Brewed on Sunday, still no bubbles

[teachtim]

I would think that I would see bubbles in the airlock by now. The temp inside the fermenter is around 73 degrees, the garage smells like beer but I'm not seeing the amount of bubbling I would expect. How much bubbling should be going on?
My temp did drop the first night down to 64 degrees. I put a blanket around the fermenter and it was back up to 68 the next day. The fermenter feels warm to the touch so I 'm sure something is going on inside there.

 

[Clann]

everybody on here will tell you bubbles in the airlock are not a sure sign of fermentation.
bucket lids are notorious for not sealing. I have a lid that will only let the airlock bubble when fermentation is in full swing, otherwise the pressure bleeds off almost immediatly.
so take a gravity reading before you do anything like repitching and such

 

[cruckin78]

Is there any foam (krausen) on your wort? if not...You yeast may be dead. I had this happen on my Dunkelweizen. Went 72 hours and the wort looked like I just poured it in the bucket. I repitched and it was off and running.

 

[Lodovico]

Like others have said, that 90 cent piece of plastic isn't a scientific tool. I would pop the lid and see if there is activity happening. If it only got down to 64 degrees, that isn't low enough to stall fermentation.

What temp did you pitch at?
What type of yeast is it?
Did you rehydrate or make a starter?
Did you aerate it?

Just trying to get a little more info.

 

[pksmitty]

Some fermentations bubble a lot, some very little, some not at all. A leaking lid will also slow down or eliminate bubbling in the airlock. If you're smelling beer, gas is escaping somewhere, either through the airlock, or leaking out. Take a gravity reading. If the gravity has dropped, (very likely), you have fermentation occurring. RDWHAHB!

That being said, 74 is pretty warm to ferment at. You can create off flavors that warm. I typically try to keep temps below 70. It makes for a cleaner tasting beer. If you're reading a stick on thermometer on the outside of the fermenter, and it's reading 74, the temp inside is probably several degrees higher. Fermentation, especially during the active stage, produces heat. Try to get the temp down some, and let it sit in the fermenter a couple more weeks to give the yeast some time clean up after themselves. Don't fret too much, you're still making beer!

 

[billf2112]

I had a similar issue (had the wonderful beer smell but no bubbling) turned out that my airlock was missing a piece (which was hiding in the bottom of my sanitation bucket). I did not open the bucket just put the airlock together correctly and away I went. Everyone here told me the gasses escaping would ave kept the baddies out. One quote I saw was that the baddies are not ninjas, they canoot sneak in under the bucket lid if it is close and some gasses are escaping there.

 

[jgourd]

everybody on here will tell you bubbles in the airlock are not a sure sign of fermentation.
bucket lids are notorious for not sealing. I have a lid that will only let the airlock bubble when fermentation is in full swing, otherwise the pressure bleeds off almost immediatly.
so take a gravity reading before you do anything like repitching and such

+1,000,000. What he said.

 

[Lodovico]

Some fermentations bubble a lot, some very little, some not at all. A leaking lid will also slow down or eliminate bubbling in the airlock. If you're smelling beer, gas is escaping somewhere, either through the airlock, or leaking out. Take a gravity reading. If the gravity has dropped, (very likely), you have fermentation occurring. RDWHAHB!

That being said, 74 is pretty warm to ferment at. You can create off flavors that warm. I typically try to keep temps below 70. It makes for a cleaner tasting beer. If you're reading a stick on thermometer on the outside of the fermenter, and it's reading 74, the temp inside is probably several degrees higher. Fermentation, especially during the active stage, produces heat. Try to get the temp down some, and let it sit in the fermenter a couple more weeks to give the yeast some time clean up after themselves. Don't fret too much, you're still making beer!

Yea, I was going to mention that part too but I was sticking with the task at hand. 74 is definitely too warm for the beginning stages of most beers.