Wyeast Scottish Ale yeast, hardly any krausen

Is this normal for this strand? I've only used 05, Nottingham, and Wyeast 3068 and they all had decent to huge krausens. This one never really made it above a quarter inch thick and is actually beginning to fall back into the beer now after 1 week.

 

IMO, you can't use krausen to judge "normal" fermentation, they are all different from one brew to the next depending on: Temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, moon phase, brew procedures, brew ingredients, etc, etc. It sounds like it is "on schedule" however.

 

I brewed a Scottish Ale two weeks ago and used White Labs WLP028. There was noticeably less krausen then I had ever had before with other strains - I used a 1L starter with an O.G. of 1.052. It still has another week or so before I bottle it, but there seemed to be normal airlock activity, and still bubbles once every minute or two at two weeks in. I wouldn't worry, I'm sure it will turn out just fine.

 

I just like to know the characteristics of the yeast so I can account for less headspace in the future.

 

I started a batch yesterday of Walker's Grabuach 80/ o.g. 1.050 with the wyesast. There is about a centimeter of foam this morning, fermenting at 62*f. nothing special. You could ferment this yeast down to 55* which would probably keep the krausen quite minimal.

 

Yeah, I think it depends. I just used this yeast on a RIS (OG 1.101) at a fairly high temperature (70+ degrees) with a small starter. I had to use a blow-off tube on my Ale Pail, which had like a gallon of head-space.

 

What kind of flavors did you get with it that warm? Or is the RIS just covering it up? Someone told me it will enhance smokiness and was thinking of a smoked porter or something with it.

 

So far, so good. It's bottled, but not carbed or properly aged yet, so I don't know the final flavors. The yeast temperature range says it goes up to 75.

The samples I've tasted were actually pretty good. Yes, it is smokey. The yeast smokiness, combines with the roasted malt and spices I added (including black pepper) give it a very smokey, almost burnt flavor. But that, combined with the other spices and flavors of the stout, won't be overpowering with some aging I think.

There are esters as well. The whole bucket smelled like bananas while it was fermenting, but the taste itself is not very fruity. Again, this could very likely be due to the other strong flavors of the beer.

 

My last experience with this strain was the most stupidly violent fermentation I'd ever seen. I had probably 8 inch of headspace and these suckers still managed to blow the lid off. I don't know if that's typical for this strain, but I would still allow the possibility for a heafty krausen when using this strain otherwise you may be as surprised as I was.

 

I'm making a pumpkin ale with 1728 right now, and I've noticed a very small krausen with my starter (at 19*C). That being said, the airlock is very active. I'm curious to see what this'll do in primary.

 

I used 1728 on a pale ale I started on 1/2/11... I was expecting a lot of foam, since I usually get that when I use a starter. Not a ton of foam, but some. Maybe an inch, or so... My brewery tends to hover in the lower 60's this time of year (62-68F), which is one of the reasons I picked the yeast.

I'm bringing a small sample to the brew day today, to get second opinions on it. Not 100% if it's ready for bottling just yet, since it is only 3 weeks in primary. Might let it ride until next weekend before putting into bottles.

 

Pitched the yeast from the started and got a krausen about to-scale of the starter, as I had expected. It's maybe 1.5 - 2.5 inches, although its going down a bit now in day 3.

One thing I really noticed here was that it took a little while for any visible signs of fermentation to get underway. Usually you'd expect the krausen in the first 24-hours, but this only happened for me at the second day in.

 

I think you'll get a better end result from a less violent fermentation. Just my experience so far. The one brew that I had take off like a rocket had some harsh flavors to it. After almost two months (fermentation plus aging time) it's mellowed out more than a bit... The oak chips it's been sitting on for close to two weeks can't hurt either.

 

+1 to this, I like to ferment my scottish and scotch ales at almost lager temperatures, maybe 55-60F. But then I usually also bulk condition them for a while after fermentation at say 40ish. The wee heavies really benefit from this as the end result will be smoother and maltier.

Keep on brewing my friends

 

I just brewed a Scottish 80. Fermenting since Sunday. The krausen was noticeably smaller than every other beer/yeast combo I've tried to date. krausen is now basically gone two days later, but still bubbling away.

 

Did a strong scotch ale and now a dry stout with the wyeast scotch strain, both have been relatively subdued fermentations, with low krausen.

 

Yeah I redid another Scottish Ale beer and it had a small krausen again so it just looks like the yeast has a tendency for smaller krausens. But this one I did at 48 degrees so it doesn't surprise me.

 

This is definitely a weird yeast in this capacity. I use it a fair amount, and most of the time, it's like you say - minimal kraeusen. Every now and again, it comes out of nowhere with a massive amount of activity and blow off (which I'm usually not expecting). It isn't consistent across temperature or beer type/gravity, that I can tell, so I don't know what causes it.

 

I did an 80 shilling on sunday, too, and have had the same results. Lol.