8 days and no more action in the airlock

[lcbjr77]

Brewed my Ipa last Friday fermentation took right off and have had bubbling in the airlock til today. Yesterday was a bubble a minute and today nothing. I really don't want to take the lid off and fool about with bucket unless I have to. The temperature on the bucket reads 66*. Am I just worrying and should let it ride out the full 3 weeks before racking into my carboy? . Thanks

 

[b-boy]

leave it alone. It will be fine.

 

[ghosthef]

I will be the first of many to recommend it...but I'd start taking gravity readings to determine when you are done.

 

[lcbjr77]

OK thanks guys

 

[lcbjr77]

This is gonna sound like a dumb question but should I take the lid off take my sample then just spray the underside of the lid with starsan, then just pop it back on?

 

[wilserbrewer]

leave it alone. It will be fine.

I concur, leave it be. Opening the lid now and introducing air only to seal it up for another two weeks makes no sense to me. Why take a gravity reading if you have no intention of moving it for a week or two....RDWHAHB.

Sometimes the best thing to do is nothing. Just MO

 

[ncbrewer]

For most beers, I plan on 3 weeks as the expected time in the fermenter. Three days before, I take a gravity sample. On bottling day, I take another sample. If it's the same (and it always is), I bottle. If it has dropped, I would postpone bottling - take another sample in another 3 days or so. I do this to minimize exposure to the air (oxygen, bacteria, and wild yeast).

 

[Malty_Dog]

Not unusual at all...airlock activity often stops before day 8. Airlock isn't the definitive end-all be-all of fermentation progress assessment...I'll just leave it at that. How about taking a gravity reading on day 14, then another on day 17? If the same (and around expected FG) should be ready to package (bottle/keg). Other posters are right...trust the process and be patient.

 

[soccerdad]

R E L A X
don't worry
have a home brew
check gravity in a week

 

[misterkidd]

Fermentation is really active over the first few days - thick layer of krausen on top of your beer, lots of co2 hence airlock activity. Right now your beer is conditioning - the yeast is chomping away on the bi-products that cause off flavours. Don't expect any significant airlock action from here on in. Like the majority are saying, just leave it alone.

 

[RM-MN]

Why are you racking it to a carboy? When the beer is done fermenting, the yeast has dropped so the beer is mostly clear, and the hydrometer reading stays the same for 3 days, just bottle or keg it. In the meanwhile, make cider in your carboy so it isn't sitting there making you think you need to put the beer in it.

 

[lcbjr77]

Why are you racking it to a carboy? When the beer is done fermenting, the yeast has dropped so the beer is mostly clear, and the hydrometer reading stays the same for 3 days, just bottle or keg it. In the meanwhile, make cider in your carboy so it isn't sitting there making you think you need to put the beer in it.

Okay but I still have to dry hop. Should I just pop the hops in the bucket in about two weeks and let them be for like a week or so then just rack to bottling bucket?

 

[misterkidd]

Okay but I still have to dry hop. Should I just pop the hops in the bucket in about two weeks and let them be for like a week or so then just rack to bottling bucket?

Yes, that's what i'd do

 

[mattmmille]

I agree with the advice to let it be until you're ready to start checking gravity for completion of the fermentation...because airlock activity, while a nice visual indicator, doesn't really mean it's done when the bubbles stopped. In bottling, I think rushing has caused me to have a number of overcarbonated batches.

But I will add one thing...I let a cider go for a couple weeks after the bubbles stopped and when I removed the airlock, the cider had some carbonation. Obviously, my airlock must have gotten stuck somehow. So, I would just check the airlock, to be safe and make sure it's still functioning. In a year and a half and 30+ brews and fermentations, this has only happened once...but I still consider myself a newbie and I imagine it will happen again.