So yesterday I boiled up 12 gallons of sweet wort and used the 3 week old yeast slurry that I harvested the day before. Chilled the wort down to 68 F and split the batch into 2 buckets. Then I pitched half of the slurry in one bucket and the half in the other bucket. Then into the fermentation chamber. So the theory is that this is the exact same wort and the exact same yeast slurry so the 2 buckets should act the exact same way. Well, one bucket took off in about 3 hours, bubbling away. The other one nothing yet after about 24 hours. I know, bubbling is not a sign of fermentation but it sure makes you feel better when you see it. We will see what happens in a day or two I guess. This hobby always has surprises.
A watched air lock never bubbles ;)
- Thread starter bgmac
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OnePlate
Yeast are my housepets
I suspect the bucket with no airlock activity has a bad seal around the lid somewhere, and the CO2 is getting out that way. It's ok to leave it that way or you can try to re-seat the lid. I guarantee both buckets are chugging along nearly identically.
I carefully opened the lid and it has a nice thick krausen going maybe 2-3 inches thick. I rotated the lid 180 degrees and resealed. I double checked the blow off tube seal and thermometer seal. I sprayed star san on the penetration points/grommets in the lid and around the lid seal to see if there are indications of leak by the star san bubbling. No signs of bubbling from a leak. The other bucket blow off tube is bubbling away non stop 2 to 3 bubbles per second give or take. I just cant figure this one out. I even put my ear all around the bucket in a dead silent room to maybe hear a leak but heard nothing. Where is the CO2 going? I put my nose to all the spots listed above and smell nothing. It had the right smell when i took the lid off. Could it be trapped in the wort? Could this be a self carbing beer in the making! This is like my 40th batch and have never seen this before. I guess I will just let it ride and see how it turns out.
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It's not easy to pinpoint a bucket lid leak. You would need for the Starsan to stay up at the top of the channel in the lid for bubbles to form, which would defy gravity. RDWHAHB. The leak isn't a problem and you know the beer is fermenting.
You might be right. Could be several small leaks around the lid seal that are hard to detect. Its a tall 7 gallon bucket with about 5 to 6 inches of head space so I figure it should maintain a nice blanket of CO2. Should protect the wort through the fermentation process. Fingers crossed.
Once more, for effect-bubbles in the airlock are for entertainment purposes only. 
Right along with, "do I have a stuck fermentation?" and, "It's been almost 24 hours and my beer isn't fermenting yet. Should I pitch more yeast?", "The airlock isn't bubbling.) is among the top few most posted subjects on home brewing forums.
We've all been there. Give it time and you'll get a chuckle every time you see one of these.
We've all been there. Give it time and you'll get a chuckle every time you see one of these.
I know, I sound like a newb. I am confident that the yeast is chugging away since I have a nice krausen at 24+ hours since pitch. Its more of a mystery where all the CO2 is going. Probably out the lid seal.
Follow up: It has now been 3 weeks since brew day. I popped the lid and everything looks good, no contamination. Tastes like a 3 week old beer should before carbed. I racked it to a keg and the FG is at 1.006 (OG was 1.062), exactly the same for the other bucket that bubbled normally the whole time. I cleaned up the bucket and did a pressure test with CO2. Probably pressurized it to 2-4 psi and it held for 5 minutes (lid swelled up about an inch towards the center). I turned the bucket over while under pressure and sprayed StarSan on the lid seal and saw nothing bubbling. I then put the blow off tube in and give it the slightest shot of CO2 through the thermometer grommet in the lid. Instant bubbles out of the blow off tube. I controlled the pressure and made the blow off tube bubble slowly like yeast would (about 1 bubble a second). Everything looked normal. I don't know, maybe some how the last batch in this bucket didn't poop CO2? I marked the lid so next time I have alignment spots where I pressure tested it and know its good. But I remember back after 24+ hours into the fermentation with no bubbles, I popped the lid saw a nice krausen and then turned the lid about 90 degrees and reset it still no bubbles.
