I brewed beer for the first time two days ago using Brooklyn Brewshop kit using their Oatmeal Stout recipe. Now I am at stage 4 "Fermentation" but I don't observe a vigorous bubbling, just a bubble every now and then.
I also observe some foam (or mould, I am not sure) on the superior part of the glass fermenter and the rubber tube but from what I have read in this post it should be fine.
Gratz on your 1st brew!
Everything sounds normal. You won't see fizzy beer or champaign bubble trails. Slow bubbles and churning "chunks" is normal. The airlock can be quite active then eventually slowing to a stop as fermentation ends.
The foam is krausen; protiens, hops and yeast that come to the top but eventually fall back in or make floating chunks. The top of the fermentor can look really nasty but is normal.
If I remeber correctly you have the 1 gal. glass carboy and ran a tube from the lid into a pot of sanitized solution. After the bubbling slowed the airlock was supposed to go on.
What youre seeing is Krauzen - totally normal amd will sink to the bottom.
You should be storing your fermentables in a dark place that stays around 60-70 F ...think cupboard or pantry, in a week or two depending on when you brewed - secondary-ferment into bottles with some bottling sugar and leave for another couple weeks.
All told you should probably wait at least 4 weeks, minimum.
Bubbles are a good thing slow or rapid just keep in a dark room temperature between 62-72 you should be fine..
Congratulations on your first brew, I used a similar kit for my first brew and was pretty nervous about the fermentation process as well. All of the bubbling is fine — it won't always be vigorous but at times can just be slow and steady. As long as the bubbles are there you know your beer is doing the right thing.
