Doctor please Diagnose this Photo!!!

[TheCrowBrew]

Hello! I have been in primary fermentation for 4 days. No airlock activity and I am a little worried. Someone said I need to open it to see what is going on in there. Please take a look at the photo...

It is winter and it fermented at 14C/58F. I am trying to get the temp up.

 

[Nico93]

It looks like a wort completely fermented(there are signs of the foam on the edges) , take a gravity reading ;-)

 

[hercher]

Relax. It looks fine. The residue on the side of the bucket indicates you had some krausen that has since fallen back into the beer. If you are really nervous, pull a sample and take a gravity reading.

Don't make the mistake of equating airlock bubbles with fermentation. CO2 may have been escaping from around the lid, or around the sides of the airlock. The only way to determine if your beer is fermenting is by taking gravity readings and observing changes in the specific gravity.

Tell that someone to leave your beer alone.

 

[TheCrowBrew]

Can a beer ferment completely in 4 days? I think it is just under 5 gallons and I used (Rehydrated) SafAle s-04...

 

[Calichusetts]

Completely in four days? Absolutely possible. Usually there are a few points left that the yeast churns through and cleans up the beer. But the visible signs of fermentation can be over fairly quickly. Just did a 1.084 beer that had the krausen drop after 2 days. Your fine and you made beer...hooray for beer!

EDIT:

Try not to open up the fermenter if possible. You risk an infection though don't freak out, your probably fine. Also, fermenting at 58 really means the beer was fermenting at 63-67. There is internal heat during the fermentation process. My basement is a constant 58 in the winter and I love it for cleaner yeast profiles

 

[geek_chaser]

My husband just had his first beer that fermented in 4 days. We thought the yeast died so he re pitched it, and it didn't last long. A couple hours, maybe.

 

[kh54s10]

Yes it has fermented, see the left over krausen on the sides. Leave it alone for another week and a half or 3 then take gravity readings to confirm FG then package.

 

[gcdowd]

Especially with s-04. In my experience, that yeast chews through wort quickly

 

[brewmcq]

 

[dgr]

Post a picture of the bottom edge of your bucket lid.

 

[TheBrahmanBrewer]

Mine ferments out in 2-3 days with Nottingham. Looks like you had Krausen, so no issues and fermentation is likely complete or close to it. I'd still leave it the way it is until 3 more days before transferring to secondary OR bottling. As others have said, take a hydrometer reading.

And yes, never rely on Airlock as a sign of fermentation. There could be leaks / improper assembly, etc that could make airlock not bubble.

 

[Veronis]

Yea, it looks fine to me. I recommend you take a hydrometer reading, leave it in the bucket for 2-3 weeks (up to a month, but no longer), re-check gravity, then rack or bottle. This will give the yeast some time to clean up and yield a better beer.

The lack of airlock activity is a common complaint, with buckets especially. Looking at your results and seeing initial fermentation has completed, I'd guess the bucket is probably not sealed - first off this will not ruin your beer if this is the case. Gas will escape via the path of least resistance. If there's an imperfection in the lid's lip (underside), if the bung isn't perfect, or if the hole in the lid the bung is snapped into isn't perfect, the CO2 will escape that way instead.