Little / no fermentation in my small batch. Please help :(

[Jonny the Brewer]

I've had more than one beer ferment out in under 3 days, so it can absolutely hammer on quickly.

No worries, just let it go for a while longer to finish out and when your gravity is stable bottle that bad boy up.

Congratulations! You have beer!

Thanks everyone. I will definitely give it a week or so before bottling as I want to dry hop it more and chuck in more grapefruit peel. As always I really appreciate all the guidance on here. Cheers

 

[BOB357]

Thanks for all the responses. Well, I've just taken a reading like you guys suggest and it's 1020! Somehow in 5 days it's gone to 5.25% without any visible action. It tastes decent (needs bottle conditioning) as well.

Is that possible? I am not worried I misread the OG but I cant see why it wouldn't have been correct. How can a beer go to 5% in under a week?!

Almost all of my beers reach final gravity in a week or less. With a good pitch of healthy yeast there's no reason yours shouldn't do the same.

 

[J A]

Is that possible? I am not worried I misread the OG but I cant see why it wouldn't have been correct. How can a beer go to 5% in under a week?!

Most of the fermention happens in the first few days. With a proper pitch, 4-5 days to FG is pretty much expected with low- and mid-gravity beers. The fact that you're using up to 5 times the yeast required for the job made it happen virtually overnight.

 

[Ward Chillington]

it's the same demi and screw cap as my avatar. I wonder if it's not the tight seal it once was..

Spray a little StarSan around the tube on the cap...if you are still fermenting you should see some bubbles around where the blowoff tube goes into the cap or other places your not air tight...the foam is your friend!

 

[Donoroto]

I'm guessing gas leak, the most common cause of no visible sign of fermentation followed by fermentation done.

Heh. I did this once, and when I went to buy more yeast the LHBS guys said "Bubbles are irrelevant. Check the gravity". They were right, and the seal was loose.

 

[VagrantMind]

Thanks for all the responses. Well, I've just taken a reading like you guys suggest and it's 1020! Somehow in 5 days it's gone to 5.25% without any visible action. It tastes decent (needs bottle conditioning) as well.

Is that possible? I am not worried I misread the OG but I cant see why it wouldn't have been correct. How can a beer go to 5% in under a week?!

Jonny, I just brewed a batch of imperial stout that went to 8.5% in 2-3 days!! I didn't believe it was done that quick but through so much advice from previous batches, I took a reading. Sure enough FG was right where it belongs. Sometimes those great times end much faster than we expect!