Bubbles but no Krausen

I've got bubbles but no krausen! Just a few little specs on top of the beer. No krausen line at all. Every batch that I've ever done has been over the fermentation hump in about 4-6 days. It's been 5 days on this stout that I brewed on Sunday and I still don't have krausen! I've never had an infection (except for the one I earned when I was 21 spending 3 weeks in Puerto Rico... ) but I digress.... WTF!?

let it ride out. everyone always panics- your beers fine. Whats was you SG and whats the gravity reading now? Do yourself a favor and before you worry about it take a gravity reading and compare to the previous one.

Yeah...have you used your hydrometer yet?

It may have finished out already....or it could be stuck...remember, "Think evaluaton before action (or panic.)"

And also remember no 2 fermentations are ever the same...we're dealing with living organisms here.

All of my fermentations have been pretty similar. I know if it's stuck it wont bubble. However, this is bubbling but not krausening. It's been doing this for about 4 days. I aerate with pure O2 also. My starting OG is 1.062. I usually let my average OG beers sit for about a month and a half before racking to keg so I never take successive hydro readings. I only take one for the FG. I've brewed at least 100 batches and I've never had this happen.... I never dump and always relax, constantly drinking homebrew.

Its fine...i had a beer do this to me...absolutley NO krausen but it was fermenting and it turned out great. But I was freaking out unlike you...you are staying calm

Haha, I'm more curious than anything. It's a Mint Dark Chocolate Stout that I'm brewing for Xmas. So, if it's infected, which has never happened to me, then I need to start another one. But I'll let it ride

So what ever happened to this beer? Was it fine? I'm having the same thing going on now, and I just figured it was because of the chocolate. I see yours is a chocolate beer too, so maybe that's the problem. It's fermenting nicely, although I haven't used my hydrometer yet, but I can see plenty of action going on.

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I wonder if there is any extra oils in the chocolate that could be preventing bubbles from forming...

I used 04, so I was expexting to see some action. I think like homer said, the fat from the chocolate is preventing the krausen to form. I thought I read on another thread that someone did a chocolate stout that blew tje lidd off their fermenter and blew krausen all over the place. They even warned of violent fermentation. It looks like there's an oil slick on top so I think the chocolate is the culprit. Ill give it 2 weeks and take a hydro sample to see what's going on in there

I made a chocolate porter with a 1.5L of WLP 007. bubbles were coming from the blow off tube within 5 hours. It just looks like a bubbling mud puddle. I use a better bottle so I can see the action in solution just no real krausen. I think the the previous posters and threads I have read are correct with regard to the chocolate being the culprit. I used 8 Oz and Hersey's unsweetened coco powder and 1 Oz unsweetened bakers chocolate at 60 minutes.

I brewed a stout Saturday that had chocolate malt in the grain bill and I am experiencing no krausen with an active airlock. I actually had a little krausen this morning then when I just checked later this afternoon the krausen was gone but bubbles were forming at the top. This is my 10th batch and I've never had this before. This is also the first stout I've ever brewed. I pitched a pack of Safeale 05. I've used this in the past with active fermentation and krausen. I'm wondering if it has something to due with the darker grains? I never added any chocolate to the primary. Just crazy!!

Update....I just checked the batch this morning and there is almost 2 inches of krausen that has formed. I am completely dumbfounded on how this batch is fermenting. About 16 hours post pitch there was a little krausen, then it fell and only bubbled for almost 2 days and now a "normal" looking fermentation. Maybe it just needed some time to form.

Yeast and fermentation are funky things - no two batches are alike - whether it be a difference in yeast, ingredients, pitch temp, fermenting temp - like golf - soooo many variables. Glad it's coming along! Enjoy your stout!

I'm experiencing almost the same thing as Depper. Brewed a 10gallon batch stout with spices that I chilled down to 80F and then split into two carboys. I left them in my fermentation fridge overnight and sprinkled a pack of S-05 into each at around 60F after blasting with some O2 the next morning. Had em all set up with blowoffs and didn't see any activity till the next day. What activity I did see was a very thin layer of krausen that was gone within hours. There's definitely bubbling going on and it's raised to 64F but this no krausen thing is stressin me out. I'm sure everything's fine and there are things I could have done better like rehydrating the yeast, pitching warmer, etc... but this is weird. This fermentation is nowhere near what I was expecting but I guess that's par for the course with brewing. Only thing I can do at this point is let it ride and hope for the best.

Well the chocolate Porter I did in April of 2015 never developed a Krausen but steadily bubbled and hit target FG. I control fermentation temp, made a starter, and pitched within optimal range and still no Krausen. It still turned out fine. No two batches are identical.

mnmlefrt said:

I left them in my fermentation fridge overnight and sprinkled a pack of S-05 into each at around

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mnmlefrt said:

What activity I did see was a very thin layer of krausen that was gone within hours. There's definitely bubbling going on and it's raised to 64F but this no krausen thing is stressin me out.

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This is very common with US05, at least in my personal experience. The beer always finishes up though so don't worry about it. This is one thing that I've really only ever experienced, and have experienced it several times, with US05 yeast (and yes rehydrated).


Rev.