need some help 1st brew

so this is my first beer. I thought the brewing process went very well. The initial brew date was a week ago. When i pitched the yeast it started bubbling within 3 hrs and I thought it was pretty good sign but then 2 days later bubbling stops and the krausen started to drop back into the beer. my question is should i be worried about this. Could this be a stalled fermentation? just would like some advice from some veterans

 

Nah totally normal. Give it another week take a couple gravity readings a few days apart to make sure stable then bottle. Your good. That's what it's supposed to do.

Active fermentation usually only takes a few days. The rest of the waiting is for conditioning and letting all the yeast and trub settle out.

 

Thanks man. any reason why the process is faster or slower? just depends on the yeast?

 

If your temps were say, 72+ , that would lead to a quick fermentation, and some esters as well. What temp was your wort at during fermentation?

 

Yeast selection and temperature. Higher the temp, faster the ferment but that's usually not a good thing. Check your yeast for the best temp range.

 

had it around 66 had it wrapped in a towel that was soaked in water

 

Should be golden then brother, nice work, let us know how she tastes....

 

Also depending on the style you probably want to give it a bit more time in the primary if it's only been a few days. Most say something like three weeks or more. Hef's are 3 and most other beers benefit from an additional few weeks.

Sounds like you're on the fast track though! I was a few batches in before I focused heavily on my ferm temps.

 

Again, that sounds pretty normal. Yeast will ferment fast at higher temperatures, but that is not always best for taste. For most ales and ale yeasts I like to ferment in the low to mid sixties. I look online on the yeast manufacturers website for their recommendations then I go for the lower end or the temperature range.

 

ok thanks guys for the quick response. I'm brewing a northern brewer caribou slobber as my first beer. I did a initial gravity reading after i chilled the wort and it was high at least i think at 1.092 and just did another reading and it was at 1.022. is this correct or am I messing this up. and shouldn't it taste like beer at this point or should i wait? i tasted it and it tasted kind of funky. any advice again would be awesome.