Made my first brew on Sunday, 24 hrs later seems like fermentation has drastically slowed and the foam cap has disappeared… It’s still bubbling but slowly… Any ideas or help would be greatly appreciated!!
We(the collected wisdom) could use a little more info. before answering.
ie. What kit was it? What yeast? How did you treat the yeast?(if liquid did you do a starter, if dry did you rehydrate). How did you oxygenate? What was your temperature at pitching time? What temp have you been maintaining since?
Before getting those answers, I’ll say that most likely you’re OK, but we could be more certain with a few answers.
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Beer is being made. Leave it alone for a couple weeks. 
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Caribou slobber, Windsor Danstar dry yeast pitched dry. @ about 68* on sunday12/27/15 at 4:00 pm had really good activity all night and in am. Just checked at 7:00 pm Monday 12/28/25 and foam is non existent, bubbling has slowed to about seven secs between. Has been @ 74* since started… As I said I’m a defiant noob here!!
OK, good info!
And kind of what I was expecting. 68* is a little high temp to pitch, and 74* is definitely high to be fermenting at with the Windsor yeast. With temps that high the yeast were very active and chowed down on the sugars that you provided. But, and here’s the important point to learn: The yeast are not finished. The vigorous activity may have slowed, but they are still working slowly, uneventfully, quietly. And they will still be working for another week, or maybe even two. Here’s another important point: You can’t tell anything about when your fermentation is done without taking a series of specific gravity readings with your hydrometer. If you didn’t get one with the kit, go to your local homebrew shop and buy 2(they break easily). Or order online.
As brewcat implied above, leave her alone for now. In about a week, or two, take a SG reading. Repeat in 2-3 days. If they are the same, then fermentation is done, and you can start thinking about your next step.
Good Luck, it sounds like things are progressing well.
Thank you for all the info!! It’s definitely a learning experience and something that will undoubtably become a passion… Or possibly OBSESSION!!
Agreed. And it sounds like you’re well on your way.
If you haven’t already, look for John Palmer’s ’ How to Brew’. There is an older online version which can start you off, but I recommend the newer hardcopy. Even after 4 years and over 300 gallons made, I still go back to that book and look things up frequently. 
When yer air lock slows to one burp per beer, yer damn close to finished, take attest to confirm that! Sneezles61
RDWHAHB
Thanks
Ed
Just a heads up for your next beer. most ale yeast is best pitched in the mid to low 60’s and held 68 (beer temp) or below for the first 3-4 days then it can be raised to the low 70’s till it’s finished. This is just a general rule of thumb, but in my opinion it would be best to aim for the lower end of the temp range for what ever yeast you are using. This helps to eliminate fusel alcohol and leave a cleaner beer. A easy and cheap way to maintain fermentation temp is put the fermentor in a large tub (the ones people put kegs in at party’s) or a cooler with a few gallons of water and uses frozen 1L water bottles to keep the temp down.
Hey KROBB,
Just for the record, you’re not alone! I just brewed my first batch on the 26th, and had the same experience. My brew was bubbling every couple seconds and now it’s down to every 10 seconds or so. No foam either. But it smells delish and I can’t wait to bottle it up! I just hope all’s working well and I didn’t wreck my beer. I’ve learned so much and realize I’ve made a few mistakes that I’m hoping will not make my beer undrinkable 
Good luck and maybe we’ll lift a beautiful glass of home brew to congratulate each other here in a few weeks!
Likewise. I also started a carribou slobber brew last weekend and had the exact same result. Strong fermentation for about a day and then significantly tapered off. I am at one week tomorrow and have a burp every five minutes or so. All of my conditions were pretty much identical to Krobb’s. I’m going to push on and like you said, hopefully we have some good beer to enjoy in a few more weeks!
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Greenberg, glad to see its not just me!!
Agreed, hopefully in a few weeks we will have something worth drinking. I am planning on transferring to a secondary @week 2… Then let sit for about 4 wks…
Oops… Greenbee…
No worries. I ordered a hydrometer from Amazon yesterday. When I get it and try it out I’ll post again to share the results.
So I got my hydrometer and took two readings two days apart with a result of about 1.033 SG. I decided to transfer to the secondary on Wednesday. Hopefully everything works out.
Seems high fer an ale…… let er keep going and I wouldn’t rack into a secondary…. Now that the primary ferment is done, if you git yer brew up to high 60’s maybe even 70*, you’d benefit in that the yeasties will git a bit more active and clean up the brew! Sneezles61
My fermentation has been at mid to high sixties from the start. How long do you think I should let it go? Will there still be viable yeast to carbonate at bottling?
Take another test Mid week and see whats up…. Ifn you have a stuck ferent you may need to add more yeast again to git that sucker going…… Don’t worry. Do you sample yer test/sample too? As far as yeast in suspension, you’ll read some on this forum let it sit fer a couple of months before bottling/kegging…. Sneezles61
