Krausen almost gone on third day of fermentation.

[LuisCheco]

So I just brew my first batch. It's a Brown Nut Ale from Northern Brewer. All went well as spected. BUT... something unusual happened, at least what I know about brewing. The krausen almost dissappeared when I came back home from work on the third day of fermentation. The temp is around 70 +/- 2 almost all the time (I have the fermenter in a cooling swamp). Is this normal?

What a think I did wrong is that I pitched the yeast with the wort little warm. But the airlock still making bubbles. It have slowed down a bit, like 5-6secs per bubble. Before it was about 3sec per bubble.

Here are some pictures of krausen, before and after 3 days of fermentation.

Before:
View attachment 1446079014931.jpg

After:
View attachment 1446079066622.jpg

Regards.

 

[BigMack]

Can you provide some more information about the recipe and the yeast used? For some yeasts/recipes it certainly wouldn't be unheard of for the bulk of your fermentation to be complete.

 

[Psylocide]

Sounds right.

 

[jrgtr42]

I wouldn't worry about it. Your fermentation is a bit warm (the internal temperature can be 5 degrees warmer than the outer temp, even with a swamp cooler)
What is happening is that the warmer temp is helping the yeast work a little faster. I would still leave it be for at least another week before even thinking about checking gravity, but what you have is nothing to worry about at all.

 

[Andyoesq]

Don't worry. all it means is that the primary fermentation is proceeding well, and close to done. let it sit for another 1-1/2 2 weeks, and you will be good to go. don't stress. just a sign yeast did its job.

 

[LuisCheco]

Can you provide some more information about the recipe and the yeast used? For some yeasts/recipes it certainly wouldn't be unheard of for the bulk of your fermentation to be complete.

The ingredients used:

0.25 lbs English Chocolate Malt
0.25 lbs Belgian Special B
0.25 lbs Belgian Biscuit
0.25 lbs Briess Special Roast

6 lbs Gold Malt syrup

1 oz Fuggle @60 min


Yeast:

Dry Yeast- Danstar Nottingham Ale Yeast

View attachment 1446083907658.jpg

View attachment 1446083936806.jpg

 

[LuisCheco]

I wouldn't worry about it. Your fermentation is a bit warm (the internal temperature can be 5 degrees warmer than the outer temp, even with a swamp cooler)
What is happening is that the warmer temp is helping the yeast work a little faster. I would still leave it be for at least another week before even thinking about checking gravity, but what you have is nothing to worry about at all.

Oh ok.. I thought that the krausen would take at least a week to drop.

 

[LuisCheco]

I wouldn't worry about it. Your fermentation is a bit warm (the internal temperature can be 5 degrees warmer than the outer temp, even with a swamp cooler)
What is happening is that the warmer temp is helping the yeast work a little faster. I would still leave it be for at least another week before even thinking about checking gravity, but what you have is nothing to worry about at all.

Oh ok.. I thought that the krausen would take at least a week to drop.

 

[BigMack]

Oh ok.. I thought that the krausen would take at least a week to drop.

Nope. Based off of fermentation temps and recipe it isn't surprising that it dropped relatively quickly.

 

[LuisCheco]

Don't worry. all it means is that the primary fermentation is proceeding well, and close to done. let it sit for another 1-1/2 2 weeks, and you will be good to go. don't stress. just a sign yeast did its job.

Ok. Thank you for this information!

 

[LuisCheco]

So... I don't want to sound stressed or desperate, but today there's no krausen. Just a little update of what's happening.

I will stick to the plan and leave it for another week and a half and then bottle it.

The airlock still bubbling which is a good sign, but in a lower rate.

I'm just a little surprised that this happened so fast. Because everyone says it takes around 1 week for krausen drop.

But I live in really warm country, so maybe this cause a faster fermentation.

Here's a picture of my fermenter on the 4th day of fermentation:
View attachment 1446158247046.jpg

 

[Rev2010]

Oh ok.. I thought that the krausen would take at least a week to drop.

In brewing you will experience krausen's that drop in just a few days and krausen's that don't drop 3 weeks in. It's fairly normal and what's really going to bake your brain is when you've used the same yeast and even in the same brew with such wild variances without explanation Just relax and don't worry about it. Only real advice I'd like to offer is don't rush it when it appears to have finished earlier than usual, but wait out the full length of time. It can be the difference between a nice clean beer and one full of nasty aftertastes.


Rev.

 

[unionrdr]

What's basically happening is, when initial fermentation is done, the krausen starts to recede & fermentation creeps down uneventfully to a stable FG. Then give it 3-7 days on average to settle out clear or slightly misty before packaging.