Blub. Blub.. Blub... Blub.... Bubble concerns.

[Sullivan]

So, a friend of mine and I recently (about a week ago) started a 5 gal. batch of Apfelwein. We use Best Choice apple juice, which was from concentrate, but had not preservatives. We used dextrose sugar from the brew store. And we used a wine yeast recommended by the store owner (can't remember the exact name, supposed to go clear more quickly, and can live up to like, 18%)

At day two, the air log was gurgling away faster than a bubble a minute. It kept that up for several days, but the last few days, it has slowed down to roughly a bubble every two-three seconds. Just checking to make sure this is normal.

 

[reverendj1]

Yes. Primary fermentation slows down after a while and the yeast eat the more complex sugars and clean up after themselves. Perfectly normal. Now get away from your fermenter and let the yeast do their job.

 

[Sullivan]

Good to hear. You know what they say though, you're always paranoid with your first child.

 

[reverendj1]

It's a fairly common question for new-comers. Also, just so you know, airlocks are an unreliable method of determining what's happening. I've had several beers that never bubbled once. Buckets may not always have a tight seal, etc. Also, airlocks can bubble for a number of reasons (temperature/pressure changes, etc). The only way to truly know if your beer (or cider/wine/whathaveyou) is fermenting is by taking a reading with a hydrometer.

 

[Sullivan]

Thing is, that's tricky to do, because we're not full all the way to the top of our carboy, and we're afraid we'll lose it in there haha.

 

[reverendj1]

That's why you don't put the hydrometer in the fermenter. You can use a turkey baster, your siphon or a wine thief through your airlock hole and just fill up a graduated cylinder with your sample, and test from there. In a pinch, you can use the plastic case your hydrometer came in instead of a graduated cylinder. I did that for my first few brews.

 

[Thanks_Yeasties]

Haha, my first cider I just dropped in the hydrometer and left it til I got it to the FG I was looking for. Not the most accurate or best way like reverendj1 describes but I was trying to avoid backsweetening and didnt have a wine thief or anything. It worked out fine and I got it out after I siphoned into bottles and filled the carboy to clean it.

 

[Loftearmen]

Just tie/tape/superglue a piece of fishing line to the tip of the hydrometer. That way you can just spray it with some sanitizer, let it drip dry and plop it in your carboy.

 

[Sullivan]

Just tie/tape/superglue a piece of fishing line to the tip of the hydrometer. That way you can just spray it with some sanitizer, let it drip dry and plop it in your carboy.

Won't that weight throw off your reading though?

 

[Loftearmen]

Won't that weight throw off your reading though?

It used to but then I quit using lead fishing line