Fermenting finished?

[Joshtorres28]

I brewed my first batck of a blonde ale, last monday and removed lid for hydrometer reading and I saw a foam ring around bucket and yeast flakes at top is this normal?

 

[Boyd]

Yes. The foam ring you speak of is the remnants of the "kraussen". Has your airlock stopped bubbling?

 

[Joshtorres28]

It hasn't stopped totally about every 45 sec

 

[Boyd]

wait until it's completely stopped.

 

[Joshtorres28]

So did I mess up by opening the bucket and letting air in?

 

[JLem]

So did I mess up by opening the bucket and letting air in?

Nope. Everything is fine.

 

[Stauffbier]

If you don't have a hydrometer, then get one! Gravity readings are the only way to know if it's done fermenting.. Not airlock activity or lack there-of..

 

[JLem]

Also, the true indication of when fermentation is done is not the lack of airlock bubbling, but a steady gravity over several days. Even if the airlock stops, you can still have fermentation going on. Generally, I like to leave the beer alone for 10-14 days before checking the gravity. If it is the same over a number of days (and relatively close to your expected FG), your fermentation is done and you can proceed to bottling/kegging.