RIDDLE ME THIS???

[Smitty]

Ok experienced brewers here goes! Started my first ever batch (Brewhouse Mexican Cerveza) last Thursday night. By Friday night the airlock was bubbling away. By Sunday morning nothing and I noticed that the spigot on the bucket I purchased was leaking. Got the leak stopped, lost about 500ml. Still nothing in the airlock. So today I pop the airlock off and peep inside to find a nice layer of foam. I replace the airlock and take a sample from the spigot. Hydrometer reads 1.014 sample temp was 18.1°C . Not quite done so I leave it be. 20 minutes later I walk by and the damn airlock is bubbling away again! WTF is going on? Lol. Normal? Cause for concern? Advice please.

 

[BobBailey]

Buckets are notorious for not sealing well. You probably had a small leak that allowed some of the CO2 to escape and some to go through the air lock when fermentation was very active. Once it slowed down a bit there wasn't enough CO2 to escape both through the leak and the air lock. When you removed and replaced the air lock you likely disturbed the bucket lid enough to seal it.

Leaky bucket lids aren't cause for concern and air lock activity isn't the best indication of fermentation.

 

[rburrelli]

Your sample caused some activity. Sample taken from the spigot will cause a pretty good inrush of oxygen. If the airlock was on when you took the sample then there was likely a bubbling up of the wort. Give it a little time and check again.

 

[ProblemChild]

beer has attitude sometimes and fermenters are fickle occasionally. that is why we need to wait things out from time to time.

Your experience sounds normal. Not a regular thing, but normal.

 

[Lefou]

Inconsistent bucket sealing was why I bought glass carboys.
Now that I've been brewing a while and moved past the learner stage I've decided to go with stainless steel instead. Stainless is more expensive than glass and plastic, but safer.
Use what works for you and happy brewing.