Little or no krausen, but very active fermentation

Pitched my starter into my wort last night, and today, almost 24 hours later, there's almost no krausen - just a few assorted bubbles with no brown yeast rafts or anything. However, the wort is churning, the airlock is bubbling like mad, and very obviously in active fermentation.

Not worried. By all signs it's fine. Just odd... Could it be a sign that my washed yeast should be on it's last batch before I buy new?

Every time I think I know something about brewing, it throws a curveball... Keeps it interesting.

It is crazy but every fermentation is different. I have had low gravity brews blow off like crazy, high gravity brews just slowly chug along. Some go fast, some have slow activity.

It is obviously fermenting, so it will make beer.

enjoy.

Yep. Low-gravity blonde ale with the same yeast I always use for them last time decided it, during the only time I would be away for a couple days, would foam up so much it almost blew the top off by the time I got back. Never had an issue with blowoff with that much headspace before or since.

Can't predict what the little beasts will do...

There are many possible causes for this from poorly modified or old grain, adjuncts in the beer, to simple things such as the yeast just acting slightly differently. As beergolf said, every fermentation is different. I have brewed beers with coffee that fermented like crazy but had little to no krausen, same with a beer i did that had a lot of ginger. However, if its fermenting and churning away, I wouldn't be too worried.

In regards to your yeast washing question, how many times have you reused this yeast? If you have been using it for 4-5 generations it could easily be time to reculture or repurchase. If the yeast is relatively young in terms of number of generations, the beer turns out good, hits its terminal gravity, and tastes the way you expect with no off flavors that hint toward infection - then by all means wash it again and use it another few generations.

SirJoshuaIV said:

In regards to your yeast washing question, how many times have you reused this yeast? If you have been using it for 4-5 generations it could easily be time to reculture or repurchase. If the yeast is relatively young in terms of number of generations, the beer turns out good, hits its terminal gravity, and tastes the way you expect with no off flavors that hint toward infection - then by all means wash it again and use it another few generations.

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This is the third time the yeast has been used (second washing), it's US-05.

Well, today there's krausen. Weird. Took it long enough to show up!

Krausen is a lot like airlock bubbling, it's behavior or how it looks is irrevelent. Sometimes it comes and goes within hours, sometimes it stays for ever. It can be big or little or whatever, and it really doesn't have any specific correlation to how a beer is doing.

The ONLY thing that tells us anything is a gravity reading.

Revvy said:

The ONLY thing that tells us anything is a gravity reading.

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And sample glass to taste.