First timer fermentation advice

So, first off, hello everyone. This is my first post and I don't really ever use forums so I apologise in advance if this is in the wrong place or has already been covered somewhere. So, I just bought my first recipe the other day and the basic equipment to start. I decided to try an IPA and I followed my recipe with no problem. When I got to the part about adding your yeast the instructions gave me several options. It talked about pitching your yeast but it also said that you could just add your dried yeast to the wort which is what I did. Added the yeast to the wort at around 83°. I also aerated the wort before hand by pouring it back and forth between two sterilized buckets. I noticed it bubbling after the first day and it sped up by day three to a bubble every 2 seconds or so. On day three I bought a hydrometer and opened it back up to take a reading and noticed on day four that It was barely bubbling. I have tried reslealing the bucket repeatedly thinking it may have been a leak but it hasn't changed. The area I was storing it at was about 61° so yesterday I moved it to a new area (66°) thinking maybe it was just to cold but there is still barely any activity. So my question is, should I try pitching new yeast and adding it or could it just be a leak in the lid? Or could fermentation be complete?

What was your hydrometer reading? Which yeast did you use? Although bubbles in the airlock are fun to watch and give you some idea of the beginning of fermentation, they are pretty useless after that.

Ale yeasts eat their way through the malt sugars pretty fast and it isn't uncommon at all for the bubbling to stop on day 3. That doesn't mean the yeast are done yet, just that they have run out of the sugars that let them create CO2 to bubble. Here's a nice description of the life of the yeast as they create beer.

http://www.brewgeeks.com/the-life-cycle-of-yeast.html

In short you're all good. This question comes up for almost every first timer.

Sounds like everything is working just fine. leave it alone (meaning don't fiddle with the lid or nothin' )for another 10 days and then take another hydrometer reading. It should be at the final gravity.

Gary

Hey guys, thanks. Recipe calls for me to add hops again in a couple days so I wanted to get this all sorted out first. I've been a little paranoid so that's a load off

When does it say to add hops? Dry hopping I assume...

Gary

Yes. 3oz of hops after 7-10 days

TheChamber2113 said:

Yes. 3oz of hops after 7-10 days

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Make that addition at 10-14 days instead of 7-10 and I'll bet your beer turns out better.:rockin:

OK, can you explain why?

TheChamber2113 said:

OK, can you explain why?

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Sure. Yeast eat sugars and make CO2 and alcohol.....but they don't do it all in one step and they do some detours besides. One of the intermediate steps that the yeast make is acetaldehyde which gives the young beer a cider or green apple flavor. Given time the yeast break that compound down to alcohol and the flavor improves. Given more time the yeast run out of food, go dormant, and settle out to the bottom of the fermenter. That excess yeast doesn't taste so good so letting it settle improves the beer too. That big bunch of dormant yeast on the bottom of the fermenter also absorbs or breaks down some other compounds too so leaving the beer longer gets you better flavor beer.