Fermentation issue

This is my first time brewing. I ordered the Caribou slobber. I was following the instructions and when it came to adding the yeast, I did not have the liquid yeast, but only a small package of dry yeast. Fermentation look like it started. I put the carboy in my basement. That day there was definitely bubbles escaping out of the airlock. In the morning it looked like there were no more bubbles escaping. And this is now day 4 and it doesn’t look like anything is happening to the beer. So I moved it up from the basement and put it in a closet 65°.
Questions was the basement too cold? it’s usually around 50°.
Next question could my Yeast be bad?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Which yeast did you use? Fermentation bucket or carboy? Buckets don’t often seal to well. When fermentation slows, the CO2 could be escaping around the rim. If fermentation was not stalled, because of the cool temperature, having the fermentor in the warmer area will not be a problem.

Quick answers:

  1. Yes. 50 is too cold. Most ale yeasts are happy at high 50’s to about 70–best in the lower part of this range. Most folks here try to keep their ales in the low 60’s.

  2. Unless your yeast pack was damaged, the yeast was probably good.

What temp was the wort at when you pitched the yeast?

Do you have a hydrometer to check the specific gravity of the wort?

If you had activity at that temp for a short period of time, your fermentation may have stalled. Keep the fermentor in the 65* closet, and maybe gently rouse the yeast (swirl the fermentor gently to get the yeast back into suspension–try not to slosh too much)

If I’m understanding correctly though, you had bubbling for about 3 days, so the only way to know what’s going on is to take a gravity reading. Final gravity for this beer should be around 1.010-1.012. If it’s much higher than that, it’s not finished fermenting. If it’s there or lower, it’s done fermenting but you should still leave it in primary for at least another week to ten days to allow the yeast to clean up some of the by products they produce that are not tasty in beer. A secondary is not necessary, but some folks use it to help the beer clear. But that’s another discussion altogether.

Hopefully, you’ll get some renewed activity with the warmer temps.

Good luck and welcome to the forum. And don’t be afraid to keep asking questions. All of us were at the point you are at one time. Another suggestion I’ll make is, if you really enjoy brewing, you should read John Palmer’s ‘How to Brew’. You can get a free version on the web–just google it. It’s been edited some since the free one was written, but is a great starting point for novice brewers.

Cheers,

Ron

I used the bigmouth bubbler carboy, the 6 gallon. For stage one of fermentation. The wort was only lukewarm or cool to the touch when I added the yeast. The airlock and lid seem tight like nothing would be able to escape from it. And it was only bubbling for less than 24 hours, from the airlock. I will have to see if a hydrometer came with my kit. I will first try rousing the yeast by swirling gently and see if we get anywhere with that. hopefully we can get this thing going again.
Thanks for the response

Take the SG reading first. The ferment may be done. The yeast may be in clean up mode for a while.

So I stirred the carboy gently until there was a frothy foam on top of the beer. There were still no air bubbles escape the airlock . Stopped by on my lunch and checked on it and all the bubbles are flat again and still look like nothings happening in the airlock. :frowning:

Can more yeast be added?

What was the dry yeast you used? I’m going to second what the others said - take a gravity reading, as the fermentation may be complete. S-04 can easily ferment this out in 24 hours, especially if it were on the warm side.

I wouldn’t touch it or do anything else until you take a gravity reading.

[quote=“porkchop”]What was the dry yeast you used? I’m going to second what the others said - take a gravity reading, as the fermentation may be complete. S-04 can easily ferment this out in 24 hours, especially if it were on the warm side.

I wouldn’t touch it or do anything else until you take a gravity reading.[/quote]
I’ll third that - don’t do anything else until you take a gravity reading. Until you know what the situation is, you are just as likely to cause problems as you are to solve them. Especially as there is likely not anything wrong, and therefor there is nothing to be gained by taking action.

If you fermented warm - which lukewarm to the touch describes - it is very possible that the yeast could finish in just a couple of days. And it is VERY likely that gas is escaping from somewhere else instead of through the airlock. That happens all the time to brewers. It is just one of the reasons that counting bubbles is a very poor way of judging fermentation.