Fermentation stopped?

[Wallacenb]

I made two beers at once. A Caribou Slobber and a Dead Ringer IPA. The Caribou Slobber started fermentation about 12-18 hrs after pitching and the Dead Ringer didn't start until 24hrs after pitching. Well, I came home this morning and the Caribou Slobber Airlock looked like the beer had foamed into the Airlock and the rapid/periodic bubble flow in the airlock had slowed to a trickle. And now, 12 hrs later it looks like it has stopped altogether. Is this bad? And if so, is there anyway to fix it? Yeast: Danstar Windsor British style ale yeast, pitched at about 68F, The temp on the carboy is 74-78F.

 

[Onkel_Udo]

Relatively normal. Caribou Slobber is a relatively low gravity beer so if you pitching temp where a couple degrees higher than you think, 36 hours of active fermentation is not unheard of. That being said, remove the airlock, clean and re-insert. just to make sure it is not plugged and causing the bucket to build pressure or leak elsewhere.

 

[kh54s10]

Totally normal especially at the temperatures. Warmer= faster but not better. You may have some off flavors due to the high temperatures. For your next batch look to controlling the fermentation temperatures to the mid sixties.

Do not worry about the airlock bubbles, wait at least 10 days or 3 weeks or so then check the gravity. Wait 24+ hours and check again if the numbers are the same you can bottle it.

Set up a blow off tube at the start of every fermentation then you don't have to worry about krausen in the airlock.

Search "swamp cooler". Basically a bucket with 6 - 12 inches of water and rotating ice or hot water bottles depending on ambient temperature. To keep the wort temperature stable. Check the yeast package or the manufacturer's website for the optimum range of the yeast and aim for just below the midpoint.

 

[BigFloyd]

What you just described is pretty typical of Windsor yeast. Short, fast fermentation often associated with a lack of full attenuation (resulting in a slightly sweet beer). The fact that your temps are about 10*F too high made it get along more quickly (at the risk of off-flavors of course)

Leave it be. Take a gravity reading in a few days, another three days later. If they're the same, it's done.

 

[Wallacenb]

Thanks everybody. I'm not going to worry as much then. I did remove the airlock, cleaned and sanitized. I'll just wait awhile then, we'll see how it turns out. Guess I've got a lot to learn!

 

[kh54s10]

Thanks everybody. I'm not going to worry as much then. I did remove the airlock, cleaned and sanitized. I'll just wait awhile then, we'll see how it turns out. Guess I've got a lot to learn!

We all started there...

My first was started too warm. I realized it the morning of day two. It was a Northern Brewer Irish Red ale. I used their chat and got the temperatures down. It was pretty good.

I found HBT later that second day. Now 4 years later and 72 brews, I am still learning.