First Homebrew, few questions regarding fermentation

How do you know your abv is only 5%?
What was your beginning/original hydrometer reading (OG) and your final/finishing gravity (FG)?

 

Welcome to the BA site and to the Homebrewing forum, Peter. We're here to try to help you out when you are stuck, but the more that you can tell us about your recipe, then we'll have a better chance to help figure out the next step. Can you post the recipe (or an online link), and especially tell us which yeast that you used and how much of it that you pitched and what the wort temp was? What is the ambient temp where your fermentor is located? All-grain or extract? Batch size?

A secondary fermentor is not needed for your brew, so just leave it in the primary until we make some decisions here.

 

So, i have a couple of questions, so bear with me. Did you rehydrate your dry yeast before pitching? Just throwing dry yeast into the wort can kill up to 75% of your viable cells and really make it hard for fermentation to finish. Second, you didn't chill your wort long enough. Most yeast will work best (meaning with the fewest undesirable byproducts) in the mid to low 60's, and pitching that hot might have also killed off some of your yeast. Finally, just because there isn't a massive Krausen from a rolling fermentation doesn't mean that your brew isn't still going. It hasn't really been going that long, so relax, have a beer. Also, invest in a test tube and hydrometer. Consistent final gravity readings are really the only way that you'll know when your yeast has finished turning your sugar water into beer.

 

I'm still curious why you think you have 5% abv but never took an original gravity reading? Are you telling me that the hydrometer is currently reading 5% abv? If that's the case your beer is either still fermenting or has a stuck fermentation since that is a FG somewhere around 1.037. At this point I would leave it alone and check the gravity again in 3 days or so.

 

You cannot tell the ABV from a single hydrometer reading. And you are looking at the wrong scale. Google up "beer hydrometer" for lots of videos on how to use it.

 

The link does not list the brewing instructions, and the specs for this recipe does not say what the expected original gravity should be, so unless your printed instructions suggest the OG, you won't be able to calculate what your ABV is for this beer. But even if you have the specs for the OG, you're going to need to use your hydrometer to calculate the final gravity. You should also use your hydrometer for determining when the fermentation is done before you bottle this beer. Did your hydrometer come in a clear plastic tube to use as a tester?

It sounds like you did not have a healthy yeast pitch, so your fermentation is likely to be extended for that reason. Also, this is a fairly high alcohol beer, and those usually also take longer. Regardless that you're not getting bubbles in the airlock, I'd say that your beer is still fermenting, and you need to leave it along for another week, at least. (Plastic buckets are known to have faulty seals around the lid, so your CO2 is likely finding its way out via somewhere other than the airlock.) If your ambient temp where the fermentor is located is 67, that's okay, but if you want to move it to a place a few degrees warmer, that's okay too. It likely will speed things a little bit, but patience is needed here and you likely will have an acceptable beer regardless of the warm temp of the yeast pitch.