Fermentation Question

[thedailyaustin]

I'll start by saying I'm sorry for posting this thread knowing there are many more just like it, but with slight differences.

I'm brewing a wheat beer using a kit and malt extract. Fermentation seemed very active and 2 days later I came home to find it had bubbled up through the airlock and spilled a little bit on the top of the fermentor. I removed the airlock, rinsed it out, ran some OneStep through it and put it back on.

Skip ahead 5 days.

Since then there have been no bubbles in the airlock at all. I know looking bubbles is a terrible way to judge fermentation and I'm headed tomorrow to get a hydrometer from ther brew shop (which is 1.5 hours away, and the reason I've waited so long to go back to get it).

The question is, when they wort bubbled out of the airlock, is that normal? Or did something go wrong here?

Thanks for the help,
Austin

Edit: I should say, even though it is probably very obvious, this is my first batch.

 

[EvilTOJ]

NO your beer isn't ruined! Oh wait, you didn't ask that. Sorry, that question comes up a lot Sounds like you had a healthy fermentation to me. Wheat beers are especially good at blowing the top off of fermenters. Next time use a blowoff tube, which is basically a large plastic tube that goes from the fermenter into a small bucket of water.

And welcome to the forum!

 

[Yooper]

He's right- it sounds perfectlly normal! Sometimes beers will ferment fast and furiously, sometimes slow and steady and that's normal too! It's a function of yeast, temperature and ingredients. Even the same beer, using the same ingredients, might behave differently the next time.

Whenever I get krausen up into the airlock, I just pull it off, clean it, resanitize and stick it back on. While you're waiting, though, it'd be helpful to search for "blow off tube" or "blow-off tube" and read about those. Sometimes you need one with wheat beers, or other particularly active ferments.

And, welcome to HBT!

 

[thedailyaustin]

Awesome. Thanks for the advice! =)

-Austin