Krausen has passed?

Got a good question, I brewed up a five gallon batch of Irish red ale partial mash Sunday. Pitched the dry yeast about 6pm or so. Noticed some bubbles in the lock (I know that's not the correct way to check) the past two days, came home from tonight work noticed no bubbles what so ever. I'm fermenting in a ale pale, so I can't see in. I picked up the bucket set on my counter top and looked through it.

I saw the level has dropped about two/three inch's and there is a ring around the bucket, with no noticeable head on it.

Is it possible that the Krausen has come and passed? I want to open the bucket and take a reading and check, but I'm kind of afraid to. I don't want to screw anything up. Which I could have already by messing with the bucket and some onestep dripping in from the lock.

The OG was 1.040 right before I pitched and it called for 1.042-46.

Any ideas?

A krausen ring is a good sign that something happened. If you're desperate to measure it just make sure your sanitary. Personally, I don't bother measuring for at least a week. I ferment in buckets as well and only rarely see airlock activity, but often see evidence of a krausen ring and, yes, they can come and go in a matter of days.

Thanks for the answer, I've been pretty anal about my temp, it never went below or above 70*. The only unease I have right now is the onestep that spilled in, but from what I read it isn't a issue.

Guess, all is well and I'll wait till Friday measure and the rack over into the carboy.

What type of beer is this? There may be no need to transfer to a carboy for secondary. At one week, I usually pull the stopper out of the bucket to take a quick measurement. Usually it's fully fermented at that point. I just resanitize the stopper and put it back in and forget about the beer for two more weeks. At that point, I do a final gravity check to make sure it hasn't moved and go ahead and keg/bottle.

Shooter said:

What type of beer is this?

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Irish Red Ale; A partial mash kit from Midwest. Dry yeast (default)

It's your call, but I wouldn't bother with secondary. A lot of brewers have moved away from using a secondary and just do an extended primary. The main reasons to do one would be if you were going to bulk age the beer, dry hop or add fruit.

No ****? Then I'll just use the car-boy for primary then from now on.

I didn't see what yeast you were using. Nottinghams usually finishes fast. I let it sit for a few days extra. The ring is probably where the kreusen raised and trhen fell back.

Use a streile syring and chech you specific gravity. What was the final gravity your recipe called for?

Good Luck.

Ti28 said:

No ****? Then I'll just use the car-boy for primary then from now on.

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How big is your carboy? The only concern here is that your kit came with a smaller five gallon carboy assuming it would be used as a secondary. If so, it can still be used as a primary, but you should rig a blow off tube if that is the case. If it is a 6.5 gallon carboy you'll have a little more headspace to act as a buffer during primary fermentation. However, I've had blow offs using a 7 gallon bucket. So, it's never a sure bet. Even if it is a smaller carboy and you are worried about headspace it will still make a fine secondary. There are times when a secondary can be a good idea. It would also work great for smaller batches.

Dynachrome said:

I didn't see what yeast you were using. Nottinghams usually finishes fast. I let it sit for a few days extra. The ring is probably where the kreusen raised and trhen fell back.

Use a streile syring and chech you specific gravity. What was the final gravity your recipe called for?

Good Luck.

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The yeast was the default dry, no clue which one it was. Calls for a FG of 1.010-12

Shooter said:

How big is your carboy? The only concern here is that your kit came with a smaller five gallon carboy assuming it would be used as a secondary. If so, it can still be used as a primary, but you should rig a blow off tube if that is the case. If it is a 6.5 gallon carboy you'll have a little more headspace to act as a buffer during primary fermentation. However, I've had blow offs using a 7 gallon bucket. So, it's never a sure bet. Even if it is a smaller carboy and you are worried about headspace it will still make a fine secondary. There are times when a secondary can be a good idea. It would also work great for smaller batches.

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5 gal glass car-boy. Point taken.

I brewed my first batch in my carboy this last weekend. I was super excited to watch all the activity, but its a stout so I dont really get to see much (esp since theres not much light in my ferment chamber)

My krausen showed up within several hours (had a nice starter going) and then dropped nearly completely out, andddddddd now its been back for several days

Rather than secondary, depending on how youre controlling temp, you could cold crash. I'm contemplating cold crashing my stout. Additionally, I'm considering cold crashing in carboy primary, racking to secondary and keeping cold for a week or two and then bottling, just to try it out

ctufano said:

Rather than secondary, depending on how youre controlling temp, you could cold crash. I'm contemplating cold crashing my stout. Additionally, I'm considering cold crashing in carboy primary, racking to secondary and keeping cold for a week or two and then bottling, just to try it out

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Controlling temps by just using my central air. 1st night I noticed my temp was almost at 71* and my air was set at 70*, so I bumped my air down to 69* and my bucket temp dropped to 70* and has stayed there since.

It would be nice to cold crash, but I don't have a way to drop it that low. And the girl won't go for a 5 gal bucket in the fridge.