Length of Fermentation

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naa10104

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Hello,

Am brewing a 5 gal. batch with an OG of 1.090, pitched two 11g packages of Verdant IPA Yeast 14 days ago tomorrow and still have Krausen on top and a bubble every 7-8 seconds. Was planning on leaving in glass carboy for 21 days before bottling. Dry hop 3- days before bottling. Is it unusual to have fermentation still active at 14 days out ? Thanks
 
Well, it's not exactly typical, but then again, a 90 point brew isn't typical, either. You could have pitched a more vigorous and greedy yeast, or doubled the pitch, or optimized the temp, and maybe have finished all major fermentation in 4 or 5 days but you might have had a big blowout, too. Sometimes a little slower attack by the yeast isn't a bad thing. I don't think you should be worried at this point. It will probably settle down in a few days. Are you by chance taking hydrometer readings every couple of days?

I used to be sort of noid about taking samples. But what I do now, minimizes impact on the batch. I use the plastic storage tubes that are often supplied with the hydrometer, for a test tube. They don't require much beer to float the hydrometer. Yeah, they are pretty cramped but if you carefully tilt the tube this way and that and try to catch the reading when it isn't touching the side, and average the reading over a few minutes, you can get a pretty accurate reading. To prevent air being sucked into the fermenter, I open the spigot slowly and watch the level of the alcohol (I use everclear in my airlock, as well as for other things) in the atmosphere side of the airlock and I stop the sample pour before a bubble can get sucked down and across to the fermenter side of the airlock. I let fermentation gas build back up and push another bubble to the atmosphere side and then crack the spigot again. Repeat as needed to fill the storage tube up about 60% full. Then I try the hydrometer. So I have my sample, a small one that I won't even miss. Also I did not open the fermenter or even backflow the airlock while dispensing it to the testing tube. I have been doing this daily with the current batch, comparing results to my brand new bluetooth Tilt hydrometer floating inside the fermenter. I keep another tube of clear water next to the fermenter to correct my regular hydrometer reading.

How long did it take to start working, and how long to start burbling constantly? If it wasn't working hard until 24 hours after pitching, I would expect a two or three week fermentation. If it was practically boiling 6 hours after the pitch, I would expect to see it die down in 7 to 10 days.

Where is your temp, within the ideal fermentation temperature range for that yeast? At this point maybe you would want to hurry it along, and get it up near the upper end of the ideal range.

I haven't looked at the spec sheet for that yeast but my gut feeling is that you did well, pitching two packs rather than one. Keep in mind I have only been making beer for a couple of years so I am not Mr Knowledge and I might be missing something here.
 
Well, it's not exactly typical, but then again, a 90 point brew isn't typical, either. You could have pitched a more vigorous and greedy yeast, or doubled the pitch, or optimized the temp, and maybe have finished all major fermentation in 4 or 5 days but you might have had a big blowout, too. Sometimes a little slower attack by the yeast isn't a bad thing. I don't think you should be worried at this point. It will probably settle down in a few days. Are you by chance taking hydrometer readings every couple of days?

I used to be sort of noid about taking samples. But what I do now, minimizes impact on the batch. I use the plastic storage tubes that are often supplied with the hydrometer, for a test tube. They don't require much beer to float the hydrometer. Yeah, they are pretty cramped but if you carefully tilt the tube this way and that and try to catch the reading when it isn't touching the side, and average the reading over a few minutes, you can get a pretty accurate reading. To prevent air being sucked into the fermenter, I open the spigot slowly and watch the level of the alcohol (I use everclear in my airlock, as well as for other things) in the atmosphere side of the airlock and I stop the sample pour before a bubble can get sucked down and across to the fermenter side of the airlock. I let fermentation gas build back up and push another bubble to the atmosphere side and then crack the spigot again. Repeat as needed to fill the storage tube up about 60% full. Then I try the hydrometer. So I have my sample, a small one that I won't even miss. Also I did not open the fermenter or even backflow the airlock while dispensing it to the testing tube. I have been doing this daily with the current batch, comparing results to my brand new bluetooth Tilt hydrometer floating inside the fermenter. I keep another tube of clear water next to the fermenter to correct my regular hydrometer reading.

How long did it take to start working, and how long to start burbling constantly? If it wasn't working hard until 24 hours after pitching, I would expect a two or three week fermentation. If it was practically boiling 6 hours after the pitch, I would expect to see it die down in 7 to 10 days.

Where is your temp, within the ideal fermentation temperature range for that yeast? At this point maybe you would want to hurry it along, and get it up near the upper end of the ideal range.

I haven't looked at the spec sheet for that yeast but my gut feeling is that you did well, pitching two packs rather than one. Keep in mind I have only been making beer for a couple of years so I am not Mr Knowledge and I might be missing something here.
 
Yeast does what it wants . The only way to know for sure is to take gravity samples. Then you'll know with certainty.
 
Verdant krausen will typically stick around forever until you agitate or cold crash. i think the krausen off gases without the yeast actually doing any work either. I had a scotch ale that I checked after ten days and it was only at 1.029 when I was expecting it to finish around 1.020. I gave it another full week and was getting the same slow bubble so I assumed the yeast was slowly dropping the gravity lower and lower. Checked after that week and nope! Still dead on 1.029, not so much as a single point change in gravity. The particular batch of verdant was a slurry from a bitter I had brewed a couple weeks before, it also under attenuated so I think it is a problem with that specific pack of verdant I had as previous ones attenuated around what Lallemand lists in their spec sheet.
 
I wouldn't assume that airlock bubbles mean it's still going. They're not a reliable indicator of fermentation, imo. With 1.090 it's certainly possible the yeast is still working, but most likely it's done and just off-gassing. Check the gravity and see what's up. That's the only way to be sure. This is the main value of a Bluetooth hydrometer like Tilt. You can easily check the progress of your gravity every day without introducing oxygen, and you'll have a really good idea of when the yeast is finished.
 
It is just degassing and it will continue doing so for some time.

Verdant IPA kräusen mostly never fell before bottling in my beers, that's normal too.

Such a big beer, give it your three week's in the fermenter and bottle it afterwards.
 
Last edited:
Hello,

Thanks for all the advice ! The fermentation did not take off for app. 24 hours ... at that point it was bubbling vigorously. Have not taken another SG reading, may do one when I remove the airlock to introduce dry hops. May have to look into getting a tilt hydrometer. I do have the temperature in the correct range for this yeast. Will see what happens ! Thanks
 
Hello,

Thanks for all the advice ! The fermentation did not take off for app. 24 hours ... at that point it was bubbling vigorously. Have not taken another SG reading, may do one when I remove the airlock to introduce dry hops. May have to look into getting a tilt hydrometer. I do have the temperature in the correct range for this yeast. Will see what happens ! Thanks

A fermenter with a spigot near the bottom makes taking samples more convenient.
 
Is it unusual to have fermentation still active at 14 days out ? Thanks

No, depending on a lot of things I've yet to figure out. All my beers have had real good krausens soon after putting in the fermenter. But I've had more than a handful of them start back vigorously bubbling at day 14 and beyond after being quiet and starting to clean up for a time.

Since I switched from the unknown yeast provided in the kits I was buying to US-05, I haven't experienced that. But I just started using a known yeast so maybe that is yet to come.

I'm wondering if the yeast in the kit was also able to convert sugars that are typically considered unfermentable. From what I've read, yeast that can do that usually consume the fermentable sugar first, then take a rest then go to town on the unfermentable sugars. I think diastatic is the word for them or it's yeast designated STA1-positive. Though it's not a given that a yeast that is marked as STA1-positive yeast will consume what is typically considered unfermentable sugar.
 
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