So I just started on my first IPA a few days ago. I have it sitting in a carboy in a dark and cool closet, I followed the instructions as well as I could, but I'm not seeing any bubbles in the airlock. Is this normal for the first couple of days? I'm just worried that it's not fermenting.
Totally normally unless your cool and dark closet is way below the temperature threshold for your yeast (pretty unlikely). Bubbles in the airlock don't mean much. Your yeast could be a bit slow acting, it could be not throwing off enough CO2 to cause bubbling, etc. If it's in a carboy, a krausen (foamy layer basically) is a good sign of fermentation.
If you're fermenting in a bucket you may very well have a leak in the lid. Thus, no bubbles in the air-lock. Could you give a bit more information...such as fermentation vessel and yeast pitching method?
Yeah it's in a glass one gallon carboy. Here's a picture I took yesterday. Everything look good? The brown stuff on top (which I'm assuming is the krausen) really threw me off when I first saw it.
It's in glass, as seen above. As far as the yeast pitching method... I just emptied the pack in there and shook it up.
The green stuff on top looks to me like hop trub. Totally normal. And the foam coming up is the krausen; it will eventually "drop" (recede into the beer and clarify toward the bottom). Sure looks like there is fermentation going on.
Awesome, thanks. Just curious about it, it was a bit worrisome for a while. It sure smells good though, super hoppy.
Yeah, been answered...definitely looks to be fermenting there. Assuming that picture was taken recently, and not after you shook it
Looks like a classic case where a lack of bubbles in the airlock does not mean that there is no fermentation occurring.
