I am a beginner and just cooked my second 1 gallon batch. I had cooled the wort and was ready to transfer it to a fermenter when the glass jug slipped out of my hands and broke on the floor. I found an “air tight” food grade plastic cereal container locally and drilled a hole in the lid for my blow off tube airlock. The batch is fermenting - lots of foam and bubbles on top. It is now in its third day, but the blow off tube does not show any sign of action having gone through it, leading me to believe that there is an air leak. Is the batch probably ruined and should be discarded, or after 2-3 weeks like this is it likely to be good for bottling? Thanks. Soddydoc
Active, visual fermentation may only last a few days. If the fermentation time was even slightly elevated (70+F) that would speed it up. Even after active fermentation looks done other stuff is going on in there, so let it sit for the duration (2-3 weeks) then enjoy. I’m sure it’s fine.
Welcome to the obsession of home brewing :cheers:
Thanks for the input! I’ll let it run.
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I would almost bet on a leak.
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You can’t base fermentation on airlock activity because of #1.
Buy hydrometer for positive confirmations.
I don’t even use airlocks anymore, I have a couple 8 gallon SS pots that I use for fermenters, just set the lids on them.