Brew doesn't seem to be fermenting much after 48 hours

[honeybadgers]

So i made two 5 gallon batches of beer and two one gallon batches of melomel. The mead seems to be moving a little slowly, but i can see the bubbles moving through the jars, and the Christmas ale went absolutely berserk, so much so that i had to put a bypass hose on the airlock into an overflow jug. After about 24 hours it settled down and is bubbling away happily.

But the nut brown ale isn't really chooching. I had this problem the last time i made it, i even pitched a second batch of yeast last time, it made a head of foam but no bubbles out of the airlock. I presumed i screwed something up amd threw that batch out, but here we are again, and it's just not up and running from an observation of the airlock. It's fermenting in a bucket, so i couldn't see what was going on, so i cracked the lid after 24 hours and did get a strong kick of CO2 when i put my nose down to it, along with a modest head of foam on the beer, so i thought it may just be a slow starter, but 24 hours later and it still isn't making bubbles. It's it probably still gong to be okay? Do i likely just have a poor seal on the bucket or are some yeast just slow movers? Pitching temp for both beers was 88F, ambient temp has not gotten below about 65 in the house. If it probably still is going, how will i be able to tell when it's ready for bottling if i don't have the airlock slowing down as a reference?

I cracked the lid again (i know, not the smartest move, but i wanted to know if it still looked like it was gong) and there's still a healthy head of foam, and i see it actively bubbling, so it looks life the yeast are going strong. But the airlock isn't moving (it's not stuck) so how likely is it that my bucket just doesn't have a good seal? And how will i know that the beer is ready for bottling?

 

[Sadu]

I think the best thing to do is take a gravity reading so you don't have to get all stressed out about it. You will probably find that it's dropped a few points from the OG in which case it's fermenting and you can give it some time to do it's job.

My buckets have bad seals and never give me much airlock activity, not a big deal.

 

[RM-MN]

If you have a head of foam (krausen) your beer is fermenting just fine and the lack of bubbles is from a leak around the lid. I have buckets that always bubble, buckets that never bubble, and buckets that bubble sometimes. They always make beer.

 

[honeybadgers]

Sounds good. How will i know when it's ready? Check the gravity again?

I didn't take an initial gravity because I've never before had a use for it before as an utter amateur, but I'll check the gravity in the morning and use that as a benchmark. Is there a way too know when the beer is ready to rack without knowing the specific gravity or airlock action?

 

[ericbw]

Don't open the lid for a while. It's working!

Like RM said, sometimes things don't seal right. As long as there is foam and you smelled CO2, then it's working. Eventually, the gravity will get where it should be.

You need to start checking gravity. It's not hard, and it's not for advanced brewers. It's how you know your wort is right to start with, and when it's done. And to know what alcohol level you have.

Do you have a hydrometer and know how to use it? Lots of info here if you need it.

As far as "when is it ready" if you don't have bubbles or check the gravity, I would wait 2 weeks or even 3 weeks. There are lots of opinions on this, but 2 weeks gives it time to finish fermenting, then for the yeast to "clean up" by reabsorbing some things that we don't like to taste.

Your temperature is pretty high - what yeast? For most ale yeast, for a brown ale, you probably want the beer to be around 65 degrees. The max is probably 70. And remember that the room temperature is lower than the beer temperature (because the yeast make heat when they work). That's especially important for the first few days.

So here's my opinion: let it sit for at least 2 weeks, but longer might be better. That will give it time to clean up. At that point, you can check the gravity to see if it's where you expected from the recipe (you're supposed to check two days apart to be sure it has stopped).

 

[honeybadgers]

I'm not exactly sure what yeast, just followed the recipe. Either 1028 london, 1084 Irish, 1968 special London, or Nottingham dry. Was a liquid nutrient pouch method. The Christmas ale is a 3522.

I do have a hydrometer and should remember how to use it. Guess I'll start checking it regularly from now on!

We have a pretty warm house here in seattle, no a/c, so i have to kind of work with what nature gives me. It's about 70 degrees max right now

I'll check with a hydrometer in a couple weeks, maybe 3. Thanks for the reassurance guys!

 

[RM-MN]

I'm not exactly sure what yeast, just followed the recipe. Either 1028 london, 1084 Irish, 1968 special London, or Nottingham dry. Was a liquid nutrient pouch method. The Christmas ale is a 3522.

I do have a hydrometer and should remember how to use it. Guess I'll start checking it regularly from now on!

We have a pretty warm house here in seattle, no a/c, so i have to kind of work with what nature gives me. It's about 70 degrees max right now

I'll check with a hydrometer in a couple weeks, maybe 3. Thanks for the reassurance guys!

No you don't have to work with what nature gives you. A tub of water with frozen bottles of water dropped into it works fairly well to control the fermentation temperature. You only need to control it for the first 3-4 days but you really do need the control then. Beer tastes much better without the off flavors produced during a too-warm ferment.

Regularly checking with the hydrometer means checking once before you add yeast to determine the OG and twice after the ferment is over to verify that the ferment really has stopped where it should, usually after at least 10 days but longer doesn't hurt either. I usually go 3 to 4 weeks before checking for FG.

 

[ericbw]

Even a simple fan blowing on the fermenter could cool it off some.

When you say that you don't know which yeast, do you mean that you forgot? Or it came with a recipe or kit that someone put together for you?

 

[honeybadgers]

Even a simple fan blowing on the fermenter could cool it off some.

When you say that you don't know which yeast, do you mean that you forgot? Or it came with a recipe or kit that someone put together for you?

I forgot which of the four possible yeast on the recipe i grabbed at the brew supply store (and already took the garbage out so i can't go dig the package out)

I'll take a fan to it this weekend (I'm on duty until sunday)

 

[honeybadgers]

No you don't have to work with what nature gives you. A tub of water with frozen bottles of water dropped into it works fairly well to control the fermentation temperature. You only need to control it for the first 3-4 days but you really do need the control then. Beer tastes much better without the off flavors produced during a too-warm ferment.

Regularly checking with the hydrometer means checking once before you add yeast to determine the OG and twice after the ferment is over to verify that the ferment really has stopped where it should, usually after at least 10 days but longer doesn't hurt either. I usually go 3 to 4 weeks before checking for FG.

Useful information, maybe I'll have to fashion up some kind of cooling rig for future batches. As for now, though, i don't have a spare bathroom.

I'll definitely start checking my gravity from now on though, I'll wait until it's about 3 weeks in.

 

[RM-MN]

Useful information, maybe I'll have to fashion up some kind of cooling rig for future batches. As for now, though, i don't have a spare bathroom.

I'll definitely start checking my gravity from now on though, I'll wait until it's about 3 weeks in.

I was thinking of something more like this when I said tub of water. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Rubbermaid-Roughneck-Clear-Tote/16486812
It doesn't have to be a lot bigger than your fermenter, just enough so the fermenter is surrounded by water which can absorb the heat the yeast give off. Use a bottle or two of frozen water to control the temperature of the water in the tub and that will control the temperature of the fermenting beer.

 

[ericbw]

Yes it doesn't take much to keep it cool IF it doesn't get to high to begin with. Hard to drop it from really high, though.

 

[honeybadgers]

I was thinking of something more like this when I said tub of water. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Rubbermaid-Roughneck-Clear-Tote/16486812
It doesn't have to be a lot bigger than your fermenter, just enough so the fermenter is surrounded by water which can absorb the heat the yeast give off. Use a bottle or two of frozen water to control the temperature of the water in the tub and that will control the temperature of the fermenting beer.

Understood, I'll try this out next time!