Does airlock activity= fermentation?

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ddicker60

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Just made an ipa and trying to keep the temp around 64. Airlock activity is minimal, but there is a small krausen. I am planning on the raising the temp, my question should I be worried? I am assuming the lower than average ferm temps (for me) mean a slightly slower start? Thanks!


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dont raise the temp too high, just give it time to take off! did you add oxygen to your wort? that is something the yeast loves!
 
Yes, airlock activity = fermentation, but only if there are no leaks. Plastic buckets are prone to leaks; carboys are not. How long has it been since you pitched? Sometimes you may see nothing for 24-40 hours, but 8-18 hrs is more common.
 
I've gotten in the habit of slapping on one or two heat belts to the primary to keep thing nice and toasty (saves cranking up the heat for the sake of the beer). With a belt I am guaranteed a strong start within 12 hrs. I live on the west coast on Canada so it never gets too hot, either way warmer is better generally for fermenting. If it's in the winter I will carry the heat belts over to the secondary and leave the beer by a heater. Position the belt towards the bottom because the warm liquid rises.

I got into this habit after starting a kit too cold, and eventually tossing it after pitching twice attempting to start it

Cold can be a nice way to stop fermentation early if you want a sweeter beverage. I will throw fermenting cider in the fridge when I want to kill the yeast
 
It's been about 48, it was oxygenated through straining the trub out and splashing 1.060 beers.


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Bubbling airlock does mean fermentation, but a Non-bubbling airlock doesn't mean no fermentation. If you have a krausen then I wouldn't touch the temp. Even two days in I wouldn't worry.
 
There is a youtube video that's been posted on reposted on this forum- of an airlock bubbling pretty rapidly.

Then the camera pans out, to a totally empty carboy.

Airlocks bubble because gas is coming out of it. That can be due to fermentation, due to barometric pressure changes, and temperature changes.

So, my answer to the question asked is "sometimes".

Sometimes, the temperature is rising and that causes a ton of airlock activity, as dissolved co2 will come out of solution in warmer temperatures.
 
Never judge a beer by the airlock.

A krausen means the yeast are working. It's probably just small/slow due to the temps, but if 64*F is in your yeast's established range, then I wouldn't worry about it. Maybe bump it up a few degrees, but don't overdo it.

I tend to ferment all my beers on the lower half of a yeast's given range, and consequently I always have small krausen and little airlock activity (sometimes none, if using a bucket), but it always attenuates out fine, just slower.



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Just made an ipa and trying to keep the temp around 64. Airlock activity is minimal, but there is a small krausen. I am planning on the raising the temp, my question should I be worried? I am assuming the lower than average ferm temps (for me) mean a slightly slower start? Thanks!

Your temp is excellent for the first 4-5 days using the yeast strains most typical for an IPA. After that, go ahead and let it rise slowly to about 68*F to finish. Slow, cool and steady is just fine when it comes to fermentation.


Cold can be a nice way to stop fermentation early if you want a sweeter beverage. I will throw fermenting cider in the fridge when I want to kill the yeast

Hopefully you realize that you're not really killing the yeast by moving the cider to the fridge. The cold does certainly help cause the yeast to drop to the bottom and go dormant. You'd have to freeze it before you start killing the cells via the formation of ice crystals. Once it warms back up and there is food present, the yeast cells become active again.

Also, stopping a ferment early by cold crashing is fine so long as you aren't planning on bottle-carbing (unless you monitor and pasteurize).
 
I've gotten in the habit of slapping on one or two heat belts to the primary to keep thing nice and toasty (saves cranking up the heat for the sake of the beer). With a belt I am guaranteed a strong start within 12 hrs. I live on the west coast on Canada so it never gets too hot, either way warmer is better generally for fermenting.

This is just so wrong.

Cold can be a nice way to stop fermentation early if you want a sweeter beverage. I will throw fermenting cider in the fridge when I want to kill the yeast

That doesn't kill the yeast.
 
Long story short, airlocks are neither generally necessary for sanitary fermentation or reliable for gauging activity. If you already have one, I understand continuing to use it rather than finding something else to plug your carboy hole, but please understand it is not integral to brewing and you don't need to keep such close tabs on it. You'll know fermentation has begun when you get visible signs.
 
Long story short, airlocks are neither generally necessary for sanitary fermentation or reliable for gauging activity.. .
If your fermenter is airtight, then airlocks are indeed reliable for gauging activity. Certainly they have limitations (e.g. affected by changes in temps or barometric pressure) but you can learn a lot about your fermentation and yeast health by using airlocks, which of course can make you a better brewer. Especially useful for us lager brewers.
 
You can't get useful data from an airlock because even if you control for all the other factors, you still aren't going to sit there and count the bubbles all day and scratch down numbers on a little pad. It's just a visual indicator that something is happening that you might notice when you walk by your fermenter. Who knows what? Something. Bloop. If you want information you can't get visually, you need to take gravity.

And when airlocks don't work the way newbies think they should--the way you'd expect them to work if they were the necessary tools the LHBS person says they are, but aren't--they freak out and think their beer is ruined. And they make a thread about it on HBT--which I obviously don't mind, but they are clearly a source of totally pointless distress to the new brewer. If nothing else, they give the impression that your beer is growing in some sterile environment (it isn't) and needs to be treated like a burn ward patient for you to avoid an infection (it doesn't, especially during active fermentation). Bad information is bad, even when it sounds like caution.
 
After two days we r going to let it free rise to room temp to finish out, thanks for the great replies. It is in a buck and I checked, there was a small krausen on each. Smelled great.


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Two days total or two days from now? I wouldn't let an IPA go to room temp until at least 4-5 days unless the gravity is way down, you'll get some esters, at best. If you do it day after tomorrow you're probably fine.
 
This is just so wrong.



That doesn't kill the yeast.

OK I take back my uneducated comments, and I do understand that every yeast has an ideal temp range

I was trying to convey a very general rule of thumb. But this isn't the beginners section... I will withdraw
 
it's be 3 days since i pitch and the temp is about 68 in our basements here in ohio, so thats where it is sitting, going nicely.
 
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