tons of trub, no krausen or foam

Hey all,

I'm relatively new to brewing, having done about 6 batches so far. My latest batch is a Gingerbread Brown Christmas Spiced Ale using Wyeast 1728 Scottish Ale Yeast. Ordered it from AIH.

So I brewed last night and pitched the yeast at around 11pm. Smack pack was nice and swollen. Temp at pitch was 72F. I did forget to take an initial gravity reading as I was trying to get **** done and get to bed at a decent time.

Anyways, I did a 5 gallon batch and pitched into my 5 gallon glass carboy with a blow-off tube. This carboy has a decent amount of head space, so I used the blow-off just in case. I would have used my 6.5 gallon ale pale, but that has another batch going.

So here it is as I write this at around 6pm the next day. 18 hours later. There is ZERO signs of any krausen or existence of any. The weird thing is there is a yeast cake on the bottom over an inch thick, I would say even 1.5 inches possibly. The blow-off tube is bubbling, but it's pretty slow, so I know there is Co2 present.

Did this already ferment that fast? Is this a high flocking yeast? Where is all the krausen? I have never NOT had a krausen layer before. I know the yeast was healthy as the smack pack was ready to burst.

What's going on here? Can anyone chime in?

Thanks!

 

Check back in 24 hours. I'll bet you a beer things will change.

18 hours to do it's thing would be mighty quick (though not unheard of). 24 hours however to get things really rolling with a small pitch is much more the norm.

 

It is just weird. That surface is clean. No ring, no bubbles, no yeast rafts. There is obviously Co2. This beer isn't really high in ABV, almost a session beer really. It is supposed to be 4.7%. Being as I forgot to check the OG, I can only go by the FG to gauge it.

I have another brew using the same exact yeast and there is a thick layer of krausen. Of course that brew also uses a pound of lactose I believe. It's the Mint Chocolate Chip Stout also from AIH. How can there be ZERO signs of krausen and tons of trub that quick? Every time I've checked it, nothing. Unless it took off overnight and ended this AM before I got up and flocked, I'm just confused.

 

I had a similar series of events with an American Brown Ale, this wasn't a high gravity beer as well. There was radio silence until ~ 36 hours after pitching and then it took off as normal. I believe I had under pitched, as I was trying to be precise with my yeast rehydration... to no avail. However, this tasted delicious when going into the bottles so no harm was done!

From what I've read, smack packs can also lose their live yeast cell count rather quickly. Could be an explanation if it is an under pitch.

 

Ya, but did you have no signs of ANY krausen? That yeast was alive and kicking. That smack pack was swollen thick and I know those yeast were ready to explode. Never had any issues using Wyeast before. Who knows. I'll take a reading after a week and see what's going on. It's just that having that thick of a yeast cake so soon is just unreal. I can't be alone in this.

 

Lactos is an unfermemtable sugar. Try to be patient, if you did everything right it'll get going.

 

There was no lactose in this batch that I'm confused by. I was just pointing out another batch that had it.

 

I got that. Be patient.....

 

It is too early to be really worried. I assume you did not make a yeast starter. You should have.

I expect that you will see something in the morning.

 

I will and I hear ya. I do want to ask though, if all that yeast has flocked this quick, how in the heck is it still going to ferment? Do yeast lay dormant on the bottom waiting to go to town? Anyways, thanks for the reply. I'll come back in 24 hours and report what's going on.

 

1728 is known to be slow, particularly without a yeast starter. Let us know how it goes.

 

Most of what you're seeing is not yeast. It's trub - cold break, proteins, and yes, some yeast. I suspect you are seeing some krausen by now. Even if you aren't, don't sweat it. I recently had a DIPA that set a new personal record - 84 hours to krausen. Came out great. I routinely have brews take 36-48 hours to show activity. The yeast are just feeding and multiplyng and they will soon bust out into party mode. Relax, don't worry, yada, yada, yada

 

UPDATE:

Late last night I started seeing yeast rafts and krausen starting to form around the edges. Woke up to this: Thank God I didn't take that bet.

 

Glad it all worked out

 

I know the first 24 hours can be tough, but your patience paid off. Enjoy your holiday brew. AIH makes some solid stuff!