Krausen writes another chapter

[oguss0311]

So I brewed a wit...A PM with 8 lbs of grain and a few WDME,etc. But I had cultured yeast from Brewery Omegang's (SP?) Wit- and had steped it up too. I poured this first attempt at brewing with a cultured yeast into the primary and it did great. But the Krausen level never would settle. After a solid 10 days, (Several without airlock activity- I should add) I swirled the carboy to see if things would settle....They did! Clear at the top. So I thought it would stay that way. It did not. (And still- not airlock activity... I sat and watched for quite a while.) Today made a solid 14 days since active fermentation began, so I took a reading. 1.012. I had "Cleared" the top twice already- so I racked to the keg, and drank the gravity reading. Damn its good!
Has anyone ever had seriously Active krausen levels without at least an observable amount of airlock activity?
I was not using a three piece airlock- I was using an "S" curse one. And my fluid levels were equally balanced, not all to one side like when it slowly bubbles every few min. Odd.
Who has seen such behavior from yeast before?

 

[EinGutesBier]

My 8 gallon batch of Saison was extremely vigorous in the first several days and I never saw a single bubble from my blow off tube. I figure the CO2 probably remained mostly in the vessel and got back into the beer. Either way, the beer is fine. If your gravity readings suggest that attenuation occurred and the sample tastes great, don't worry about it. As you know, bubbles aren't indicative of fermentation.

 

[Nyxator]

I used Wyeast 1338 for a maple porter I made. Man, that was one stubborn krausen. It literally never settled. I had the thing in the primary for three weeks and after it hit it's (what I though was close to) FG, the thing developed another krausen in the secondary. Weird. It tasted great though.

It was a stubborn fermentation, too.

 

[jds]

I just kegged a wit using WLP400. It, too, had a very stubborn and rocky krausen that never fell. I think this may be a characteristic of wit beers.

 

[oguss0311]

Thanks for the responses! I'm glad that similar things have happened with store bought yeast. This was my first time using yeast harvested from a bottle, and I was starting to consider the possibility that something I had done was responsible for the thick krausen.