No Bubbles!!!

No This Is Not My First Batch! Yes I Know Airlock Bubbles are as useless as a High Pressure Guage! Yes I needed somewhere to talk (and you guys are my emotional support group :cross

I brewed an american wheat monday:

4# Wheat
1# Flaked Wheat
5.5# 2-row
.5oz Perle
1056 American Ale

It is now thursday and there are no bubbles in the airlock?

It is setting in a 30G trashcan of 61F water which should keep the fermentation similar to that temp since I pitched just under 60F.

I guess its about time to pop the top and take a reading just didn't want to go through with that hassle and chance of infection quite yet(4/14 days).
I'll post results when done!

at 61 degrees, 1056 may be very sluggish. That's a really cool temperature for it.

How big was your starter? (Without a starter, I don't think you'll get activity any time soon at 61 degrees). That strains gets weird esters at low temperatures, by the way- sort of "peachy" or citrusy. If you want it cleaner, bring it up to 65-66 degrees or so.

From Wyeast's website:

Very clean, crisp flavor characteristics with low fruitiness and mild ester production. A very versatile yeast for styles that desire dominate malt and hop character. This strain makes a wonderful “House” strain. Mild citrus notes develop with cooler 60-66°F (15-19ºC) fermentations. Normally requires filtration for bright beers.

Origin:
Flocculation: Medium-Low
Attenuation: 73-77%
Temperature Range: 60-72F, 15-22C
Alcohol Tolerance: 11% ABV

Well I have been awakened...I opened the top of the fermenter and what did I see? A profusion of foam and a krausen ring staring at me! Without the chance of infectioning set in, I closed the lid sanitized and gave a big grin. As I had originaly thought, beware of the airlock..belief in it just may get you caught!!

BTW that is the temp of the water around the fermenter, there for based off of the thermal energy created by my wonderful little yeasties, the temp in the fermenter should be 3-5F warmer..no?

jtupper said:

Well I have been awakened...I opened the top of the fermenter and what did I see? A profusion of foam and a krausen ring staring at me! Without the change of infectioning set in. I closed the lid sanitized and gave a big grin. As I had originaly thought, beware of the airlock..belief in it just may get you caught!!

BTW that is the temp of the water around the fermenter, there for based off of the thermal energy created by my wonderful little yeasties, the temp in the fermenter should be 3-5F warmer..no?

Click to expand...

Glad to hear it's going!

My experience is that the water bath is more or less the same temperature as the beer inside the fermenter. Water is a great insulator, and the temperature is about the same if the fermenter is surrounded with water.

Sweet I'll add a couple quarts of boiiling to bring it to aroun 67F but wait...you said citrusy esters right? Well this is an american wheat....so maybe some peach wouldn't be bad...Maybe I'll wait a few days and then raise the temp up to 70F ....

Thoughts?

I always use a water bath. I put my fermenter in my MLT and then fill it up with water to the same level as the wort in the fermenter.

Sometime last year or maybe the year before, I spent a couple weeks checking temps throughout fermentation with calibrated thermometers both inside the fermenter and outside checking the water in the cooler, and what yooper said is true for the most part. The temps will be the same except when the temperature is changing rapidly (e.g. you add ice bottles to the outside to cool it down, or you drop a bucket of hot wort into a cool bath) and within an hour or two they tend to equalize anyway.

jtupper said:

Sweet I'll add a couple quarts of boiiling to bring it to aroun 67F but wait...you said citrusy esters right? Well this is an american wheat....so maybe some peach wouldn't be bad...Maybe I'll wait a few days and then raise the temp up to 70F ....

Thoughts?

Click to expand...

Yeah, it's sort of "peachy" even though their website says citrusy. I bet it'll be good, actually!

Well hell....Thats what the whole homebrew thing is about so here we go 61F peachy expirement!!! Let's see what happens

Ok so day 7 is here..Checked the gravity and I am a little confused. I am still at a pretty high krausen wich is expected as I pulled the fermenter from the waterbath two days ago. Here is my question though...My gravity reading(double checked with two hydrometers) is around 1.010-1.012 (a lot of foaming made it hard to decifer). This reading says my fermentation is done yet can I rack with the high krausen or should I wait for it to fall? any help would be appriciated.

Thanks in advance.

Also there is quite a buttery taste to this beer. Is that normal with the 1056 and wheat beers. I understand it is an ale so diacytl isn't nesisarilly a bad thing but i don't want to drink liquid butter either. Should I be worried.

jtupper said:

Ok so day 7 is here..Checked the gravity and I am a little confused. I am still at a pretty high krausen wich is expected as I pulled the fermenter from the waterbath two days ago. Here is my question though...My gravity reading(double checked with two hydrometers) is around 1.010-1.012 (a lot of foaming made it hard to decifer). This reading says my fermentation is done yet can I rack with the high krausen or should I wait for it to fall? any help would be appriciated.

Thanks in advance.

Also there is quite a buttery taste to this beer. Is that normal with the 1056 and wheat beers. I understand it is an ale so diacytl isn't nesisarilly a bad thing but i don't want to drink liquid butter either. Should I be worried.

Click to expand...

Wheat beers take a while for the krausen to fall. 7 days is a little early to rack, I'd give it another week, but it is technically safe to rack

Well I checked again today and the krausen is mostly gone but it still has a cloyingly sweet mouthfeel to it. Butter us still what comes to mind. With this subside when carbing? This is my first all grain wheat and it's an original recipe.

FWIW
5lbs 2-row
4lbs wheat
1lb flaked wheat

.5 oz perle

1056 WYeast