New brewer question

This weekend i made a batch of Dead Ringer. I used a Liquid starter yeast that i started on Friday night in my beaker. Everything seemed fine. But now, in order to see the bubbling going on at the top of the fermentor, i have had to still or shake in a circle the bucket. I have bubbling going on now. Is this normal? Am i just worried for nothing?
Matt

I’m not sure I understand your question. Is there bubbling happening in the airlock or not? If there is, that’s perfectly normal, and it’s exactly what you want to see. I guess I need a little clarification here.

Yes, it does sound like you are worried for nothing. And next time don’t shake up your fermenter. The yeast knows what it is doing. Leave it to do its job.

It can take anywhere from 3 hours to 3 days before seeing signs of fermentation - anything in that range (usually 12-24 hours) would be normal.

You may or may not see signs of fermentation in your airlock - if everything is airtight you will. Either case would be normal. In your case it sounds like you do have airlock activity.

Once it gets going vigorously, it can continue like that for 2-5 days (no set timeframe) and then will slow down either gradually or very rapidly depending on how the rest of the fermentation went. All cases would be normal.

Once the fermentation seems to have died down, it does not mean the yeast is finished doing its job, so don’t be too quick to jump to the next step.

This ^^^. A lot of people mention swirling the fermentor and I’m not sure why. I’ve never done it. Never had to do it. And my beer ferments fine. If you pitch enough healthy happy yeast (or even close to enough) fermentation will start. The yeast will do their thing. And you’ll have beer.

RDWHAHB :cheers:

Plus the last thing you want to do is add O2 to your beer AFTER fermentation.

I have rocked the fermenter before (not shaken vigorously) there was action in the airlock for maybe two days then it stopped for about 3 days so I rocked the fermenter and the fermenting action picked back up for another 5 days. Hope I didn’t ruin my batch.

I doubt you ruined it, but there’s really no need to rock, shake, swirl the fermentor after fermentation starts. Yeast don’t need help staying in suspension. Have you ever watched active fermentation? There’s stuff flying all over the place in there. It’s pretty cool.

Well so far so good. The fermentation is very active. Since the swirling gas has been making the air lock bubble just about every 10 or 15 seconds. So my other question will be, when should i transfer to secondary? The instructions says 1 to 2 weeks while fermentation is active. So will it slow down in the air lock to almost nothing? Is that how you are to judge if it’s time?
Thanks
Matt

Don’t judge fermentation by the airlock. Use a hydrometer. Take 2-3 readings over 2-3 days and if the number stays the same, it’s done fermenting. Personally, I’m at the point now where my beers just sit for about 3 weeks then I keg. I don’t even bother taking a reading until I’m ready to keg… as long as I saw active fermentation for a few days.

There is usually not a reason to secondary unless you’re adding something (fruit, oak, liquor, etc) or maybe dry hopping. Or maybe you want to age a beer or harvest yeast. If you don’t plan on doing any of this, skip the secondary. There’s a greater chance of doing more harm than good.

  • 1 too dobe12 . have not read better advice then that.