Is wine fermenting?

[Grayson99]

My 30 bottle Red wine kit has been in the primary fermentation bucket for 11 days now. However, the airlock still hasn't bubbled.
The water in airlock has pressure as the level isn't even. I have removed the lid a few times and the wine has bubbles on top. In the past my wine has vigorously bubbled for a few days, but not this one. Temperature is what it should be. Is this normal? Thanks

 

[mikewatkins727]

Would need more information about the must. What is the starting specific gravity? What is the room temperature & wine temperature? What procedure did you use to inoculate the must? What is the type of yeast?

 

[cmason1957]

The only real way for us to know if your wine is fermenting or not is by looking at hydrometer (or refractometers) reading over a period of time. Your airlock may never bubble once, the CO2 is escaping somewhere or maybe it isn't really fermenting.

 

[Rice_Guy]

As a first check I would change the air lock/ cover. This sounds like your primary ,, a six gallon pail? a big mouth bubbler? large diameter lids are hard to seal so YES leakage is normal.

the airlock still hasn't bubbled.
The water in airlock has pressure as the level isn't even. I have removed the lid a few times and the wine has bubbles on top. , , be. Is this normal?

if it has had bubbles on top for eleven days you should taste a dryer/ higher acid ferment
Craig has the food plant answer, measure it

if you have only one plastic pail you might stretch three inch wide Sharkbite silicone fusion tape on the edge to seal it, ,,, but my opinion is it isn’t worth the effort on a primary, secondary fermentor maybe.