80 hours in, light krausen, little bubbling, NOTHING THROUGH BLOW OFF!

Alright...

I'm about 80 hours in to my wheat brew. It still stinks like crazy, there is some krausen growing. But, there has been nothing to go through the blow off. Is this normal? Do some brews send nothing through the blow off? What should I expect over the next two weeks in the primary? When would I want to airlock it?

Thanks,
Chris

What's your fermentation temp?

You might want to grab a sample, and take a SG reading.

I've had ONE blow off in 5 years. The goal isn't to blow off, the goal is to make great beer. If your fermenter is big enough, you may never have krausen even reaching the top. That's what I do- ferment in an 8 gallon bucket so I have plenty of headspace. Co2 is still generated, and might be sneaking out without bubbling in an airlock or in a blow off tube.

Keep the beer at the optimum fermentation temperature (fermenting beers generate some heat), and you'll be fine!

It's still fine. Try not to worry. 80 hours is too early to tell much. Since you have some fermentation activity, your yeast are working. Even though there are billions of them working around the clock, it will take them a couple more weeks to finish the job. By the end, they will turn you wort into beer. In the process, they will make it smell and taste good.

Whether or not you even need a blow-off tube at all just depends on how much you're brewing in a given size container. Some recipes just don't have the volcanic activity of others either. The bottom line is it doesn't matter one bit. As long as fermentation is happening, who cares! Look at it this way - you have less to clean up if it doesn't blow off. You can put the airlock in whenever you reach the point where the blow-off tube is no longer needed. In your case, it sounds like you may be there. If you're not sure, just keep the tube in (with the end in the water) until you are sure the activity is low enough not to pop an airlock. Relax.

Everything's going fine, and you're complaining/worried because something ABNORMAL isn't happening? You don't really want blowoff happenning. It makes for a mess to have to clean up...



You're beer's fine, just leave it alone, whether you have an airlock, blowoff tube, or piece of tinfoil over the grommet hole. It doesn't matter. What does matter is that your beer is fermenting, which it is...and that's a good thing.

Ok, thanks everyone. Staying patient. But, just have lots of questions. Im learning that no brew is going to react the same way as any other brew, unless it's the same and everything is done the same way. And even then it might not.

It is currently sitting at about 66-68 degrees. Cool and dark. I think I'll pop the airlock on at the end of the weekend and then wait another 2 weeks to transfer to secondary.

Here's to hopping!

Chris

Blow off tubes are RECOMMENDED, but not REQUIRED for every batch. there is always the possibility of them going boom. My first would have if I didn't have a blowoff rigged up. Fortunatly I did. it forced out alot of hop bits through the tube.