No bubbling on my Airlocks!

[khiddy]

I have three different brews going right now: a maibock, an amber, and Ed's Apfelwine. All three of them have different yeasts (the maibock: Nottingham; the amber: Safale-05; the Apfelwine: Montrachet), yet not a single one is bubbling in the airlock. I'm pretty darn sure the fermenters are sealed. The amber is in an 8gal Mini-Brew conical fermenter, the Maibock is in an Ale Pail, and the Apfelwine is in a 5gal carboy with an orange carboy cap.

I've taken SG readings off of the maibock and amber, and they've dropped from the OG (the maibock has gone from 1.064 to 1.020, and the amber from 1.051 to 1.030 at last check). But still, no bubble.

What the hell am I doing wrong? Why isn't anything bubbling?

 

[knob]

You fail to mention how long they've been fermenting.

 

[celestialparsnip]

If the gravity is dropping, then the yeast are working.

If there's one thing I've learned since joining, it's never trust the airlock.

 

[Arkador]

Probably not airtite, and the CO2 is escaping from somewhere other than the airlock.

 

[Revvy]

And this is precisely why we say that an airlock is not an accurate measure of fermentation activity, and shouldn't be used as one.

read this https://www.homebrewtalk.com/1217925-post3.html

 

[llazy_llama]

Airlocks are like dogs, or dinosaurs, or even dinosaur dogs. They can smell your fear. If they don't bubble for a little while, and you panic, they get great pleasure in hiding their bubbles. As an added bonus, after posting a few "Halp me! Airlock no bubblee!" threads, they will, just like a dinosaur dog, eat your face. True story. It happened to a friend of mine.

Either that or your airlocks aren't filled up to the line. Or, much more likely, the CO2 is escaping from somewhere other than the airlock. Either way, if the SG is dropping, you have fermentation. RDWHAHB.

 

[slomo]

I like bubbles too!!! RDWHAHB

 

[Corkster]

Airlocks are like dogs, or dinosaurs, or even dinosaur dogs. They can smell your fear. If they don't bubble for a little while, and you panic, they get great pleasure in hiding their bubbles. As an added bonus, after posting a few "Halp me! Airlock no bubblee!" threads, they will, just like a dinosaur dog, eat your face. True story. It happened to a friend of mine.

I lost a healthy sized chunk of my left testicle to a ravenous airlock..... The physical pain was nothing compared to the emotional suffering I went through...

Still ended up with a nice beer though... so that helped

 

[khiddy]

I appreciate the response, fellas. I knew the answer in my head, but the beer I drank last night caused my fingers to type the original post.

I hope my testicles don't get the same treatment as Corkster's! My airlocks look pretty tame...

 

[HappeninHouse39]

Just started my first batch of brew 4 days ago. I started on friday. Today is monday. On saterday my air lock bubbled and now its not. AFter reading i can see that this may not be a big dea. But the water in teh air lock turned into a beer colour and when i opened teh lid there is a thick solution under the lid with a dark bage colour. If anyone knows anything about that, itd be a great help to let you know. Hopefully the beer is alright.
Thanks A lot.

 

[Yooper]

Just started my first batch of brew 4 days ago. I started on friday. Today is monday. On saterday my air lock bubbled and now its not. AFter reading i can see that this may not be a big dea. But the water in teh air lock turned into a beer colour and when i opened teh lid there is a thick solution under the lid with a dark bage colour. If anyone knows anything about that, itd be a great help to let you know. Hopefully the beer is alright.
Thanks A lot.

That's fine- that's what beer does as it ferments. That thick topping is called "krausen". It'll fall when the beer is finishing up it's fermentation phase, leaving a ring around the fermenter when it does.

 

[Whut]

Sounds like you've got a healthy fermentation going there. If it's in the air lock you might want to attach a blow off before you're stuck cleaning the ceiling!

 

[HappeninHouse39]

hey i got a quick question. I dont know what the brown resudue is on the bottom of my formenter lid. My air lock's water also turned yello after bubbling for teh second day and then stopping all together. Any suggestions or ideas as to why?

 

[Yooper]

hey i got a quick question. I dont know what the brown resudue is on the bottom of my formenter lid. My air lock's water also turned yello after bubbling for teh second day and then stopping all together. Any suggestions or ideas as to why?

This is the third time you've asked the same question. The answer is still the same.

Is there a way we can help with this?

 

[Revvy]

This is the third time you've asked the same question. The answer is still the same.

Is there a way we can help with this?

Dejaview...Didn't I just answer this somewhere.....