AG Batches Barely Fermenting - Little To No Krausen

So my second AG batch has been in secondary for a week now and is currently experiencing the same issue my first AG batch had. There is little to no krausen in the primary. The recipes were converted from extract batches I've brewed, both of which had krausen blow out the airlock. This current batch is an oatmeal stout, but has almost no krausen. Gravity has changed slightly and there are bubbles rising to the surface of the bucket. Seems as though it's fermenting as it should, but since switching to AG brewing, my beers haven't had any krausen.

I used Safale US-04 and poured it directly into the bucket without hydrating. I've done this before with my extract batches and they have fermented strong with plenty of krausen.

Any idears?

That seems quite odd. What are your temperatures? S04 is typically a beast. Low temps will make the fermentation a bit slower, but shouldn't make it slow to a near stop.

Tell us about how you do your AG brewing. Since you've had experience with S 04 and these batches react differently, there may be something about how you have done your setup, what OG you've had, etc.

Is your thermometer calibrated - the one you use when mashing, I mean. You could be mashing too high or low to get conversion.

What's the gravity of the one in the secondary?

How did you aerate your wort?

I've had it fermenting at an ambient temp of around 66, so that's on par for the US-04 to go gangbusters.

As for my AG setup, I batch sparge. I mashed at 154 and my measured OG was 1.065. After taking a reading this morning, it was down to ~1.022. My thermometer is calibrated and is consistent with any tests I've done.

The only thing I think might be different is my aeration. With my extract batches, I would pour the wort through a fine strainer to pull out some of the cold break. With my AG batches, I've been pouring them directly into the primary as I figured I wouldn't need to worry about filtering out some of that excess crap. If that's the case, can I still try and aerate this stuff to kick it back into high gear or won't it make much of a difference now that the gravity has changed?

Once you see signs of fermentation you don't want to add any aeration. Aeration is for propagating yeast and yours are done with that phase. Adding oxygen now will get you oxidized beer.

You also don't need to aerate when you use the dry yeast as it is supposed to contain all the reserves it needs for propagation right in the package.

Since your gravity has gone from 1.065 to 1.022 it is obviously fermenting. You mention that it is in secondary now. How long was it in primary?

Sorry for the confusion, but it has only been in primary for 8 days now.

Being that the gravity has changed, it's definitely fermenting, so that's good. But I guess my question now pertains to the affect that krausen will have on the beer. Being that I didn't aerate properly, so it seems, how's this stuff going to turn out? Off flavors due to the lack of O2?

TheMagicHatter said:

Sorry for the confusion, but it has only been in primary for 8 days now.

Being that the gravity has changed, it's definitely fermenting, so that's good. But I guess my question now pertains to the affect that krausen will have on the beer. Being that I didn't aerate properly, so it seems, how's this stuff going to turn out? Off flavors due to the lack of O2?

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I did an experimental beer where I dumped the boiling wort directly into the fermenter and without any aeration, when it cooled to pitching temp I just dumped a package of dry yeast in, not even rehydrated. It's been several months and I can't tell any difference from an identical batch where I did things like I was supposed to. I'm nearly certain your beer will be fine.

Krausen isn't a necessity, it just happens. I wouldn't let that worry you at all.

RM-MN said:

I did an experimental beer where I dumped the boiling wort directly into the fermenter and without any aeration, when it cooled to pitching temp I just dumped a package of dry yeast in, not even rehydrated. It's been several months and I can't tell any difference from an identical batch where I did things like I was supposed to. I'm nearly certain your beer will be fine.

Krausen isn't a necessity, it just happens. I wouldn't let that worry you at all.

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Sorry to disagree here but a sure krausen is a sure fermentation. If you don't see a full krausen you've got a problem. You might produce ethyl alcohols that will get you inebriated, but the esters your looking for for certain flavors may not make their way out of the molecular process that takes place when the yeast metabolizes the sugar through fermentation.