no bubbles, no krausen after one month

Good day everyone, I need some advice with my 20th kit brew. It's a Wilco bought Geordie Bitter which I've done b4 without problems. It's now been in the FV for 1 month and nothing much has happened. Initially there was bubbling every 20 secs or so (as opposed to the usual vigorous initial bubbling) which continued for the first week or 2, but there's been no activity at all in the last 2 weeks.

There's no krausen, but the SG is 1008 - just in the yellow area marked 'bottle' on the hydrometer.

Does the SG reading on its own mean that it's definitely ready? Or is the lack of a krausen mean it never started and is therefore a "stuck brew"?


tl;dr: The only marked difference between this and my previous 19 successful kit brews was the house temperature when I mixed it. We were in a cold snap at the time and the area where the FV is was around 14c when I placed it, and since then it's not gone above 16c. Usually it would be 16-20c.

- maybe my FV lid/cork/bubbler was leaking which is why I didn't hear much bubbling - but all equipment is in very good nick so I doubt that.
- maybe the krausen has come and gone after one month?
- I tasted it - it's not off, but it tastes kinda 'raw'. Problem is I've never tasted a brew b4 bottling so I don't know what to taste for

Normally my brews start bubbling away after 5-20 hrs, they then bubble at abt 5 sec intervals for 3-5 days. I then wait for bubbling to get to over 30 secs time gap, wait another day... or 2 ...or 3, then bottle. Always works great...I stopped taking original SG readings after the 5th brew or so since everything was working just fine and I kinda thought I had the process sussed. Shame on me :nono:

TIA
HP

If it's reading 1.008 then it's definitely finished - bottle it!

Your brew has done well to get down to 1.008 and as MickDundee has said its ready to bottle. I will be quite clear due to the extended time in the FV so you may have to leave it longer than previous brews to carb up, but carb up it will. And the benefit will be that you should have little yeast in the bottom of the bottles.
The problems with not getting bubbles is almost entirely down to a leaking FV lid. Not a concern, most of them do it

as above, gravity is the ONLY reliable indicator to indicate when a brew is ready to bottle, visual signs of yeast and airlock glugs are much less reliable indicators of fermentation.

however its always wise to check the hydrometer every now and again too, it should read close to 1.000 with tap water :) hot washing can melt the glue holding the paper grade tube in place and it can then be shifted in position with a lil jolt or shock.

Ignore airlock activity and krausen appearance. Hydrometer is what tells you what is happening

The cold snap may have made for a less active fermentation - so no visible signs.

As said above, the hydrometer is telling you it's ready.

Tks all. Top replies and a sigh of relief here. Tomo will be bottling day then. I'll also check the sealing ring on the FV cap - it was a 2nd hand FV so maybe it needs replacing. I checked the hydrometer in tap water - it was 1000.

For my future ref tho: what happened to the krausen? Usually, whenever I look at least, there's a decent layer of it on top of my brews which kinda looks like what you might see floating on a USSR industrial zone river....or something like that.. The top of this brew is about 98pct clear of anything.

Tks
HP

You probably just missed the krausen, it can rise and fall within only a few days sometimes. Also I wouldn't worry about the seal on the FV, I have 5 and only 1 of them seals well enough for the airlock to bubble but it's not a problem.