homebrewandbeer.com

As a new member first of all congrats on such a great site/forum, heaps of info already from browsing.Enough brown nosing. My first brew has been in the fermenter for 9 days now & although have a reading of 1.008 it is still bubbling out of air lock.Do i have to wait till absolutely no bubbles are produced before bottling?? Coopers Kit-Lager-22-24 degrees
Any help appreciated.

if you get the same reading over 2 days, 3 if your worried about it, it'll be ready to bottle, at 1.008 i would say your brew is ready to bottle

-Phill

BTW welcome aboard

Hi Fred,

Bubbling through the airlock is not always a sign of fermentation. Sometimes it can just be due to dissolved CO2 molecules coming out of solution. Specific gravity is the best way to tell how your brew is going, and if you get two readings the same a day apart, it usually means it's time to bottle.

Given that your brew has been going for 9 days at 22-24*C and that the SG is 1.008, I'd say it's ready to bottle.
I worried about this when I was doing my first brew, too. The fermenter kept bubbling for 10 days. In the end I rang up my Home Brew shop and they told me to just check the SG.

Good luck, and look forward to some delicious beer in about a month's time.

Fred,

How active is the bubbling?

Dogger

Thanks Gents, I'll go with the readings, 'spose I'm bit like expectant father with first born. To answer your ? Dogger, if i was honest about it the bubbling has slowed down to the occasional burp! Looking forward to bottling this as I already have a can of bavarian larger & malt shovel pale ale waiting to start. May have to purchase another fermenter?/

Fermenting Fred wrote:May have to purchase another fermenter?/

Do It you wont regret it

Not to be a knob but what does an occasional burp mean to you, 1 bubble a minute?

Dogger

Does it really matter? Noone should go off the bubbling to determine that the brew is finished. Unless you want exploding bottles wait for two consectutive readings over two days or leave it the extra time. Even better rack and then leave it a week.

Yeah, one of my latest brews bubbled all the way from day 1 to day 7 in primary and then all the way through another 7 days of secondary. At 20 degrees C.

Yes, actually it does matter actually. The fact that there is CO2 being produced is indicative of fermentation. You can't trust an airlock that isn't but you sure can trust one that is. If it is bubbling once an hour then I would say thats OK, go ahead, if it is bubbling once a minute there is still some activity there, either because the yeast is stressed so it is fermenting very slowly or it is chewing on long chained sugar molecules that are hard to digest. In that case you should let it continue.

And hey look at that, didn't need to open the lid to get a hydrometer reading and risk a contamination. There is a lot to be said about using all the senses.

Dogger

Dogger Dan wrote:Yes, actually it does matter actually. The fact that there is CO2 being produced is indicative of fermentation. You can't trust an airlock that isn't but you sure can trust one that is. If it is bubbling once an hour then I would say thats OK, go ahead, if it is bubbling once a minute there is still some activity there, either because the yeast is stressed so it is fermenting very slowly or it is chewing on long chained sugar molecules that are hard to digest. In that case you should let it continue.

And hey look at that, didn't need to open the lid to get a hydrometer reading and risk a contamination. There is a lot to be said about using all the senses.

Dogger

Actually actually you've proved me right. By saying you cant trust an airlock that is not bubbling. Lets just say the airlock stops bubbling while brew is actually still fermenting ,ie fermentor develops a leak for some reason, maybe a change in temp or for whatever reason. How can you be sure that the brew has finished? Hmmm maybe with a hydrometer, or if you dont want to take your lid off to get your sample, i have a tap for this purpose, as i said leave your brew a bit longer to finish up or rack and leave even longer. I dont think it is wise to bottle just because your airlock has ceased bubbling.

In this case, that wasn't the question. The report was the airlock was still bubbling, can I bottle. As I said, you can't trust an airlock that isn't bubbling.

Dogger

All good advice guys points taken, but to put it to rest I did go with a constant reading of 1006 as well as clarifying the "burp" was only once/hour approx,(thanx Dogger),therefore it is bottled & currently cleaning fermenter for the Bavarian brew

Fermenting Fred wrote:All good advice guys points taken, but to put it to rest I did go with a constant reading of 1006 as well as clarifying the "burp" was only once/hour approx,(thanx Dogger),therefore it is bottled & currently cleaning fermenter for the Bavarian brew

Hey, Fred well done on delivering the first baby safely into the humidicrib.

I'm back from camping if you want to get together to go over a few things (and perhaps drink a few).

I've been using saflager s23 and have found it makes life very easy,asit always finishes at 1010 fg.The only time it has finished below this was with a dry enzyme,but 1010 is IT with this yeast.