First Home Brew Started this evening . . .

[fishjam45 (Colin)]

Were you standing on the equator when you took the pic's

I see this forum has its comedians too!

[fishjam45 (Colin)]

I came home at lunch time only to notice bubbles flowing through my airlock at quite a steady pace - is this normal?
Contents were added to the FV at around 9pm last nite.
FV Temp is about 20 degrees.

[Dunkel]

Perfectly normal. 

[fishjam45 (Colin)]

Cheers Dunkel!
What causes it?

[beerfly]

It's the yeast.  They can live and reproduce 2 ways with and without oxygen.
Within the first 48hrs they use up all the oxygen in the wort and reproduce quickly.  This is the most efficient way for them and when you are emptying the fermenter most of the yeast in the bottom will have grown in this timeframe.

When the oxygen is used up they can still grow and reproduce but it is less efficient and produces extra waste products, carbon dioxide and alcohol.  what your seeing is the airlock is the yeast going to work.  The fermenter looks kinda transparent so you should also be able to see a big foamy head starting to form.

When it slows to a virtual stop then it should be done, you can then take hydrometer readings a day or two apart when the readings are the same and not dropping then it should be done.

But make sure is been at least 1.5 - 2 weeks as the yeast do extra stuff after munching through the sugars.

[DEMPSEY]

as Dunkel say's perfectly normal. Th e yeast are working away at the fast fermentable sugars first and are quite vigorous. They produce co2 as well as alcohol and its the co2 that is getting pushed out. It will calm down after a day or two and the yeast will continue on the rest of the fermentable sugars remaining.  

[fishjam45 (Colin)]

cheers for putting my mind at ease guys - i  can hear the FV Bubbling away in the corner of the sitting room as i type away on the laptop.

I suppose all I gotta do now is wait until it slows down to pretty much no bubbles and take 2 readings that give the same results two days apart?

Will keep all posted anyway, thanks again.

[LordEoin]

I love the sound of airlocks working.
Sounds liek you got this all under control

[fishjam45 (Colin)]

Cheers LordEoin, I had to too up the airlock this morning as there was only a drop of water left in it - there must have been some vigorous bubbling overnite!!!

Lovely smell of beer though !

[LordEoin]

It'll probably stop bubbling fast so, leave it the full 2 weeks anyway to allow the yeast to clean up after itself and drop any excess out

[fishjam45 (Colin)]

I'll aim for the 2 week mark so.
Bubbling has slowed down a lot since yesterday evening.
All good otherwise

[LordEoin]

perfectly normal

[fishjam45 (Colin)]

Just a quick update ...
I'm a week and a day into it and the bubbling has slowed right down to a few bubbles every ten minutes or so.

Bottles are all cleaned and dried on my new bottle tree, just waiting to be sanitised on bottling day.

Should I start taking hydrometer readings in case fermentation finishes earlier than the 1 1/2 - 2 week mark?

[DEMPSEY]

Not a kit brewer myself so Does kit beers need to be allowed to condition first to let the yeast do a clean up after primary is done.

[fishjam45 (Colin)]

Demosey, As a complete newbie I don't have a clue ....