I am brewing for the first time this week. I am brewing a Red Ale. I pitched the yeast on Saturday at about 5:00pm. No visible activity for the first 24 hours, then the next 24 hours things were going like crazy. A thick foam formed on top and my air lock was bubbling about once ever 2 seconds. This morning (about 60 hours after pitching the yeast) the thick foam is gone and getting a bubble every 10 seconds or so. Is this slowdown normal?
Without knowing the sepcific details of your recipe, temperature the beer fermented at, etc, etc, etc- Yes. Fermentation started, got vigorous and then subsided. Just wait a minimum of 2 weeks from when you pitched the yeast, check your gravity; if it is within 1-3 points of the final gravity you are shooting for (Check the recipe and notes on the style)- wait 2-3 days check it again and if it doesn't change your good to bottle. Have fun on your Homebrewing journey!
Relax, don't worry, have a homebrew, err beer (for now). Based on your description the yeast activity sounds normal.
Brewers (that's you now) call the foam "krausen" . . . here's what is going on in your fermentor: As a Homebrewer you will quickly learn that Yeast run the brewhouse.
Your wort temp or pH may have been a little off when you pitched your yeast so it probably took the yeast a day to acclimate. As long as you had a vigorous fermentation period you should get at least something resembling beer in two weeks. Cheers
