Hello everyone,
I’m new to the forum and have been brewing for a few years. Extract and partial grain. I tried to make my first dark beer, a porter; and like an idiot I didn’t take an OG reading. It’s been fermenting for 10 days at 68* and there has not been a bubble in the airlock.The liquid yeast inner pouch was severely puffed up when it arrived. It seems everything I read says the yeast should be fine. I almost don’t want to believe it, but the SG now is 1.008. Should I just toss the batch and chalk it up to stupidity, or just let it keep going. Maybe re-pitch yeast; I tasted it and there doesn’t seem to be any alcohol content.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
“but the SG now is 1.008”
Is this a typo?
It is possible that your fermenter was not fully sealed and the fermentation completed without pushing CO2 through the airlock. Bucket lids are notorious for this
While bubbling airlocks are a positive sign of fermentation the lack of bubbles is not proof of lack of fermentation. As Ynotbrusum mentioned it’s quite common to have CO2 escape from the lid instead. If your gravity is 1.008 after 10 days you should be good to go.
Taste it. If it tastes good and the SG is stable at 1.008, then you’re done, time to keg or bottle.
I don’t see what the problem is with your brew. The final gravity of 1.008 means it has fermented nicely and is most likely finished. You probably just didn’t have a secure lid and the escaping CO2 didn’t go through the air lock. I’d say “package it” and see what it tastes like with carbonation.
The only thing that scares me is it doesn’t taste like alcohol at all.
Trust the hydrometer