All foam, no bubbles

[whovous]

This is my tenth brew. All AG. The first five were one gallon Brooklyn Brew Shop kits and the next five have been in my Brau Supply Mini, a 2.5 to 3 gallon single pot BIAB rig with a pump to recirculate.

The one thing these have all had in common is that I used US-05 each time and I really needed my blowoff tube each time.

This time, I've made an American Brown that calls for S-04. I unexepectedly wound up with close to three gallons and I was afraid of filling my BrewDemon fermenter too full, and making a mess in the blowofff so I split about three quarts off to a one gallon glass jug and did a sloppy job of making a yeast cream out of the S-4. I am not sure, but I think I wound up putting more yeast in the gallon jug than in the BrewDemon. It should not matter much given that a single packet is good for five gallons and I had a total of three gallons.

My fermentation chamber is in the garage and temps have ranged from 60-62F. The strip Fermometer on the BrewDemon has read about 68-69, so I know I have plenty of activity. I am confident there are no leaks, as I have used these setups several times without issue.

Oh, one more thing. Assuming I made the right entries in BeerSmith, I got a bit over 88% efficiency this time around (my best ever by a country mile), so there is plenty there for the yeasties to eat even with the extra wort.

My questions are these:
1. Is it common for S-4 to ferment without off-gassing. I have more headroom than usual, but not that much more.
2. I am about 72 hours in with temps set at 62F. Should I ramp it up? If yes, how much and how long?
3. When should I dry hop?
4. What is a ball park estimate for how long this should take to finish fermenting? I know, it is done when I hit my FG and the readings don't change for 24 hours, but I don't like doing lots of readings just to satisfy my curiosity with these relatively small batches.
5. When it is time to read, do I need to read both vessels, or should I just combine them now that the risk of blow-off is pretty clearly past?

 

[Pappers_]

1. No, all beer yeast releases CO2. I don't know the BrewDemon fermenter, but if it has a lid, it may be leaking around that lid. Nothing to worry about at all, but if the gas is escaping that way, you wouldn't see activity in your airlock.

2. Leaving it at 62F is fine, if you want to offer the yeast some encouragement by raising the temp some, that would be fine too. 65F-67F would be fine.

3. Dry hop after primary fermentation is done and about five to seven days before you intend to bottle or keg, depending on how long you want to dry hop.

4. For most beers, fermentation is done within 7 to 14 days. Wait three weeks and you should be safe.

5. I'd wait three weeks and you don't need to do a 'safety' reading.

 

[whovous]

Thanks for the response.

1. I think I worded my first question poorly. I am trying to understand how this can ferment without showing me even a single bubble in my blowoff jar. The BrewDemon leaks by design - with the idea that it does not require even an airlock, but they also sell what is needed to stop it from leaking if you want to use a blow-off tube, as do I. Each of my four prior US-05 brews bubbled quite wildly.
2-4. The Krausen head is clearly diminishing on both containers. I am going away tonight, but bet it will be gone by Sunday when I return. That will be seven days. What is the downside to dryhopping then if fermentation is not entirely complete.

 

[andy6026]

Your blow off jar bubbles because gas pressure builds up in the fermenter bucket and has no place to go but push out through the blow off jar. However, if the lid on the fermenter isn't completely air-tight then it's easier for the pressure inside the fermenter to come out of the imperfect seal in the lid of the fermenter rather than displace the water/solution in your blow off jar.

If you're 100% positive that there's no possible way that you have a leak in the fermenter lid, or between a bung and the bucket lid, etc., and your tube is going into the blow-off container and it's still not bubbling - then no fermentation is taking place. I'd 99.99% guarantee you though, that there's a tiny crack or leak somewhere (usually the lid doesn't seal entirely properly) and the pressure is escaping that way. That's fine though -it won't cause you any problems.

One thing I'll add though - I find that US-04 takes a while to clean itself up. Bottle or keg too early and you'll be drinking green apples. It's not enough to simply let fermentation finish - give it the time it needs for the yeast to clean up.

 

[whovous]

Well, I am certain it is fermenting, both because of the krausen and because the Fermometer on the outside of the BrewDemon has been reading 7-9F higher than the ambient reading from the probe attached to my Fermostat. The difference was down to about 5F this AM, which tells me fermentation is declining.

I am pretty confident that there are no leaks for three reasons:
A. I have used both the BrewDemon and the gallon carboy (jug) several times in the past, and I've plenty of bubbling each time. All else being equal, similar processes should produce similar results.
B. I have two fermentation vessels this time - the BrewDemon and the gallon carboy. The latter has no place to leak other than out the tube snugly ensconced in the cap. The former has two leak options - the hole for the rubber stopper where the tube is even tighter than in the carboy cap, and the big screw-on lid, for which I am using the lid gasket included with the so-called "bubbler upgrade."
C. Probably most important is that I am using two different types vessels at the same time. What are the odds of both deciding this should be the first time either one wouldn't bubble?

I very much appreciate the point on giving it time to clean up. This is a brown ale so I don't think I need to rush it to keep it "fresh". It should only improve with age. Should I hold off on dry-hopping until it starts clearing. Or should I cold crash, use gelatin or polyclar, and only then dry-hop?

 

[Pappers_]

Your carboy blowoff tube didn't produce any bubbles? That is a mystery. Perhaps it worked quickly and you just missed it? I've had that happen. Sometimes that phase of fermentation can be done in a day or less, although usually it takes longer.

In any case, if you have krausen, then your yeast is doing its job, no worries.

As for dry hopping, if it were my and I wasn't in a giant hurry, I'd wait until returning from the trip, check to see the krausen has fallen, and then toss those dry hops in. Wait seven days and then bottle/keg.

 

[Pappers_]

Should I hold off on dry-hopping until it starts clearing. Or should I cold crash, use gelatin or polyclar, and only then dry-hop?

I dry hop, then cold crash. Dry hopping will add a ton of hop particulate to your beer and its good to cold crash that stuff.

 

[whovous]

As I said in the original post, I think I put more yeast in the smaller vessel. The result was that 12 hours in, it had a decent head of foam, while the BrewDemon took a while longer to get decent coverage. Both heads got larger for a while.

Oh well, I can leave this in the mystery column and move on. I am not in a giant hurry. I should probably type that a hundred times to convince myself, because I do not always believe me!

 

[whovous]

Your carboy blowoff tube didn't produce any bubbles? That is a mystery. Perhaps it worked quickly and you just missed it? I've had that happen. Sometimes that phase of fermentation can be done in a day or less, although usually it takes longer.

In any case, if you have krausen, then your yeast is doing its job, no worries.

As for dry hopping, if it were my and I wasn't in a giant hurry, I'd wait until returning from the trip, check to see the krausen has fallen, and then toss those dry hops in. Wait seven days and then bottle/keg.

I raised the FC temp from 62 to 65 before I left, and now the three day weekend is over. The krausen fell. There was just a little of what seemed to be granular material floating on the surface. Yeast, I assume? I said I could be patient, but it looks like I lied. I did things in this order, even though the reverse might have been wiser in hindsight:

1. I carefully siphoned the wort from the one gallon carboy into the BrewDemon so I'd have only one batch to dry hop and to make some room in my FC for a new batch I plan to brew soon.
2. I bagged and weighted an ounce of Citra pellets and dropped it into the fermenter.
3. Only then did I take a sample for my hydrometer. Brew Shop is telling me my FG should be 1.014 and BeerSmith is telling me it should be 1.012. I am pretty sure neither program knows my equipment and process very well, so I am not real sure either one is right. However, my hydrometer reading is 1.018 (OG was 1.054), so I am pretty sure I am not done.

Questions:
A. Did I dryhop too soon, and how much does that matter?
B. Should I raise the fermentation temp a bit higher than 65F? Remember this is a brown ale using Safele S-4.
C. Is there anything else I should do other than be patient and test again in several days?