Kit Pilsner Not Brewing?

[Milky11111]

G'day. Firstly this is only my 3rd batch of brew so please excuse any dumb mistakes.

Brewing a kit pilsner at the moment, not a real pilsner as it uses ale yeast. Now the recipe called for 500g malt which I have added instead of sugar as directed. It's been 24hrs now, the yeast pitched at 23c and the brew sitting at 22c-24c and I still haven't seen any airlock activity.

Originally I thought the malt mustn't be a substitute for sugars and planned to dissolve and add 1kg sugar tonight to try and salvage my beer. However before doing this i took a hydrometer reading and the SG has dropped from 1039 to 1030 since pitch. So now I'm confused, does this mean it is fermenting correctly or does wort slowly drop SG naturally over time?

I would much appreciate any insight that someone has about what's going on and what I should do.

 

[manticle]

Gravity drop means it's fermenting. The airlock is a deceptive piece of equipment that is not an accurate measurement of fermentation activity.

Let it ferment, relax, keep the temperature consistent and in the 18-20 degree ballpark and you should have beer in a few weeks.

Maltose is a type of sugar and one that beer is traditionally made solely from. Leave the 1 kg of sugar for another time.

 

[Ben Crossman]

You likey have an air leak. Check by squeezing your fermenter gently, and watch air lock.

 

[Milky11111]

The fermented is airlocked tight just gave it a squeeze, must just be a quiet ferment thanks for your input.