Fermentation - nothing, little something, nothing

Yeast & Fermentation
1

Brewers-

Your thoughts are appreciated

Santa brought a NB 5-gallon Essential Brewing Starter Kit for Christmas. I wasted little time in getting a batch of the Irish Red Ale cooking and into the fermenter the evening of December 26. By the afternoon of Dec 27, the airlock was bopping along moderately (one blip every 3 seconds or so), filling the bathroom cabinet with a nice hoppy beer scent. Then, when I checked it after about 36 hours of bubbling (54 hours from yeast pitch), the bubbling had ceased completely.

Brew details:

  1. Yeast: Danstar Nottingham dry, stored per instructions, pitched directly to fermentor at about 70*F
  2. Gravity readings: none. Brew kit didn’t come with hydrometer kit
  3. Ambient temperature has been a steady 70F, the lowered 72 hours after pitching to 65
  4. Bucket lid seal: tight. When I lightly depress on the lid, it will cause the airlock to move. I can hold it steady, and the airlock will hold steady, showing me it’s a tight seal

This is my eighth time brewing a batch but my first 5-gallon batch - first 7 were very successful 1-gallon batches.

Nottingham has a reputation, as far as I am aware, of being a vigorous fermentor, but I did not experience this, and am wondering if I should:
A. sit tight
B. re-pitch with the same or other yeast

Your thoughts?

2

I’m sure it’s fine, but you need to do a few things. First and most important, buy a hyrdometer. It’s one of the most important tools to a brewer. Second, find a way to ferment in the 60’s and not in the 70’s. Most yeast (excluding some Saison and Belgian strains) give the best results when fermenting somewhere between 60-68F. And that’s fermentation temp, NOT ambient. Fermentation temps can swing anywhere from 1-10 degrees higher than fermentation. So if your room was 70F, your fermentation was most likely somewhere around 75F… give or take a few degrees.

Last RDWHAHB! You still made beer and you’ll still enjoy it. :cheers:

3

Sho’ 'nuff-

Lifted out the airlock this morning, peeked through the grommet hole, shone a flashlight through the side of the bucket and - lo and behold - the sight of subsiding krausen accompanied by the heavenly scent of nicely fermenting beer greeted me. Just another reminder, I suppose, that all those ingredients want to turn into beer, and that, if I sanitize, pitch and store correctly, all signs point to beer.

Hoppy Brew Year!