Did I miss active fermentation?

[SilaMuta]

Hello. I am a newbie. I brewed an American Amber Ale on Saturday and by around 9pm on Sat evening it was in a 5 gallon fermenting bucket. I only brewed 3 gallons coz thats the size of my pot. I have seen no "active fermentation" of my beer. ie I have seen no air bubble in air lock and no rapid movement of my beer in the bucket. It is now Monday (midday) and the only think I see is about 2inchs of Krausen on the top of my beer. Is it possible that I missed the active fermentation or has it yet to happen? all advice appreciated. thanks

 

[peterj]

You're seeing it now. 2 inches of Kausen sounds like it's pretty active. Your bucket lid probably just doesn't have a good seal so the CO2 being produced isn't going through the airlock. Not a big deal. Let it go for a couple of weeks.

 

[brewmeister13]

If you have a krausen you are currently fermenting. If you don't see any air bubbles you might have gas escaping the bucket from another point. At any rate, close it up, leave it closed as much as you can and you will have beer soon.

 

[SilaMuta]

I checked the seal of the bucket lid and its tightly closed. It is a brand new bucket. The spiget is also closed. I peeked through the air lock hole and there is a beer smell that tickles the nose and eyes. How long should i let it sit before taking gravity reading? I used crystal malt along with Amber DME with centennial and cascade hops with Safale 05 yeast. Should i also look out for sediment sitting at the bottom now? cheers!

 

[brewmeister13]

I usually wait at least a week, if not a little longer. It depends on the OG of the beer though. A 1.050 beer will ferment much faster than a 1.090 beer will. If you can, give it time. Even after fermentation is complete you need to leave it on the yeast for a little bit to allow them to "clean up" after themselves. On a small scale you shouldn't have to worry about leaving it on the trub (sediment at the bottom) for a week or two.

 

[william_shakes_beer]

Everybody does it differently. I do 4 weeks primary, no secondary, and 4 weeks bottle conditioning.

If you smell beer without opening the fermenter, the lid is not sealing 100%. That's ok, they aren't meant to. If there is not a rubber gasket in the lid recess you're pretty much guaranteed that it won't seal completely.