Not much activity with pumpkin ale

[46binder]

Brewed the NB smashing pumpkin,and used pumpkin in it per directions. About 3" of stuff at the bottom,will probably wind up with only 4 gallons now. Used a hose for the first few days then bubbler airlock. Lots of bubbling first 2 days, now nothing 5 days later. Not much krausen on top at all either is this normal for pumpkin?

 

[TopherM]

What was your fermentation temperature? Did you take any gravity readings?

My guess is that you fermented at a higher temp and you hit FG after two days.

Hydrometer reading is the only way to know for sure!

 

[RainyDay]

Agreed. If you dont already have a hydrometer, i'd get one stat. Outside of that, finishing initial (read: very active) fermentation in 2 days isnt uncommon. My brews basically ferment like crazy after about 12 hours of pitching the yeast, and go crazy for a couple days (3 or 4 tops), then stop. The pumpkin will definitely soak up some of your beer before bottling/keggin though, so i'd plan on that. RDWHAHB

 

[Revvy]

The only "activity" that means anything is numbers on a hydrometer. It doesn't matter or really correlate to fermentation amount what an airlock does or doesn't do.

 

[46binder]

The OG was 1.050. Temp in my basement and on the carboy temp sticker was 66-68 deg. Not as concerned about the ferment time but the lack of froth on top. It was maybe 1/2 inch thick then died down.

 

[RainyDay]

What is the gravity now? Ive had beer barely krausen like that, some that almost blee the airlock off. Take a reading, than take another one in another 3 days. If its the same then its done fermenting and is now conditioning.

 

[kh54s10]

I ferment on the cool end of the yeast range. I have had some that finished in a couple of days and a couple that bubbled for 14 days or more. I primary for about 3 weeks then bottle.

I have also done similar recipes with the same yeast and had very different fermentations. Some need a blow off tube and others have very little krausen.

IMO the yeast are going to do what they want regardless of what you want them to do. The object is to give the yeast the best conditions that you can.

To know if the beer is finished you HAVE to take gravity readings. Although, if I am doing an average beer, get a usual type of fermentation, I sometimes just take a final reading while bottling. I've been lucky so far, no stalled fermentations of bottle bombs.

 

[Revvy]

The OG was 1.050. Temp in my basement and on the carboy temp sticker was 66-68 deg. Not as concerned about the ferment time but the lack of froth on top. It was maybe 1/2 inch thick then died down.

That doesn't matter EITHER...Krausen can be different sizes, and shapes for different reasons, EVEN on the same beer where you've split the batch into 2 recipes.

Again, THE ONLY THING that matter is gravity readings. You want to know what your beer's doing....Take a gravity reading.

 

[46binder]

While waiting for our Centennial Blonde to mash, we checked the pumpkin FG. We got 1.01. So ABV is 5.25. Had a warm alcohol taste, but didn't get a lot of pumpkin or spice. Moved to a secondary and added some pumpkin allspice.

 

[46binder]

Bottled the pumpkin today, tasted the gravity check and its good already! Only thing is after losing all the gunk on the bottom, only got 38 bottles.