Krausen as a I sign of fermentation?

Hey guys,

I brewed up a trappist recently - Sunday night. So it's been a little over 36 hours and I have yet to see a bubble. I thought maybe the swamp cooler temp is too low (64-66 ish), but I popped the lid just to take a peek. There is a good layer of white foam that I am thinking is krausen, not the foam from aerating.

Am I correct in thinking that krausen is a sign of fermentation regardless of what the airlock does?

Thanks!

Yep, I have an Abbey that did the same thing in a Carboy that I know is airtight. Churned like it was on the stove boiling for 4 days, thick krausen and not a single gas bubble in the air lock. What yeast did you use?

I've had that happen, and it was always because air was escaping from somewhere other than the airlock.

Wyeast 3787 - I think another reason I am all jumpy is because the pack didn't swell up as full as they normally do. I know that's not a sign of bad yeast per se - but maybe I have demented inbred yeast who are confused as to their job...

Everytime I've had obvious signs of active fermentation without bubbling it has been due to poorly sealed airlocks. Sometimes it was surprising how small the leak needs to be.

I had to use a knife to trim and smooth the flange from the plastic mold on the airlock. That improved some but was not sufficient by itself. What finally cured it was greasing the airlock tube with plumber's grease then inserting it into the stopper. The grease does the job of sealing off the micro-channels between airlock and rubber.