Home-malted wheat beer - stuck fermentation?

Hi guys,

I'll get right to the point, since I suspect this may be one of those paranoid-no-problem threads. I've got a weisbier on the go that I started using 60/40 wheat malt / marris otter. I malted the wheat myself. First time. Starting gravity was 1.040, and I went light on the hallertau hops.

I pitched a Wyeast Weizen 3068 and didn't see any action for about 8 hours, at which point the beer started bubbling rapidly and happily, and soon there was about 1 inch of krausen. 30 hours later, it's barely bubbling at all. Like, maybe once a minute. Maybe.

Now, it's been a while since I brewed at home, and I can't for the life of me remember how long the rapid first fermentation goes, but I thought it was longer than that. As an oversight, I didn't aerate the wort.

So, paranoia, or is there an issue here?

Thanks all,
-Verge

Let it sit at least 3 more days and take a gravity reading. Then check back in.

Verge said:

Hi guys,

I'll get right to the point, since I suspect this may be one of those paranoid-no-problem threads. I've got a weisbier on the go that I started using 60/40 wheat malt / marris otter. I malted the wheat myself. First time. Starting gravity was 1.040, and I went light on the hallertau hops.

I pitched a Wyeast Weizen 3068 and didn't see any action for about 8 hours, at which point the beer started bubbling rapidly and happily, and soon there was about 1 inch of krausen. 30 hours later, it's barely bubbling at all. Like, maybe once a minute. Maybe.

Now, it's been a while since I brewed at home, and I can't for the life of me remember how long the rapid first fermentation goes, but I thought it was longer than that. As an oversight, I didn't aerate the wort.

So, paranoia, or is there an issue here?

Thanks all,
-Verge

Click to expand...

The amount of time that the yeast are normally very active can vary a bit depending on what yeast you used, the OG of the wort, and the temperature at which it ferments. With activity showing at 8 hours, your beer took off much quicker than mine and with the 1.040 starting gravity I would expect mine to be pretty close to final gravity by the end of the third day. The yeast still need time to convert the intermediate products of fermentation but that will be a "silent" ferment, no activity at the airlock or much stirring of the beer either.