New Brewer - No Fermentation After 5 Days. What to do?

[PortageBrewer]

Hello, everyone. I began my first batch of beer on Sunday of this week. As of today, Thursday, I have yet to see any sign of fermentation. No activity in my airlock. I used the "Brewer's Best" English Brown Ale kit. I thought the boiling process went very well. Followed the instructions to a T. My only minor complication was my OG was a little off - I added a little too much water, although I did not exceed 5 gallons.

Any suggestions? I'm freaking out a little because I hate the thought that my first batch might be a throw-away.

Thanks for the feedback!

 

[android]

check your gravity to make sure nothing has happened and report back.

 

[PortageBrewer]

Gravity is now 1.015. Before fermentation it was 1.040. I am keeping it at 65 degrees and the pitch temp was 75.

 

[scratchypants]

Seems pretty good to me. Check it again tomorrow.

 

[PortageBrewer]

Okay - thanks. After reading a few other forums, perhaps I am relying too much on the activity in the airlock?

I appreciate the input.

 

[bknifefight]

Give it another week and a half in the carboy, make sure the gravity hasn't fallen and bottle it up!

The fermentation is probably done but the yeast should hang out and clean up the beer a bit before you bottle.

 

[Fingers]

Okay - thanks. After reading a few other forums, perhaps I am relying too much on the activity in the airlock?

I appreciate the input.

Never rely on airlock activity as a sign of fermentation. All it takes is a small leak and the airlock will never move. As others have been telling you, your hydrometer is the most reliable method of checking. Well, a nice healthy krausen on top is a pretty good sign of fermentation too, but the yeast will keep going even after the krausen has fallen. So fermentation is not finished until your hydrometer says it is.

 

[TheMan]

Okay - thanks. After reading a few other forums, perhaps I am relying too much on the activity in the airlock?

New brewers tend to do this. I did too when I first started. I think it's great that it happened on your first batch. Now you won't continue to use the airlock as a gauge. And you'll do things properly. Congrats on your first brew lesson! lol

 

[slowbie]

The same thing happened to me with my first batch. I expected fermentation to take longer, but mine was done in three days.

As a side note, I've made 2 Brewer's Best kits and haven't gotten either of them to five gallons before I was at their target OG. I stopped both at under five gallons. I just threw a sanitized hydrometer in there when it was near 4 gallons and added about a quart of water at a time until I was in range.

 

[Corkster]

Heck, I'm on my umpteenth batch.... and running into the same problem.... I couldn't find my stinkin hydrometer when I started my batch so I just kinda had to wing it. My O.G. was supposed to be 1.041 on an AHS Session Series Extra Special Bitter. Airlock quit after two days, just found my hydrometer today and checked the gravity (5 days into fermentation and 3 days since any airlock activity) and had a gravity of 1.02

I'll check it again in a few days and see what we get.... but long story short, this situation happens to just about everybody and it's always best to not worry too much.

 

[PortageBrewer]

Great input, thanks! I have another Brewer's Best kit waiting in the wings so I will remember to stop adding water well before 5 gallons to check the gravity.

 

[craven_morhead]

And if you're using a kit, don't worry too much about a low OG. You can't really screw it up if you got all of the extract into the boil and you're using the right amount of water. It can be tough to properly mix your top-off water and your boiled wort, since the dense wort tends to settle to the bottom and gives you an artificially low reading.

 

[IceFisherChris]

Okay - thanks. After reading a few other forums, perhaps I am relying too much on the activity in the airlock?

I appreciate the input.

It's nice to see it bubble but if there is a leak, then it probably won't bubble at all.

 

[el_bandito]

Check out the sticky : Fermentation can take 24 to 72 hrs to show visible signs.

Also it doesn't matter if the airlock is bubbling or not, it sounds like your gravity is changing so the fermentation is going on.

 

[Hang Glider]

To paraphrase our venerable Revvy:

the airlock is a vent, not a gauge.

congrats on the successful brew - welcome to HBT

 

[ericw]

Gravity is now 1.015. Before fermentation it was 1.040. I am keeping it at 65 degrees and the pitch temp was 75.

I have a kit of that same stuff at home in bottles, and my final gravity was 1.014 - 1.015, so you should be good.