Did I miss the blow-off?

[StraightCs]

I'm making one gallon batches. After a few missteps, I've been pretty successful for the most part, but something odd happened for my latest IPA.

I decided to use SafAle S-04 and pitched 3 grams of the yeast on Sunday afternoon. No bubbling on Monday morning, no worries. I came home Monday night and there was a nice healthy krausen and definite activity in the carboy. There were no bubbles from the blow off tube, but plenty of bubbles clinging to it. Tuesday morning, some activity, but no bubbling. Today, the trub, which was very tight at the bottom, is now twice as high (I'm assuming this is the yeast). The krausen has dropped.

My question is: Did I miss the blow-off? I know S-04 is aggressive, but does this sound possible?

 

[kh54s10]

If you don't have krausen in your catch vessel you didn't have any "blow off". That only means that the headspace in your fermenter was big enough to hold the krausen produced.

Bubbles only mean that more gas is being produced than the vessel can contain. Not bubbling means that either you missed it or the gas is getting out of the vessel by another path. Leak.

Leave it alone for another 5-10 days or longer. The trub will compact.

What is the temperature of the wort? Warmer = faster but not better. Most ale yeasts do best in the mid sixties.

 

[StraightCs]

The room was 72 degrees. I am thinking it is a leak.

 

[RPh_Guy]

Sounds like a leak to me.

I originally started with plastic caps and they were unreliable (cracking, leaking). The rubber stoppers/bungs I'm using now are much better, but still somtimes need to be secured to the carboy to prevent leaking.

This won't cause any problem whatsoever so don't worry... and I'd switch to an airlock now since the krausen dropped.

As kh54s10 suggested, sticking to the lower end of the yeast's temperature range is ideal during the first few days. Moving forward, this is one of the biggest ways to improve your beer's quality.

Cheers

 

[StraightCs]

Just a follow up: I replaced the plastic cap with a rubber stopper and airlock, and took a hard look at the cap...there was a hairline crack, barely visible, along the diameter. Mystery solved. Onward.

 

[65C]

I'm sure it'll be fine - the concerns people have about air getting in are over stated imo.

S-04 is a menace - I'd really not recommend it for beginners - it just seems really volatile and off tasting if it gets warm early on.

I've started using M44 instead - it's slower and seems generally better behaved. I see a lot of people use S-04 but my experience has been fairly negative so far. US-05 and Wyeast 1187 Ringwood (for darks) I've used too with good results.