Lowes Bucket Friar Tuck Lid

jrsdws · Jan 26, 2014

I did my first partial mash recipe yesterday...a 2.5 gallon creme ale recipe that went pretty well. My SG came out at 1.042 when I was shooting for 1.047, but otherwise all went okay.

After chilling, I transferred to a 5 gallon food grade bucket from Lowes, aerated, and pitched Safale US-05 at 70F. I put a lid with a gasket from Friar Tuck on that was already drilled and had a grommet and added the airlock. The lid is supposed to fit all 5 gallon buckets and snapped on tight. I went around it with a dead blow hammer to make sure.

Now after 24hrs I have to bubbling in airlock. I'm wondering if it's because of the large amount of headspace in the bucket or if it's just bypassing at the lid. I've had good luck with the US-05 and am confident my sanitation was good. I am fermenting at lower temp (57F-59F) but I'm in range for the yeast and have a one gallon batch next to it that's shown active fermentation for 3 days using same yeast.

Are there any tricks to seeing fermentation evidence with a bucket short of opening it up? I know it might need time still but have been seeing action much sooner with 05 and I'm suspect of the bucket/lid combo.

Clonefan94 · Jan 26, 2014

In a dark room, you can put a flashlight on the top of the bucket and look at the sides. This will sometimes allow you to see a Krausen forming, especially if you know exactly where the top of the wort originally was.

jrgtr42 · Jan 26, 2014

For a temp that low, I'm not really surprised it's taking a bit longer than usual to get going.
If you don't see evidence of any activity by tomorrow evening, I might worry.
I might even consider picking up a spare pack of yeast tomorrow in case nothing happens (and knowing Mr. Murphy and his laws, if you do pick up spare yeast, things will be cooking by then, and if you don't, there will be nothing.)