Need advice

Brewed a batch of American amber on Tuesday an it still hasn't started to Ferminting in the air lock. What should I do and is the batch ruined?

What was your OG, pitching temp, type of yeast you used, did you oxygenate, use yeast nutrient, make a starter?

Airlock activity is a poor indicator of fermentation, is there a krausen forming? Granted, if you pitched a healthy dose of yeast into a wort of the correct temp that has yeast nutrient and oxygen the yeast should be showing activity in under a day...these are ideal conditions and will produce the best beer. If you didn't do these things and simply dumped the yeast into the wort they may be overly stressed and taking excessive time to get going. If you get home from work tomorrow and see now krausen forming then you have an issue.

Just because the airlock is not bubbling does not mean it is not fermenting.

Have you opened the fermenter and looked at the actual wort? Do you see any signs of fermentation, such as krausen or bubbles?

The OG was just a tiny bit off. Looked at the wort yesterday and it had foam and looked good but haven't seen any activity in the air lock and getting a little worried. Any advise would be great.
Thanks

schwallballz said:

The OG was just a tiny bit off. Looked at the wort yesterday and it had foam and looked good but haven't seen any activity in the air lock and getting a little worried. Any advise would be great.
Thanks

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If you have Kraeusen then you have fermentation. Let it ride and relax.

If your using a bucket check the lid. Make shire its shut. They can take a little muscle to snap in.

I have 3 bucket fermenters. One always bubbles, one never bubbles, the third does its own thing. I still make beer in all three. Airlock activity or the lack thereof is not an indicator of fermentation. It's just a vent for gas.

A nice head of krausen means it's fermenting as does a hydrometer reading that is lower than what you started with. One other way to tell is to open the lid, stick your nose in and take a big sniff. When you stop choking and can breathe again, put the lid back on. You have active fermentation.

I brewed a Hefe on saturday and the airlock has not bubbled once. I have brewed enough beers to know the lid did not seal but it is still fermenting just fine. I havent even opened the bucket to check. Its hard to screw up beer.

Relax, have a beer. Open the bucket in 3 weeks and take a gravity reading. You will see that it has fermented.

I wonder if opening the bucket to look at it is the worst thing you could do.

If you take the lid off, you've basically replaced the co2 head with air head, in the bucket. Isn't this just asking for an infection? So far, carboys are what I ferment in, and air never gets in.

billpaustin said:

I wonder if opening the bucket to look at it is the worst thing you could do.

If you take the lid off, you've basically replaced the co2 head with air head, in the bucket. Isn't this just asking for an infection? So far, carboys are what I ferment in, and air never gets in.

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This is CO2, not hydrogen. It's heavier than air so it doesn't just go flying out. As long as you open it somewhat carefully and aren't in a windy place the CO2 blanket will remain.

billpaustin said:

I wonder if opening the bucket to look at it is the worst thing you could do.

If you take the lid off, you've basically replaced the co2 head with air head, in the bucket. Isn't this just asking for an infection? So far, carboys are what I ferment in, and air never gets in.

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While its not a good idea to open the fermenter frequently and expose the fermenting wort to outside air, doing so (carefully) every now and then is not necessarily bad. How else are you going to take hydrometer readings to see if fermentation is complete (assuming your fermenter does not have a spigot of some kind)?