Fermentation not visibly active

[rjanson]

I'm used to having a pretty active fermentation with lots of krausen, but on my recent batch there was little to no visible activity. However, my gravity readings are just about spot on, so does that mean things worked out OK?

It's an Irish Red Ale all grain kit, 5.25 gallons of wort, aerated for 5 minutes and shaken vigorously before and after adding yeast.

1 package of White Labs WLP004 Irish Ale Beer Yeast at room temp.

Fermented for 6 days (so far) in a 7 gallon Fermonster.

OG - 1.049 (recipe calls for 1.054)
SG - 1.014 (recipe calls for 1.015)

Am I good to go? Should I bottle? Should I give it more time?

 

[CamG]

By visible indication are you refering to the Airlock ?
I have noticed that some beers just ferment faster than others. So by the time you are looking for signs of heavy fermentation its already happened.

I would say if your FG is where it should be then fermentation has happened and you are good. However if you are bottleing I would give it a day or two and make sure the 1.014 stays the same. Then bottle as normal.

 

[rjanson]

By visible indication are you refering to the Airlock ?

Yeah, either the airlock or some sort of visible bubbly/foaminess in the wort itself. I was prepared to have to dump the whole thing if a week had gone by with no activity, but fortunately I "ran the numbers" and things look OK.

I will take your advice and take a reading tomorrow and over the next couple of days to be sure before bottling.

 

[mxstar21]

Did you ferment in a bucket or carboy? If a bucket, sometimes the lid doesn't make a perfect seal and CO2 will escape and not cause the airlock to bubble. If in a carboy, you can usually see something, compacted yeast or krausen. Your numbers look good, so it seems to have fermented.