Hey guys, I just poured my first batch of wort yesterday and

[ALECOCK]

it started fermenting/bubbling in like an hour and half and was going pretty good until about 24 hours later when it suddenly just stopped bubbling....should I be concerned? is that normal? TIA

 

[bgough]

It took off in an hour and a half??? That's really fast. How hot was your wort when you pitched the yeast? You may have pitched too warm which would cause the yeast to ferment out fast and hard, but is not ideal for a clean flavor profile. For best results with most ale yeasts, keep the fermentation as constant as you can somewhere between 65-70

Also, airlocks are not fermentation guides. It's possible that the beer is still fermenting, and you have a leak in your lid (if you're using buckets)

The only way to know where your fermentation is at is to take a gravity reading.

Did you aerate well before pitching yeast??? Is there still krauzen???

Don't trust your airlock. Take a gravity reading

 

[kypher]

although the airlock can't be trusted 100% of the time, it is your first line of defense in detecting problems. It sounds like you pitched your yeast too hot, because that's exactly what happens. Fast and furious ferment that suddenly stops. Take a gravity reading, then take another one in like two days. If the numbers are the same, (very carefully as to not add any oxygen to the wort) stir some of that yeast up off the bottom, and re-suspend it. 2 days...gravity... still no fermentation, then you might be looking at pitching more yeast. But note that I didn't say pitch new yeast now. Relax. Give it some time to go. So much of brewing is sitting and watching, so sit and watch. Drink a beer, it's probably fine. Acronym to live by: RDWHAHB

 

[ALECOCK]

It took off in an hour and a half??? That's really fast. How hot was your wort when you pitched the yeast?

80 degrees

You may have pitched too warm which would cause the yeast to ferment out fast and hard, but is not ideal for a clean flavor profile. For best results with most ale yeasts, keep the fermentation as constant as you can somewhere between 65-70

it's fermenting at about 68 steady

Also, airlocks are not fermentation guides. It's possible that the beer is still fermenting, and you have a leak in your lid (if you're using buckets)

Yeah I was trying to find one, but i couldn't

The only way to know where your fermentation is at is to take a gravity reading.

Well I forgot to take one before pitching the yeast, so can I still do it? what should I look for?

Did you aerate well before pitching yeast??? Is there still krauzen???

Don't trust your airlock. Take a gravity reading

I did aerate pretty well....what is krauzen?

 

[damdaman]

Well I forgot to take one before pitching the yeast, so can I still do it? what should I look for?

....what is krauzen?

Yes you can still take readings, what you're looking for is whether or not the gravity is dropping. If it stays the same for a couple days, fermentation has stopped and (depending on the reading) you may want to rouse the yeast/pitch new yeast. If the gravity continues to drop, fermentation is in progress even if the airlock isn't bubbling.

krausen is the foamy crud on the top of the fermenting wort.

 

[ALECOCK]

Yes you can still take readings, what you're looking for is whether or not the gravity is dropping. If it stays the same for a couple days, fermentation has stopped and (depending on the reading) you may want to rouse the yeast/pitch new yeast. If the gravity continues to drop, fermentation is in progress even if the airlock isn't bubbling.

krausen is the foamy crud on the top of the fermenting wort.

It did last night, now it's basically flat with a bunch of green **** caked on the sides, I took a gravity reading and it was at ~1.020

 

[kypher]

1.020 is getting pretty close. Let it sit until thursday and take another gravity reading. Make sure it's the same temperature and same conditions so you get an accurate reading. If it's still at 1.020 I would suggest trying to rouse those little yeasties and see if you can get down to closer to 1.015 ish. That's usually the money spot for me.

If you pitched at 80F and let it go in the 60Fs I'm sure it'll be fine.

Here's an important question no one asked: What kind of yeast did you use? Some yeasts are more sensitive to temperature, some start faster, etc.

 

[ALECOCK]

1.020 is getting pretty close. Let it sit until thursday and take another gravity reading. Make sure it's the same temperature and same conditions so you get an accurate reading. If it's still at 1.020 I would suggest trying to rouse those little yeasties and see if you can get down to closer to 1.015 ish. That's usually the money spot for me.

If you pitched at 80F and let it go in the 60Fs I'm sure it'll be fine.

Here's an important question no one asked: What kind of yeast did you use? Some yeasts are more sensitive to temperature, some start faster, etc.

I don't know what kind of yeast it was, it came in a little packet in my starter kit and I didn't get any information off it.....dumb on my part

 

[bgough]

If you pitched at 80F and let it go in the 60Fs I'm sure it'll be fine.

It will still make beer, but I don't think pitching that high above your fermentation temp is a good idea. I try to get my pitch temp down to my fermentation temp.

 

[bonzombiekitty]

It did last night, now it's basically flat with a bunch of green **** caked on the sides, I took a gravity reading and it was at ~1.020

The green **** is the krausen that clung to the side of the bucket rather than falling back into the beer. That's normal and expected so don't concern yourself with it. It sounds like you're done with the vigorous portion of fermentation, and your gravity may or may not still fall some (it seems that for whatever reason 1.020 is a fairly common final gravity for extract brews, I've hit that wall myself a couple times and even adding more yeast did nothing to help).

Don't rely on your airlock as an indication of fermentation or lack thereof. The airlock is simply to let out pressure from the bucket. There's reasons that an airlock would bubble when no fermentation takes place (i.e. temp changes), and there's reasons the airlock will not bubble when fermentation is taking place (i.e. a loose seal on the lid). It could be used as a signal of a potential problem, but you should rely on your hydrometer readings.

Even if your fermentation is done, you should let it sit in the bucket for at least a week.

 

[wyzazz]

Just my $.02 but I leave my beer in the primary for at least 3 weeks before I take a gravity reading (aside from my first OG reading). Leave it alone, relax, and take a hydrometer reading after that 3 week mark. Take one 24hrs later, then 24hrs after that. If they are all the same then it's done fermenting.

I don't think you killed your yeast, but you did pitch a little too warm and that will account for the quick overly active fermentation. Just sit tight, and see how it turns out.

 

[HomerJR]

I've had airlock activity inside of an hour from time to time, then nothing for another 12 hours or so. I think it's because when I aerate, some gas gets into solution in the beer, then bubbles out fairly quickly, which generates the early bubbles in the airlock. How did you aerate? I usually whip the he!! out of it with a paint mixer on a cordless drill.

 

[ALECOCK]

I read the gravity at 1.020 again so despite everything I have apparently made "beer", but I want to see if I can get the gravity lower so I pitched some more yeast today and my valve is bubbling again(very very slowly though), figure at this point I'll give it like 2 weeks atleast and then switch to the bottles. When I opened the lid it definetely smelled like beer, don't know if that means anything tho