First time brewer help!

[Adam Flood]

Hi i am doing my first home brew. after less than 24 hours the beer was coming through the water in the air lock. i looked online and it said to change the airlock and put it back on i did this several times. I did this for the last time some nearly 24 hour ago and now there are no bubbles in the airlock. I am waiting for my sg tool to come so i can check the sg of the beer but it doesn't arrive until another week. Any suggestions? Do i leave it and everything is working fine or is there actions i need to take?
hope someone can help!

Would highly appreciate it

 

[cushyno]

It's quite normal to see lots of airlock activity in the first 48-72 hours. The yeast will still be working after that and though you may not see any bubbles it may be that you don't have a perfect seal on the fermenter lid. This wouldn't have been noticeable while the yeast were highly active and creating lots of CO2, you just notice all the excess CO2 escaping from the airlock.
If you don't have a hydrometer, leave it 14 days to finish fermenting. When your new hydrometer arrives in another week, check the SG, then leave it a couple of days and check again. If the gravity is around 1.010-1.015 or lower and is the same at both readings then it will probably be ready to bottle. Don't worry, give it time.

 

[Bigcol49]

Hi!
I agree with @cushyno
Leave it for two weeks.

 

[Ghillie]

Wee tip for next time, use a larger bucket or make less wort.

I know it sounds like I'm being patronising - but I'm really not. I don't understand why 25L buckets are the norm for 23L batches. I, like you, got caught out a few times with krausen coming out the airlock - but since switching to a 30L brew bucket it has never been an issue again.

Hope the beer tastes good by the way! Leave it for a minimum of two weeks and do your best not to open the lid at all throughout the fermentation process :)

 

[Adam Flood]

Thanks for the replys!
Will take these tips on board for sure.. will leave for two weeks then add my hops (dry hopping) and wait to see what it tastes like!

 

[matt76]

Thanks for the replys!
Will take these tips on board for sure.. will leave for two weeks then add my hops (dry hopping) and wait to see what it tastes like!

I'm in exactly the same situation - new to brewing, and my current brew went like the clappers for 48hrs then literally not a bubble since then.

I can only repeat the advice I got - leave it alone, it's probably fine. No good will come off opening it up, but bad might.

Sit tight and follow cushyno's advice about checking the gravity after a couple of weeks (same goes for me too!). Best of luck

 

[Duxuk]

If you add dry leaf hops you do need to push them under the surface or you won't get as much flavour out. By the time fermentation has finished the brew is far less prone to infection and in 126 AG brews I've never had an infection by opening the lid. It's normal to leave dry hops for 2 or 3 days to steep, some leave them longer. If you check through the forum you'll find several methods to sink dry hops in bags etc.