8th batch, odd start to fermentation

[pursuit0fhoppiness]

Hey all, brewed my 8th batch Wednesday evening (2.5 days ago) and pitched my yeast at a few degrees above my fermentation temp as a friend came over. Brewed a milk stout and put 15L in fermenter when my last few have only been 10-11L in my 23L fermenter, and still had no airlock bubbling as of this morning. All my other batches had krausen and airlock bubbling even with lower volumes so I thought this was weird.

So I opened my airlock to take a peak inside, and saw a lot of bubbles but no krausen. Decided to take an SG reading and to my surprise it was already 1.020 after my OG was 1.047! I'm pretty sure my fermenter was sealed properly, is it possible to have a calm clean fermentation sometimes with no krausen?

 

[Gagunga]

What do you ferment in? Brew bucket? Carboy? In my experience so far it is easy to not get a perfect seal on both. The brew bucket lids can be ever so slightly warped or burred from the manufacturer leaving enough room for CO2 to escape with minimal airlock action. With airlocks in a carboy, if they were put in wet (example: dripping with starsan), sometimes they will slowly inch themselves up. Sounds like the yeasties are doing their thing none the less! What type of yeast did you use?

 

[pursuit0fhoppiness]

Just using plastic bucket fermenters for now (and this one is actually a brand new one). I've experienced airlocks sliding up a bit when wet before so try to let them dry now, and mine seemed to be in well for this one. Even if I had some air escaping somewhere, wouldn't I still expect to see krausen?

Using WLP001 cali ale (have used in past too).

 

[pursuit0fhoppiness]

One more question.. Chilled and tasted my sample, and it wasn't as sweet as I had hoped. Possibly because I ended up with quite a bit more wort in my kettle and fermenter than I expected, so my ingredient amounts (including lactose) might have been a bit low for the total volume. If I added lactose to my bottling bucket with the priming dextrose would it dissolve into the beer or all settle at the bottom of the bottles?

 

[RM-MN]

Your krausen may have already fallen so all you would see is a krausen ring left behind on the wall of the bucket. Let it go a few more days and see if the hydrometer reading has gone down. Bucket lids are notorious leakers and you may have no bubbles or even any movement in the airlock.

I've not added lactose at bottling but since you are going to add priming sugar you will be dissolving that in hot water to ensure sanitation and mixing so just add a little more water and mix the lactose into it with the priming sugar if you decide you really need the lactose at that point.

 

[balrog]

I had WY1450 do that to me, OP, but I definitely saw the ring around the top liquid level. The proof in the pudding is of course your hyrdrometer reading, and you likely have a big sediment layer in the bottom of your bucket as well.

 

[kh54s10]

Well, you found out that a bubbling or non-bubbling airlock really doesn't mean much. You also saw that the amount or length of krausen on the beer doesn't mean much.

What was the temperature "a few degrees above pitching temperature"? What temperature do you use for fermenting? Warmer is faster but not always better.

 

[pursuit0fhoppiness]

Thanks guys. Fermenting at 21C and pitched at probably 25ish. I'll have another taste for sweetness and decide on the lactose