What is going on here??

prrriiide · Jan 11, 2012

8 gallons. Same boil kettle, 2 different buckets. 2 packets of s-05, one in each bucket. One bucket went to town, the other, I got nuttin'. No evidence of fermentation at all. I am going to confirm with the hydrometer tomorrow, but what would cause it to do that?

Dark_Ale · Jan 11, 2012

Im wondering if you were just looking at the airlock, if so maybe one lid is not sealed good allowing co2 to escape someplace besides the airlock

prrriiide · Jan 11, 2012

Yeah, I was just going off of the airlock, but I know the lid is well-sealed. If I push slightly on the lid, I get a ton of bubbles. I never got so much as a gnat's-fart worth of gas through the airlock AFAIK. The other one was belching like a frat boy at a beer-chugging contest.

Piratwolf · Jan 11, 2012

Hydrometer FTW!!!

Also, I wish I was more musically gifted. Whenever I see Ferm(entation) posts, that old Monty Python "Meaning of Life" song goes thru my head with a slight word change: "Every Ferm is diff'rent, every ferm is great! If a Ferm gets wasted, God gets quite irate...."

Then again, I'm a little sleep deprived.

prrriiide · Jan 11, 2012

Well, the hydrometer results are indisputable. The fermenter in question has indeed fermented out. In fact, the grav is currently 2 points lower than the ferm that showed the crazy action. So I'm going to let them get happy on the yeast for two more weeks, then rack to secondary and add my adjuncts.

Lesson learned, indeed.

pelipen · Jan 11, 2012

prrriiide said:
Well, the hydrometer results are indisputable. The fermenter in question has indeed fermented out. In fact, the grav is currently 2 points lower than the ferm that showed the crazy action. So I'm going to let them get happy on the yeast for two more weeks, then rack to secondary and add my adjuncts.

Lesson learned, indeed.

.... thus making the day of everyone here who says "(lack of) airlock activity is not a sign of fermentation". At any rate, I personally found your post a good data point.