goodgreener
Well-Known Member
My airlock stopped bubbling today and I took a gravity reading. It has a bit to go. I sloshed it a bit when moving it to do the test. Now the airlock is bubbling a bunch again.
more bubbles?
- Thread starter goodgreener
- Start date
Help Support Homebrew Talk:
Remember You should never use a cheap chinese plastic airlock as a "fermentation Gauge," it's not...It's an airlock, a VALVE to release excess CO2, to keep from blowing the lid off the fermentor...If it's not bubbling that just means that there's not enough CO2 to climb out of the airlock, or the CO2 is just forming a nice cushion on top of the beer like it's supposed to, or the airlock is askew, or it is leaking out the cheap rubber grommet, or you have a leak in the bucket seal...all those are fine...if CO2 is getting out then nothing's getting in....
Over half of my beers have had no airlock activity...
You did good by taking a grav reading....but you needen't worry about bubbles...if you had them in the begininng that's fine, but if they stop that means ABSOLUTELY nothing, except that the co2 is making a nice cushion on your beer and not threatening to blow the lid and your beer to the ceiling...It doens't mean that fermentation is stopped or stuck..in reality stuck fermentations are rare despite how many n00b threads there are on the subject..the majority of the ones who start the threads are going by airlock activity alone...not even a hydro reading, which would prove that it is falling, and still has a ways to go.
Just trust that thhe yeasts have been doing this for over 2,000 years, they are the experts at this, not you, and they don't need you messing with them when they are trying to do their jobs.
SO,
Come back in a week, or two, or 4 and everything will be well...
Over half of my beers have had no airlock activity...
You did good by taking a grav reading....but you needen't worry about bubbles...if you had them in the begininng that's fine, but if they stop that means ABSOLUTELY nothing, except that the co2 is making a nice cushion on your beer and not threatening to blow the lid and your beer to the ceiling...It doens't mean that fermentation is stopped or stuck..in reality stuck fermentations are rare despite how many n00b threads there are on the subject..the majority of the ones who start the threads are going by airlock activity alone...not even a hydro reading, which would prove that it is falling, and still has a ways to go.
Just trust that thhe yeasts have been doing this for over 2,000 years, they are the experts at this, not you, and they don't need you messing with them when they are trying to do their jobs.
SO,
Come back in a week, or two, or 4 and everything will be well...
OP
OP
goodgreener
Well-Known Member
Thanks, man!
Cactus
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Oct 10, 2008
- Messages
- 126
- Reaction score
- 0
I also thought something must be wrong. No more bubbles for a week so I took my readings and got the 20. Checked it the next day same thing. Like Revy said I thought it was stuck and I was screwed. I gave the bucket a little shake and wrapped another blanket around it. No real bubble action but the lid did bubble up. Took a reading last night and it dropped to an 18. Just need to stay patient and dont forget to taste the test beer you pull out. Tried the first time and " oh no". Tried it last night tasting more and more like beer. Good luck.
OP
OP
goodgreener
Well-Known Member
It was pretty good when I bottled it last night. I dry hopped with Simcoe and Cascade for a week, so it stayed in about 17-20 days or so total. It was sweet and the gravity went up a couple points from the priming sugar but I think it will be worked out by about 2 weeks in the bottle. Pretty good adventure, this brewing.
Similar threads
