Bubbling?

[421Brew]

Well, a friend and I bought a brew kit and tried our hand at making our first beer yesterday. We were very careful about sanitation and followed the instructions to a "T". I went downstairs to check on the bucket this afternoon and the airlock is not bubbling...at all. The instructions said it could take up to 24 hours for things to get going. The temp where the bucket is located seems to be just fine. Am I being impatient or do you guys think there is something wrong?
Thanks for your help!
Carl/Rob

 

[Walker]

If this is in a glass carboy, look at the beer. DOes it have gooey foam on the top? If so, it IS fermenting. If not....

If you have not given it the full 24 hours, wait longer. If it's still not bubbling tomorrow, you might want to buy more yeast, prepare it, and throw it in.

It's possible that the yeast that came with your kit was old, and the yeast might be dead. This is one problem with using kits.

Also, is your fermenter tightly sealed? if the gas has another, easier way to get out of the vessel, it will use it.

-walker

 

[drvodka]

Well, a friend and I bought a brew kit and tried our hand at making our first beer yesterday. We were very careful about sanitation and followed the instructions to a "T". I went downstairs to check on the bucket this afternoon and the airlock is not bubbling...at all. The instructions said it could take up to 24 hours for things to get going. The temp where the bucket is located seems to be just fine. Am I being impatient or do you guys think there is something wrong?
Thanks for your help!
Carl/Rob

I had the same problem recently - my first ever batch as well. It didnt start until after 48hrs! All it actually took to get it going was giving the primary a good swirl to fully oxygenate the wort. give that a try, I bet you it'll be bubbling in under 6 hrs time.

 

[421Brew]

Thanks for the help guys. It is in the "Ale Pail" but it is sealed tightly. I will try giving it a swirl and see what happens. If that doesnt work, guess we werent ment to have English Brown Ale...

 

[421Brew]

Well, I checked on the batch this morning and there is finally a little activity. The bubble rate in the airlock is about one per second. That seems a little low, but maybe the yeasties will kick it into gear in the next few hours.

 

[Walker]

one per second is just fine.

 

[421Brew]

one per second is just fine.

Thats good to hear! I was getting a little worried about my poor brown ale. Now everything is just exciting again!

 

[Walker]

Yeah.. i know the feeling.

The first 4 or 5 batches I made had VIOLENT fermentation for the first few days (as in, the airlock was just letting off one constant buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuurp with no pauses.) I got used to this being "right" and "good".

Then, I brewed a batch with a different kind of yeast, and it did only 1-bubble/2-seconds and I thought something was wrong.

The beer kicked ass, so now I don't worry about it. Relax, and have a homebrew (or, in your case, a fine imported english ale from the store.)

As long as it's bubbling, you're good.

-walker

 

[drvodka]

Well, I checked on the batch this morning and there is finally a little activity. The bubble rate in the airlock is about one per second. That seems a little low, but maybe the yeasties will kick it into gear in the next few hours.

told you so
my first batch was the same - that little bit of extra aeration by swirling made all the difference. mine was not doing anything for the first 48hrs, then I got some advice on here to swirl it, i did, took a nap and when I woke up it was bubbling away with no stopping it! it never went faster than 1 per second, but it looks (and tasted when racking to secondary) to be a really nice brew. sometimes slower is better - just ask a woman.

 

[sudsmonkey]

told you so
my first batch was the same - that little bit of extra aeration by swirling made all the difference. mine was not doing anything for the first 48hrs, then I got some advice on here to swirl it, i did, took a nap and when I woke up it was bubbling away with no stopping it! it never went faster than 1 per second, but it looks (and tasted when racking to secondary) to be a really nice brew. sometimes slower is better -( just ask a woman. )

Do more women homebrew, or something?

 

[421Brew]

Do more women homebrew, or something?

Haha, Im not sure how many women are in to homebrewing but I can add my girlfriend to the list! She has been checking on our batch of brown ale more than I have!

 

[Walker]

my wife calls me at work every afternoon to tell me how our son's day of preschool went, and to give me an update o the beer (airlock activity, sediment, krausen, temp.)

God... i love her....

 

[El Pistolero]

I call my wife at work every day to tell her how our daughter's day of preschool went, and how our other daughter's day of 2nd grade went, and even how our son's day at college went, and she STILL doesn't want to hear a damn thing about airlocks, or krauzen, or hot breaks, or broken thermometers.

Can you believe this woman?

 

[Walker]

i'd say you have given her a fair chance, but now she has to go.

 

[jaymack]

Just wanted to add my two-bits...

Brewign a Brown Ale as well adn it took just over 48hours before I got bubblage... and now it's bubbling big time.

This is also my first totally-from-scratch batch, as opposed to those beer-in-can that you just mix with some dextrose, yeast and hot water.

HUGE difference in the bubbling. My other "brews gave off little spurts but Im really quite amazed at the amount of burps Im getting.

making beer rox!

 

[Rhoobarb]

Here's my 2 cents - make a yeast starter. It's easy to do and will start your fermentation in hours instead of days!

Check out the Starter FAQ!