Long fermentation?

[HoosierDaddy]

I brewed up a Pale ale last Saturday. Went down to check on it Sunday morning and there was no krausen, no bubbling in the fermenter. Checked later that day and still nothing so I gave the carboy a couple gentle shakes. By that evening, I had a nice thick krausen and steady bubbling every 5-6 seconds.

Its now Thursday and the krausen is still there, hasn't dropped and bubbling is around 14-16 seconds apart. In the past, I've seen the krausen drop within 2-3 days whereas it doesn't look like this is going to drop anytime soon. Is this normal with Pale ales or just a longer ferment than usual?

BTW, I noticed that the carboy temp was initially around 70 for the first few days so I did the wet t-shirt wrap and have the carboy sitting in a bath and its down to around 66 now. Possibly the warmer temp is the culprit?

 

[EvilTOJ]

Sounds perfectly normal to me. Fermentation normally takes at least a week, and it hasn't even been a week yet. It's not really the temps in this case. If anything, the warmer temps would have made it take off faster. You don't say if you used dry or liquid yeast, but if it's liquid it can take a few days to start if you didn't make a starter. I made a newcastle clone on Monday and it just started showing krausen yesterday afternoon.

 

[MN_Jay]

I just did a hefeweizen last Thursday night, Friday morning I was putting a blowoff on because the krausen was at the rim of the carboy already. Sunday afternoon I could finally take the blowoff off and here it is Thursday, a week from brewday and it is still bubbling at about 1 bubble every 5 seconds or so. So I wouldn't worry too much for now. Incidently this brew was the first time I ever used a starter and I could sure notice the difference.

 

[Evan!]

Yeast don't work on a timeclock, they're not punching out when you tell 'em to, so just sit back and let 'em do what they do best: make beer. It'll be done when it's done.

 

[Revvy]

Everything's Fine!!!

 

[HoosierDaddy]

Thanks guys. I figured it was ok just based upon past batches, the krausen usually drops within a couple days but figured I'd ask anyway.

I always use liquid yeast (Wyeast smack packs) and never make a starter. I asked my local homebrew store about that and was told it's not really necessary with the smack packs but it certainly doesn't hurt to do one. It just adds some additonal time for the starter to be ready. I might go ahead and do one next batch just for giggles.