

 

Thanks very much for the feedback guys! Murphy's law played out and of course I saw my first bubbling in the airlock last night (albeit very slow bubbling).

This will be the first time I have ever done a secondary but the kit is supposed to get it where the chocolate nibs are added.

 

there's a thread here somewhere detailing how to get a good seal on the big mouth. bets are your CO2 is escaping elsewhere other than the airlock. thats a great looking krausen

 

Not trying to be rude or condescending or anything, but did you put water/starsan/vodka in your airlock?

It happens fairly often actually.

If yes, then you can pull your rubber stopper out and see if it's pressurized or something. You don't want a blown up bigmouth bubbler on your hands.

If no pressure, then your CO2 is escaping elsewhere as someone said. If it is highly pressurized, your airlock is clogged somehow.

 

Yes - I put the starsan/water mix in the airlock. I did finally see some slow bubbling last night which I take as a good sign. Trying to tighten the bigmouth bubbler lid moves the starsan in the airlock which I took to be a sign that there is some level of pressure seal with the lid. Hopefully, it will turn out pretty well.

 

This is one of the few situations where I would recommend using a secondary. Your primary will have enough trub in it that if the nibs sink you lose out on the flavoring from them.:rockin:

 

Enjoy your stout! Looks like a healthy fermentation. I'd let it sit on the nibs at least 2 weeks in secondary and I'd even suggest soaking those nibs in vanilla flavored vodka for a day or two before adding them and them dump the whole mess of yummy goodness into your secondary before racking your beer on top.

 

We have vodka but not flavored vodka. Is that something where you can add vanilla extract or does it need to be the "vanilla" flavored official bottle?

@eadavis80

 

I'm guessing regular vodka would be fine - it's just to sterilize the nibs, which I always do. I just did the vanilla vodka the first time I used nibs and liked the result whether it was because of the flavored vodka, I don't really know, honestly), but I just kind of figured "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." So now, my tradition is, whenever I use nibs, I soak 'em in vanilla flavored vodka (enough to cover the nibs - probably about 2 or so ounces) for a couple days before dumping all that yummy goodness into my secondary and then racking on top.