Fast Fermentation/No Krausen

[ddubrow]

Hello All,

I'm new to brewing and have a slight problem. Fermentation has taken place as evidenced by the air stopper that bobbed up and down for the first 48 hours, however there is no Krausen to speak of (I've been watching pretty closely) other than a ring around the glass top of 6.5 gallon carboy. Additionally fermentation appears like it will be complete within 3-4 days as bobbing is slowing to once every 25/seconds (2 day mark) and sedimentation at bottom is very much present.

Here are the details:

Belgian Beer - Boskeun (Grain, 2lbs honey, hop pellets, orange zest)
During brewing had trouble maintaining 150-160 window, so would add ice intermittently
Cooled down wort by first adding colder water (2.5 gallons) before adding (2.5 gallons) wort.
Added 1/8 of orange peel/juice to final concotion before pitching yeast.
Wort was definitely significantly above 75. How much? Don't really know.

Does lack of foamy head indicate this batch's a bust, or can it be saved?

Thank you in advance for your help.

 

[WortMonger]

The air lock is not an indicator of when fermentation is complete, it is only a airlock preventing things from entering your beer and gas to escape. There are numerous things like leaks that can happen and not show fermentation. You need to wait your beer out at least a week then check it with a hydrometer sample to know it is done. It wouldn't hurt to let it sit 2 weeks before checking and then transferring. You probably just had a really fast ferment and are done, but better to be safe than sorry, and beer only gets better with age. Patience is everything in good beer brewing.

 

[WortMonger]

Also, next time be sure and pitch at or below your wanted fermentation temperature.

 

[Revvy]

'Monger's right about the airlock...but the ring around the top of the carboy lends me to think that the krauzen fell, probably in the middle of the night...

Either way, take a hydrometer reading.

What was the OG of the wort...you said "grain" but that doesn't tell us how much grain. Is this a Dubbel, a Tripel a Beligian Blonde?

 

[ddubrow]

Unfortunately do not have hydrometer. Additionally, per the other poster's question, not really sure if it's a double or tripple. Brewer set me up with grains and mesh sack so not even sure of the amount. Main concern is speed of fermentation and lack of foam. Is this a casue for concern (needing another packet of yeast) or should I just leave it be.

 

[WortMonger]

Hard to tell, you have no way of measuring it. If it is done, you will not know until you dump more yeast in and nothing happens. If it is not done, you will never know without a hydrometer. I would go buy a hydrometer because it is a necessity to a brewer. After you buy it check the gravity and if you are sitting close to 1.006-1.012 then you are probably done, if higher then you stalled out and need to either re-pitch or just re-rouse the yeast and finish the ferment. More than likely at a higher temperature you have finished your ferment and all will be well except the off tastes from a hotter ferment. Also, Easter Bunny (Boskeun) is supposed to be a lager that is really really big, so if you pitched your lager yeast that high you might not see anything. Your ferment will be really slow and will take a long time to mature that big of a beer. This is not something I would have recommended for a first AG or even a 5th one. I also don't know your process other than the 150-160 window you talked about. Hopefully that was during the mash and you got close to 150 for the hour then boiled for an hour prior to your chilling and pitching.

 

[Revvy]

Without a hydrometer there's no way to tell...like I said earlier, if there is a ring around the fermenter, more than likely your krauzen came and went quickly, leaving the ring behind.