2 Fermentation Vessels, 1 Batch

[Bpat2011]

I brewed a 10 gallon batch and poured it into 2 separate BrewBuckets for fermentation. I made a 4L yeast starter and poured half into each BrewBucket. After a couple of days, the airlock on BrewBucket #1 is bubbling like crazy (Hooray! Beer!), but the airlock on BrewBucket #2 hasn't bubbled once (NOOOOOO!).

My hunch is that I (stupidly) all of the yeast was resting at the top (it was an Ale yeast) of my yeast starter, and the vast majority of the yeast went into BrewBucket #1. It's been 6 days now, and the airlock on BrewBucket #2 still hasn't bubbled.

QUESTION: I'm considering opening the lid of BrewBucket #2 and pitching a yeast vial. What does everyone think? Pros? Cons? Suggestions?

 

[jhembro13]

I brewed a 10 gallon batch and poured it into 2 separate BrewBuckets for fermentation. I made a 4L yeast starter and poured half into each BrewBucket. After a couple of days, the airlock on BrewBucket #1 is bubbling like crazy (Hooray! Beer!), but the airlock on BrewBucket #2 hasn't bubbled once (NOOOOOO!).

My hunch is that I (stupidly) all of the yeast was resting at the top (it was an Ale yeast) of my yeast starter, and the vast majority of the yeast went into BrewBucket #1. It's been 6 days now, and the airlock on BrewBucket #2 still hasn't bubbled.

QUESTION: I'm considering opening the lid of BrewBucket #2 and pitching a yeast vial. What does everyone think? Pros? Cons? Suggestions?

I would go for it. If you have great sanitizing practices, the wort should be fine. I have done it before where I forgot to add yeast and my beer turned out to be fine. I would aerate again just in case too for yeast to get oxygen since it has been a few days.

 

[Grod1]

if you have the yeast you might as well pitch.

 

[Transamguy77]

I would check the gravity before dumping in more yeast, air lock activity is not an indication of fermentation. If your gravity hasn't moved then I would pitch more yeast.

 

[PirateSheepBrewery]

I would 2nd checking the gravity first. The 2nd fermenter may not have a good seal on it which would cause there to be no activity in the airlock.

 

[Tyler B]

The first batch that I ever brewed had no airlock activity and it almost killed me to not open and look inside. Following advice from others more knowledgable, I decided to just let it sit for a couple of weeks. In the meantime, after about three days or so, I realized that if I shined a flashlight on top of the bucket lid I could actually see inside through the plastic wall. I was relieved when I saw the foamy Krausen on top of the beer and got confirmation that fermentation was actually happening. The beer actually turned out to be pretty decent and way better than I could have ever imagined.

My problem was that the lid on the fermenting bucket wasn't sealed properly... I'd say leave it alone for at least a couple of weeks. If you pitched adequate yeast, it is probably doing just fine.