Is it normal for the krausen to only last one day?

[geneb]

I brewed a stout on Saturday with Safbrew S-33 yeast. Everything went pretty well, but I ended up with about half a gallon of extra wort so I headed off to Lowe's to get some tubing for a blow off, just to be safe. (Can you believe that stuff is about 4 dollars a foot? Sheesh.) The tubing ended up being too narrow (they didn't have a great selection) so I wrapped a bunch of (sanitized) tape around the bottom of the hose so that it would have a better seal, then I wrapped some sanitized aluminum foil around the blow off and the neck of the carboy to allow it as little contact with the outside air (and all of the cat hair floating in it) as possible.

By the next morning I had a huge krausen and a bucket of very brown star-san solution. It was also leaking around the foil, so I didn't create as good of a seal as I had hoped. While I was at Lowe's I had also picked up some 5/16" hose just in case I ever needed it (at 27 cents a foot, I figured it was worth it). I sanitized that and a rubber carboy bung and shoved the hose in to create a more narrow blow off with a better seal. I took the big blow off out and put in the smaller one. I noticed when I removed the big blow off that the krausen fell but, after about 15 minutes, it was back with a vengeance. Then, by the time I went to bed on Sunday (~12 hours later), there was no krausen to be seen, but a very happy fermentation going on.

Everything I have found in researching this has been people asking about a krausen that lasts a very long time, so that's little help to me. Is there any reason to think that something may be wrong when the krausen only lasts one day?

 

[Revvy]

I don't think there's anything "normal" in brewing. Especially where krausens are conderned.

The amount of krausen can vary for whatever reason, it can come quick and depart quickly or it can linger long after fermentation is complete, and it all be normal.

There is nothing "typical" in brewing...every fermentation is different, and should not be used to compare one with another...you can't do that.

No two fermentations are ever exactly the same.

When we are dealing with living creatures, there is a wild card factor in play..Just like with other animals, including humans...No two behave the same.

You can split a batch in half put them in 2 identical carboys, and pitch equal amounts of yeast from the same starter...and have them act completely differently...for some reason on a subatomic level...think about it...yeasties are small...1 degree difference in temp to us, could be a 50 degree difference to them...one fermenter can be a couple degrees warmer because it's closer to a vent all the way across the room and the yeasties take off...

Someone, Grinder I think posted a pic once of 2 carboys touching each other, and one one of the carboys the krausen had formed only on the side that touched the other carboy...probably reacting to the heat of the first fermentation....but it was like symbiotic or something...

You may have had a rapid fermentation, or when you were installing the blowoff, you nudged the fermenter enough to shake it loose.

But I wouldn't worry, krausens are weird. For example, I had a wit beer that I pitched bottle harvested Hoegaarden yeast on Dec. 26th, LAST YEAR that STILL had a 2" krausen on it three weeks later. I took a grav reading and it had reached terminal gravity, 1.010. So the beer was done, but the krausen still lingered. I finally gently swirled the beer to knock it down, and let it settle for another week before I bottled it. I'm not normally a fan of knocking them down, and usually let it do it naturally.

I'm sure there is plenty of fermentation left to do...and it will keep going regardless of whether it builds a new one or not. Just relax...you have fermentation and that is all that really matters.

If you want take a grav reading on the weekend.

 

[geneb]

Sounds good. Thanks for the overview, Revvy. I suspected much the same to what you are saying but my research got me wondering since the references to the time a krausen stuck around were given as something like 3 days to 3 weeks, both being the unusual extremes. One day seemed a bit short and I couldn't find any references to anyone else having a one day krausen, so I figured I'd ask here to be sure.

Thanks again.

 

[GreatWhiteDan]

I just brewed two stouts that were 1 Gallon All Grains, and the krausen was only there for about 30 hours, then disappeared. These did rapidly ferment, and were at their FGs in about 4 days. I am not an expert, just sharing experience

Good luck,