I hate not being home when a problem comes up

[Shoegaze99]

Brewed a porter last night using maple sap instead of water. Kind of figured it would have an aggressive ferment, especially since less than 10 hours later it already sounded like it was boiling inside. Told the Mrs. when I left for work this morning to watch out for the airlock filling with gunk.

Sure enough, it did. No sweat, I keep a cooler of sanitizer solution on hand. She called, and I walked her through changing it and replacing it. That was about five hours ago.

She just called to say the airlock hasn't bubbled since.

Damnit. I'm sure it's fine, it's a RDWHAHB thing to be sure, airlock doesn't necessarily mean anything, it's just frustrating sitting here when I could be home checking on the batch instead of wondering if I had a one-in-a-million stall less than 16 hours after pitching.

 

[Shoegaze99]

Oh, and I do have a spare packet of ale yeast, so if the fermentation did halt and a gentle swirl doesn't get it started again, presumably I can just pitch again.

(The SG on this beer was 1.052. It was a Colonial Porter.)

 

[heferly]

hehe, leaving the beer with a babysitter, eh?

could have broken the seal on the bung, too!

 

[BendBrewer]

I can't even imagine anything being wrong at this point. I guess I should look at my beer. I never do.

 

[mlyday]

My guess is that the seal on the bucket got unsealed.

 

[Shoegaze99]

Yeah, I'm assuming a slight opening in the seal of either the bung or the bucket. By the time I get home it will only be 18-20 hours or so from pitching, so I should be able to see activity in the bucket.

She's worried she ruined my beer!

That's okay. Last night I was worried I ruined her kitchen. Boiled all that sap indoors, plus had a boil over that caramelized on her stove top. Oops!

 

[SoonerDoc]

I would worry it's completely clogged and is ready to blow.


But that's just me.

 

[sdillow]

She's worried she ruined my beer!

Or how about "darn it honey you ruined the batch and I need to do another".

 

[Shoegaze99]

Well, that explanation ended up being easy. She didn't put the airlock completely together. The internal piece was still sitting in the bottom of the cooler of sanitizer. Instead of bubbling, the CO2 just flowed right out of the top. Slapped it back together and it started churning like mad.