4 strange fermentations

[JonClayton]

I brewed 10 gallons of AG robust porter and 10 gallons of AG biermunchers Oktoberfast on Saturday. Both were mashed in the 157 range to produce full body and split into 4 carboys. 2 carboys are 6.5 gallon glass (porter), 2 are 6 gallon better bottles (o'fest). The porter was pitched with rehydrated US-05, the o'fest with rehydrated us-04. All yeast was in date.

All carboys showed signs of fermentation after 12-18 hour lag time, however, neither o'fest has even a hint of krausen. One porter has a somewhat normal but smaller than I usually see with 05 krausen, the second porter has a hint of krausen. All beers are bubbling the airlock, and the surface of the beers show a constant stream of 02 bubbling on the surface.

I have brewed for many years and I know that bubbling is not a sure sign of anything. I plan to take a gravity reading tonight to verify that fermentation is occurring. I have never in all my my years seen this behavior, especially not on 4 carboys at once.

The only thing I can think of is oxyclean. I know for sure that the two better bottles were cleaned with an extended soak of oxyclean. That is my standard procedure for better bottles. I am not sure that the glass carboys were last cleaned with oxy as it has been a while since they were in use. All carboys were sanitized with starsan before use on saturday but I am guessing perhaps there was an oxyclean film residue inside? Would this perhaps cause what I am seeing?

 

[ColoHox]

So, its only been 72 hours? What temperature are they at?

The Krausen is coming, just wait.

 

[JonClayton]

Hi ColoHox, yes, pitched Saturday evening late so ~65 hours. Hopefully I am being impatient. They are at 72 degrees ambient.

 

[kombat]

They are at 72 degrees ambient.

Come again? You're fermenting them sans temperature control, in a room at 72° F ambient temperature? Are you employing any mitigating temperature methods at all, i.e. swamp cooler, fan, etc.?

If not, then don't worry, you'll get your krausen soon enough, in addition to a handful of blowouts. That's much warmer than I'd be comfortable fermenting those yeasts at, but I don't have the full story.

 

[JonClayton]

Yes, fermenting in my house that stays between 70-72 degrees. These are ale yeast, why would that temperature cause an issue? My temp controlled fridge is tied up with a spediel 60L full of o'fest lager, but, typically I do all standard ales in the house with no temp control.

I am not trying to sound defensive, just genuinely curious is 70-72 degrees is a problem on 5 gallon bathes of ale?

 

[ColoHox]

Your actively fermenting beer can climb 5-10 degrees during fermentation. Fermentation generates a lot of heat. So at 72F ambient, your beer might be fermenting at >80F.

Fermenting at this temp could be fine in some cases (like a saison), or it can cause a handful of off-flavors. If you want your beer to ferment at 70F, your room (or fridge/chamber) should be around 60-65F.

 

[kombat]

What ColoHox said.

I ferment my ales with US-05 in the ferm chamber set to 17.5° C +/- 0.3° C (63.5° F +/- 0.5° F) with a thermowell. The beer itself never gets warmer than 64° F or cooler than 63° F, and I get a nice, clean ale profile in my beers. Letting it rise to 80° would definitely throw off a lot of complex (and, in my opinion, undesirable) flavours.

 

[blizz81]

I am not trying to sound defensive, just genuinely curious is 70-72 degrees is a problem on 5 gallon bathes of ale?

It definitely is (in my opinion) with S-04. I had that in a ferm chamber set for 66*F and it blew out on me (loose-hanging / ambient probe, it was the yeast that had me stop doing that after plenty of beers that were fine).


Also, S-04 + high temp + oktoberfest....you might be drinking it in October, I guess, but that's probably about all it will have in common with a Märzen. (Not saying it won't be drinkable)

 

[blizz81]

To your original question, I would kind of expect those babies to take off sooner than later (especially if the dried yeast was rehydrated and / or aeration was performed), given they are sitting fairly warm. I haven't used oxyclean to clean ferm vessels (but do use PBW), but I think a lot of people do, so I don't know that that would be the cause. Assuming you do a good rinse right after the oxyclean run?

 

[kh54s10]

I use oxyclean all the time. I have let the solution sit in my Better Bottles for as long as a week. My water seems good as Starsan never clouds. The pH stays stable and Oxyclean rinses easily. Unless you saw an oxyclean scum I doubt that is the problem.

Two things I see of note. You mashed at what I would say was a very high temperature I do my Stouts and Porters at 152 to 154. I would do an Octoberfest at 148-150.
Your fermentation temperature is WAY high. I ferment those strains at about 65 degrees. Remember the wort temperature is going to go 5-10 degrees above ambient during fermentation.

That does not really explain the differing krausens. But I never worry about that as long as I see signs of fermentation. And I end up with a decent FG. But the Octoberfests should show some krausen.

Then again with those high fermentation temperatures I would expect massive krausens.....

 

[Hello]

So, its only been 72 hours? What temperature are they at?

The Krausen is coming, just wait.

He is right.