ECY02 Flemish Ale question (1st sour)

[Pole]

I brewed my 1st sour on Monday and pitched ECY02 around 4pm (no starter) into 1.056 wort held at 70 degrees. I didnt notice any activity until 4pm on Wednesday, and that was some steady bubbling of the wort. That seems to have subsided when I checked this morning, but I never saw a krausen. It certainly smells like its fermenting though.

Should I be concerned with the lack of krausen? Trying to figure out if I should move it some place warmer, pitch additional sacc, or just let it ride.

Pretty sure the prop date was 5/31, so I figured I was OK as I was just at the 3 mo. mark. Temps were mid 70s - low 80s when it was in transit with ice packs. Oh, and I mashed high, 157-158.

Thanks!

 

[metic]

I used ECY02 for the first time last weekend (always used Roeselare in the past)---a vial about the same age as yours, in a similar wort---and my experience has been exactly the same. Long lag time, no krausen, but definite signs of fermentation. I haven't tasted the wort or measured the gravity, so I don't know exactly what's going on yet. Everything might be fine, but I'm worried that the saccharomyces population might have died off, so that something else in the blend ended up doing more of the primary fermentation: perhaps the brettanomyces and the lactobacillus. Not the end of the world, but not the kind of fermentation I wanted. Of course, that's just speculation: perhaps the yeast in this blend just takes longer to start up, and doesn't put up much of a krausen. I'll have a better idea when I transfer the beer to secondary next week.

 

[Pole]

Thanks metic. I am hoping the sacc didn't die, but that is also my fear. If you don't mind, please post an update if you get a change in activity or when you move it to secondary. I'll do the same.

 

[smokinghole]

In the past my experience was that his cultures needed a little warming up to get going.

 

[Pole]

Thanks. I'm leaning towards moving it from ambient basement to ambient 2nd story in a room we don't cool. Hopefully that's warm enough to get things moving but not too hot. Guessing 75-78, on average but the high here today was only 71.

 

[Pole]

Quick update. I moved the carboy upstairs on Friday and haven't seen any changes in activity. Guess I'll leave it there and take a gravity reading around Columbus Day.

FWIW, I brewed yesterday day, pitched ECY01 BugFarm (8/1 prop date) into a 1.053 wort and put the carboy in the same room upstairs. I woke up to an inch of krausen this morning. Hopefully fusels aren't a concern...

 

[metic]

I transferred mine to secondary this weekend. It was a split batch: one had fermented down to 1.008, the other was still up at 1.019; neither were showing any signs of active fermentation, but the second batch might still be going. The pH of the first batch was also lower than the second, but both were above 4. Neither tasted spectacular, but there weren't any obvious off-flavours either. I'm assuming that either the sacch survived and did manage to complete the primary fermentation, or that the brettanomyces took care of it. I combined them in a single six gallon carboy, and I'm going to forget about them for now.

 

[Pole]

Really odd, but thanks for the update metic.

 

[FredTheNuke]

So, Pole did you add more Sacc or let it ride? I have an ECY01 and 02 from 5/31 in my fridge now. May be another month or two before I get to using them.

 

[Pole]

So, Pole did you add more Sacc or let it ride? I have an ECY01 and 02 from 5/31 in my fridge now. May be another month or two before I get to using them.

I let the ECY02 ride. I haven't seen any activity since initially reported above. I figured I'll take a gravity reading in a few weeks and see where it is before making any adjustments. I've been sitting on a bottle of JP's La Roja so I may pitch the dregs if the gravity is still over 1.020.

 

[The542]

I have a flem red brewed 5/10 that my notes showed starting slow and topped out at 1/2 of krausen. After three weeks I gravity checked @ 5.4% having been in the ferm freezer @ 68 all month. I then transferred to secondary.

It will be a minimum of a year before I try it again, but I know the sacc did it's part.

 

[Hawkfish]

I'll confirm slow start with Bug County, took a few days to start, needed to warm it up a little,1/2 inch krausen.

 

[Pole]

Thanks fellas. As mentioned, the bug farm which was in the same shipment as the ECY02, took off very quickly and had an inch of krausen when I checked about 15 hrs after pitching. The only difference was I pitched a bit warmer and put the carboy upstairs without any temp control. 24 hrs after pitching I moved it to my chest freezer and set it for. 70-71 I believe.