WLP400 question

[Stevesauer]

Hello. I brewed my first witbier last night. I used wlp400 pitched at 70 with a 1 liter starter. To aerate, I shook the hell out of the fermenter. My temp has been holding around 65 according to adhesive tthermometer. Upon returning from work, I noticed there is no visible activity. This is about 23 hours since pitching. I popped the lid and had a look and there is krausen and yeast at the surface. Why no bubbling? Perhaps because I'm using 3/8 ID tubing shoved directly into the grommet as a blow off? I ran out and grabbed a brew belt and threw it on. Seeing as how my temp wasn't climbing as is normal when fermentation is underway, I'm thinking maybe higher temps are needed. Am I over thinking this? I've read all over here this yeast can be difficult. Also, any suggestions on what temp should try to settle on? Maybe 72? Thanks in advance.

 

[F_R_O_G]

don't go any warmer, adding heat will not kickstart fermentation. also bubbles are not a good way to check fermentation. the only sure way is to check the gravity. but you said there's krausen on the surface so i would suspect that you have already started fermentation. it will probably be done by the time you read this post...

 

[m00ps]

When I use WLP400, I pitch in the low 60s and let it free rise a bit above 70F. No off flavors yet and gives a typical citrus tangy wit character.

No visible activity after 23 hrs ins't uncommon at all. Just stop messing with its temperature or you'll get off flavors

 

[LLBeanJ]

Bubbles or no bubbles in the airlock/blowoff, the presence of krausen is a sure sign of active fermentation. Let it ride for now and when the krausen begins to clear, bump it up to around 70 to help it finish out.

 

[Stevesauer]

Thanks for the replies. Never had that happen before and was a bit confused.

 

[joshesmusica]

this yeast strain is a weird one for sure. i usually bottle my beers at about 2 weeks in primary. some people said to wait longer with this one. waited until 3 weeks. still had a small layer of what seemed to be krausen. weirdest thing i've seen.

 

[agentindemand]

Takes forever to get going and has huge Krausen. I had a 1/3 of the Carboy in headspace and thought I didn't need a blow off tube. That was a mistake. Looked like a volcano erupted

Produces delicious and slightly sour fruit flavours in the mid 60's.

 

[agentindemand]

this yeast strain is a weird one for sure. i usually bottle my beers at about 2 weeks in primary. some people said to wait longer with this one. waited until 3 weeks. still had a small layer of what seemed to be krausen. weirdest thing i've seen.

I had 2nd krausen appear at 2-3 week mark too. I wasn't sure if I should bottle it or not. I ended up moving it to secondary for a week and it cleared right up.

 

[agentindemand]

this yeast strain is a weird one for sure. i usually bottle my beers at about 2 weeks in primary. some people said to wait longer with this one. waited until 3 weeks. still had a small layer of what seemed to be krausen. weirdest thing i've seen.

I had 2nd krausen appear at 2-3 week mark too. I wasn't sure if I should bottle it or not. I ended up moving it to secondary for a week and it cleared right up.

 

[millsbrew]

I had 2nd krausen appear at 2-3 week mark too. I wasn't sure if I should bottle it or not. I ended up moving it to secondary for a week and it cleared right up.

I've read this before as well. I was actually looking for other people talking about WLP400 because my krausen started dropping after only 2.5 days. I did a 5g batch with an OG of 1.085, hit it with O2 for 20 seconds, then pitched a 2L starter at 70 before putting into ferm chamber at 72. I'm concerned I overpitched or over-oxygenated. Basically, it seems WLP400 is a strange beast.

Seems we are both in the "wait-and-see" bucket for now.

 

[fun4stuff]

Had a similar thing occur with my last bucket fermentation batch. I had krausen shoot out my blow off for a couple hours but then no bubbles. I switched to a 3 piece airlock and still had no airbubbles. Then, I taped between the bucket lid and bucket to provide a better seal and I started to get bubbles.

After doing a search on these forums it appears that it is pretty common for the fermentation buckets to not be CO2 tight and not get bubbles as a result. I don't think this really adversely affects primary fermentation, but maybe it would be an issue if you were going to leave it in the bucket for an extended period of time (risk of oxidation)??