Is half my batch in trouble?

[ThreeDogsNE]

Sort of a sanitization question: I have an 11-12 gallon batch of Edwort'srobuts porter in 2 6 gallon Better Bottles. I had pitched Nottingham in both jugs, which seemed to blow through the fermentation in 3 or 4 days in each of them. Yesterday I sampled for gravity in one. O.G was 1.068, and 6 days later it was 1.020. The fermentation locks had been still for a couple of days, until I sampled. I did stir the trub a bit with the thief. Since then the jug I sampled has had slow activity in the fermentation lock. The other one, which I did not sample, remains still, with no activity in the fermentation lock at all. I rocked that jug a bit, but it remains quiet. I had sanitized the thief with StarSan. I had mixed up the StarSan with RO water a few weeks ago, and it is still clear. I think I sanitized the thief well, but the recurrent activity in this jug worries me. Did I introduce an infection I need to kill off? Sneaking a sniff, they smell the same to me. Should I be agitating the other carboY?

 

[Suthrncomfrt1884]

Let them go. You probably just stirred up enough yeast with the thief to get it going a little harder. The airlock doesn't really mean anything. I bet you check them in a week and they'll be fairly close.

 

[JesseRC]

stop checking them and let them go till 3 weeks. I think you're fine. I shake/swirl my carboys after 7 days of fermenting and also raise my temps up to room temp just to make sure they finish. I have yet to have a stuck fermentation, so no real need to check it this early.

 

[jaxn]

I had a large variation in my two fermenters of a 10gal batch with Nottingham this week, too. One finished in 4 days, and the other is still working away after 5.

FG of 1.003 and the other is still bubbling at 1.010. I guess all Nottingham packets are not created equal. These were even from the same batch.