Greetings, popped my brewing cherrie on Tuesday (st patties day) a red ale. Had fermentation in 24 hrs in a 6.5 gallon bucket. Dramatically reduced 24hrs later. Used the "swirl method"'and got the airlock bubbling again. I'm now in day 3 of fermentation, question is: should i swirl one more time tomorrow (day 4) or let it go. Also, how long should I wait before bottling? It's a red ale. Thanks!
First Ale brew. Help needed
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HB_in_Subic
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Leave it be and let it sit for a full 3 weeks. Take a gravity reading at day 18 and day 21. If both are the same and below 1.020, then bottle and condition for another 3 weeks. If 1.020 or above raise the temperature a degree or two to wake up the yeast and get the gravity lower.
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tooldudetool
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You really shouldn't need to "swirl" your fermenter. The only times that is necessary is with only a few super flocculent yeast strains that have a tendency to drop out before they finish their job. You didn't mention the yeast strain, but again it shouldn't be necessary to swirl. The increased airlock activity is most likely from the CO2 being knocked out of solution from the swirling. 24 hours is pretty darn quick for the fermentation to slow down, usually its 3-4 days or so for my fermentations to really start to slow down. Did you do a good job of oxygenating the wort after the boil? If you used dry yeast, did you rehydrate? If you used liquid yeast, did you make a starter? You also didn't mention the temperature you are fermenting at... all of these variables can have an effect on yeast health and fermentation quality and time. Once you pitch your yeast, and assuming you have some way of controlling fermentation temperature, your job as a brewer is done for three weeks or so... try your best to ignore it until then, which I know can be hard 
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