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Author Topic: It stopped bubbling! Did I kill it?  (Read 5982 times)

Offline peteck36

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It stopped bubbling! Did I kill it?
« on: September 22, 2014, 07:04:44 pm »
I'm on my 3rd batch so I'm still a neophyte. On Saturday (2 days ago) I brewed a Pumpkin Ale. Within 24 hours there was a lot of bubbling going on in the airlock (temperature was 68-70 degrees). As I live in Florida, and don't own a brewing dedicated fridge, I keep my fermenting bucket in a tub with cold water/ice, covered with a t-shirt to wick up the cold water to keep the temperature below 70

This morning (Monday) I noticed that the temp was creeping up, so I began to drain out the water from the tub to replace it with colder water/ice. By accident I jostled the bucket slightly, and shortly thereafter it stopped bubbling! I should add that after I replaced the water the temp went down to 66-68.

My question is did I kill anything?  Have I caused irreparable harm to my pumpkin ale? Or...is it okay and just give it a couple of days before I do my next gravity test to see where I am? Is this a function that the temp went down, slowing down the fermentation process?

Thanks for any assistance you can give here.

Cheers,

Peter

Offline Stevie

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Re: It stopped bubbling! Did I kill it?
« Reply #1 on: September 22, 2014, 07:33:54 pm »
I am 100% sure you are fine. Airlock activity isn't the best indicator of fermentation. You may have cooled it a little too quickly, but if so it will come back. Give it at least two weeks before bothering to check gravity.

Offline erockrph

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Re: It stopped bubbling! Did I kill it?
« Reply #2 on: September 22, 2014, 07:59:38 pm »
Cold air exerts less pressure. By cooling your fermenter it will take more CO2 production to build up enough pressure to push through the airlock. You're fine. RDWHAHB
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Offline santoch

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Re: It stopped bubbling! Did I kill it?
« Reply #3 on: September 22, 2014, 08:01:37 pm »
Cooling the fermenter will cause the gas inside to shrink. That is often enough to cause bubbling to stop.
It'll likely start bubbling again as soon as enough CO2 builds up.

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Offline klickitat jim

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Re: It stopped bubbling! Did I kill it?
« Reply #4 on: September 22, 2014, 11:07:06 pm »
Does the opposite stand true? If so that explains the extra bubbles in the hot tub

Offline tress

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Re: It stopped bubbling! Did I kill it?
« Reply #5 on: September 23, 2014, 06:13:23 am »
Does the opposite stand true? If so that explains the extra bubbles in the hot tub

LOL
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Offline factory

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Re: It stopped bubbling! Did I kill it?
« Reply #6 on: September 23, 2014, 07:09:33 am »
Does the opposite stand true? If so that explains the extra bubbles in the hot tub

Are you sure those bubbles aren't "man-made"? LOL

Offline erockrph

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Re: It stopped bubbling! Did I kill it?
« Reply #7 on: September 23, 2014, 07:35:11 am »
Does the opposite stand true? If so that explains the extra bubbles in the hot tub
You got one of those newfangled "sulfur springs" hot tubs?

I wonder how much gypsum it would take to produce the "Burton snatch" in someone's hot tub...
Eric B.

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Offline klickitat jim

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Re: It stopped bubbling! Did I kill it?
« Reply #8 on: September 23, 2014, 11:24:10 am »
Does the opposite stand true? If so that explains the extra bubbles in the hot tub
You got one of those newfangled "sulfur springs" hot tubs?

I wonder how much gypsum it would take to produce the "Burton snatch" in someone's hot tub...

1. No, I just use other people's hot tubs.

2. Not sure, maybe Martin would know

Offline peteck36

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Re: It stopped bubbling! Did I kill it?
« Reply #9 on: September 25, 2014, 06:13:11 am »
So in the end it never started to re-bubble. Hopefully all is still well...

Offline erockrph

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Re: It stopped bubbling! Did I kill it?
« Reply #10 on: September 25, 2014, 07:16:04 am »
So in the end it never started to re-bubble. Hopefully all is still well...
I guarantee you're fine. Buckets rarely seal 100% air-tight. The most vigorous part of fermentation is likely done by now, so the CO2 that is being produced may just be slipping out a leaky lid instead of pushing through the airlock. It's going to be OK. You're going to make beer, and it will be good. It's just the newbie jitters talking. RDWHAHB
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Offline a10t2

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Re: It stopped bubbling! Did I kill it?
« Reply #11 on: September 25, 2014, 10:19:52 am »
Check the gravity. It's the only way to know.

But yeah, it's pretty unlikely that you have a problem.
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Offline peteck36

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Re: It stopped bubbling! Did I kill it?
« Reply #12 on: September 25, 2014, 02:28:30 pm »
Thank you!