What is the norm for airlock activity?

[billman]

I am on my 3rd brew. This is a Kolsch. I am using white labs WLP029 Kolsch yeast. I did not do a starter. I oxygenated by stirring for 1min. I pitched on Sunday and got fermentation on Tues.

It was bubbling away like every 4sec. After that it has slowly started to decrease. Wed. was like every 9-10sec. Today Thurs. is like 1bubble every 30sec.

Should I be concerned? I see videos on youtube of airlock activity and those show the airlock bubbling away. My last batch was like every 10sec. Is there a norm for bubble activity in the airlock?

 

[Corner_House]

the activity of the yeast varies from batch to batch. for example, my last batch dunkelweizen, was bubbling every 10 secs. or so. my current batch which is a braggot, is so active that i had to put a blowoff tube on it. as long as it it active within 48 hrs. of pitching, don't worry about it

 

[beerloaf]

Yes it's normal. It should still be fermenting, just at a slower rate. Airlocks are not really a good fermentation indicator. I have one here that's not even bubbling anymore and it's only 4 days into it. I would take a sample in a few days (maybe on your day 7) and check gravity compared to when you pitched the yeast. That will tell you whats going on.

beerloaf

 

[gkal1964]

There is no "normal". In my experience my beers have been all over the spectrum. From having krausen blowing out the top of my air lock to a slow bubble for a couple of days. All of these beers turned out great and attenuated well. Your fermentation sounded normal to me, take a reading and see where your at after you see activity stop. You will be fine. RDWHAHB!

 

[jonmohno]

Dont pay attention to it and dont pay attention to those youtube vids thats how i started out and those few vids talk like your beer is done when it stops bubbeling.The truth is its not and needs to conditon on its yeast cake for a few more weeks to make good beer. Use your hydrometer to check final gravity if it reaches it good, just dont bottle it before 2 weeks,most of us give 3+ weeks some 2 ive done 2 and had green beer and had to wait 8 weeks or more for them to taste ok since i bottled to early

 

[Boleslaus]

Just waiting for Revvy haha...

 

[Rev2010]

It's called fermentation It will typically be more active in the beginning because of all the sugars for the yeast to consume. Over time the yeast consume the majority of the sugars and fermentation slows - thereby giving you less airlock activity.

It's already been said but I'll say it as well... don't pay much attention to the airlock! My first two brews the airlocks didn't bubble at all, and I was a little worried why but I saw tons of posts on here that said don't worry about it to other posters so I chilled out. Now I know why it didn't bubble. Either my brand new fermenters weren't broken in yet or the airlocks and grommets just weren't wet when I did my first brews. They're always wet now because of the sanitizer so they always bubble. But if they didn't I wouldn't worry.

Anyway, point is don't pay much attention to the airlock. What yours is doing is 100% normal so you should feel quite comfortable

*EDIT - and I'm not the Revvy the other poster above me is referring to! I'm "Rev". Revvy is a very experienced long term member on here.

Rev.

 

[billman]

Thanks!! I was getting worried. I will take a reading when I see a stop in activity to see what is up.

Yeah, I am thinking either way I will do all my beers 3 weeks in primary and 1 week in the keg before tapping. Now, I will just need to setup a pipeline of waiting beers so I have no lag time in between.

 

[Rev2010]

I will take a reading when I see a stop in activity to see what is up.

Yeah, I am thinking either way I will do all my beers 3 weeks in primary.

If you're doing three weeks in the primary for a standard beer (meaning not a high gravity one) that is a good amount of time and you really don't even need to check the gravity along the way. Just take a hydrometer sample about 2-3 days before three weeks is up and again at 3 weeks. If the gravity is the same you're good to keg.


Rev.

 

[billman]

I have heard of people getting a stuck fermentation. I know I don't have that but how would you know? Would you have to wait the 3 weeks before you could find out with a hyrdometer reading? It seems like a lot of time wasted if it stopped pretty much from the beginning.

 

[jonmohno]

If you're doing three weeks in the primary for a standard beer (meaning not a high gravity one) that is a good amount of time and you really don't even need to check the gravity along the way. Just take a hydrometer sample about 2-3 days before three weeks is up and again at 3 weeks. If the gravity is the same you're good to keg.


Rev.

I dont even do 3 days with 3 weeks, if its not done by then its on crack. Or high gravity or stout maybe,ha Ill take the trust over infection risk.PLus a brewing calc is a nice alli for a FG.

 

[Rev2010]

I dont even do 3 days with 3 weeks, if its not done by then its on crack. Or high gravity or stout maybe,ha Ill take the trust over infection risk.PLus a brewing calc is a nice alli for a FG.

Heh, me neither. I was just giving the proper response as most always recommend the double check. I just check on bottling day. If it were ever off then I'd just leave it to ferment longer. Never had a problem yet though.

Rev.

 

[Homercidal]

IB4TR!!

(In Before The Revvy!)


Make food for the yeast. Put in some living yeast. Serve it up at the temperature they like. They will eat it.

Ok, so it's not the "optimum" way to do things, but honestly, if you give them the right environment, they will do their thing and there isn't much you can do after that. Well, you could sing to them. That can really influence how well they make beer. But you have to record it and put it on YouTube and post it here...

 

[wolverinebrewer]

I dont even do 3 days with 3 weeks, if its not done by then its on crack. Or high gravity or stout maybe,ha Ill take the trust over infection risk.PLus a brewing calc is a nice alli for a FG.

This is the same for me. If you follow proper procedures and proper sanitation on brew day, there is really no reason to pester the fermentation. I do the Ron Popeil thing 'set it and forget it'. I only periodically check on the level of liquid in the airlock and to make sure it doesn't get plugged up. It doesn't matter to me if the airlock bubbles within 5, 10, or 15 hours since it will be 21-28 days before it will be bottled....then I'll check FG for my records.

 

[billman]

Ok ..I finally got around to taking a gravity reading. So, 7 days later I'm at 1012. I guess I did get fermentation! Though, I didn't hit my numbers for the recipe.

I am going to keep it in primary for the total 3 weeks, then keg it. I'll lager it for another week before tapping.

The sample I took didn't smell funky like my other batch. I tasted it and amazingly it was pretty smooth but still green.

Do you think it still might ferment out little bit more in the next 2 weeks?

 

[FastAndy]

Just waiting for Revvy haha...

My thoughts exactly

 

[Indyking]

The norm?

4 bubbling events per second, or 1 per second, or 1 every 4 seconds, or 1 every 10 seconds, or no activity at all!

In other words, it is so variable, it depends on the volume of wort, number of viable yeast cells, amount of fementable sugars, temperature, presence or absence of leaks in the fermenter... you name it.

 

[billman]

Lesson learned. I was just posting a follow up.

It's hard to just trust something is going on when you have no indicators. The only thing is a wait and see policy.

Just wondering is that how professional breweries work?

 

[Vuarra]

I think the pros use gravity or sugar readings, depending on the experience of the brewmaster.

As well, in a commercial brewery, nothing is ever left to chance, these guys have the art of yeast down to a science. I'd rather unintentionally make something new than have the pressure of making the same thing time after time after time.

 

[Homercidal]

Lesson learned. I was just posting a follow up.

It's hard to just trust something is going on when you have no indicators. The only thing is a wait and see policy.

Just wondering is that how professional breweries work?

No, that's not how the pro's do it. They have different equipment. They don't use airlocks and buckets. They brew much more and take many more samples and readings.

But they very much DO get their ducks in a row and trust the fermentation is going to work. They tests they take are for quality control, not so much for worry about whether it's going to work.