Mild intensity ferment with light OG and WLP090

[Mer-man]

Hi folks, I am looking for thoughts on correlating fermentation activity level here.

I pitched a vial of 090 into 15L of 1.040 wort, aerated, at 17 degrees C, in a bucket. According to Mr Malty that's a decent under pitch.

The weird thing is that the Krausen was so small and I got no airlock activity that I saw, but it was in the fermentation chamber.

So I assumed it had failed. But on day 3 I moved it to 21 degrees in the morning and took a sample to see what was up that evening. And it had fermented down to 1.012.

In your experience, do these facts line up?
A mild ferment, but a ferment nonetheless?

I did this beer to try a recipe and to build up a colony of wlp090.

Cheers!

 

[ChelisHubby]

yes they can happen, yeast are not greatly predictable.

 

[Mer-man]

It is just so bizarre that it could ferment down and not get the airlock active.

 

[m00ps]

Im guessing there was a small leak in your bucket seal or airlock grommet

all that matters is the hydrometer readings. As long as its not like terribly off claibrated

 

[hanuswalrus]

Had to be a leak in your fermenter somewhere. I have an older bucket I've used for probably 10 batches that sometimes shows airlock activity, and other times nothing. The beer always turns out fine. Just another reason to not judge fermentation by airlock activity.

 

[Mer-man]

D'oh. That's annoying. I didn't think so because if I push down the lid, air is forced out

 

[m00ps]

ive had the airlock bubble when pressing down but that doesnt mean its not also leaking out somehwere at the same time when you press down. Or, maybe pressing down on the lid helps to seal the tiny leak around the lid and forces it only out the airlock. Either way, the vessel should be somewhat pressurized anyway so no air should be seeping in, only out

 

[hanuswalrus]

Yeah if you push down on the lid, you'll push enough air/co2 out that will be forced to go thru the air lock as well as the leak spot. Mine did that as well.

I was able to get mine to start showing airlock activity again, though. If you remove the grommet, clean and sanitize it, then spray the lid with sanitizer (especially the outer ring where the lid seals to the bucket) really good before sealing it to the bucket, it should create a nice seal and show airlock activity. It worked for me, at least.

 

[hanuswalrus]

Ps :

 

[Mer-man]

Nice catch Han-Walrus-olo

 

[catdaddy66]

I've noticed this exact phenomenon you describe. I've used this yeast three times and each time I couldn't tell any fermentation was active. The first time I was worried but the next two times I was meh. Ended with spot on FG's though and this yeast has an awesome clean character for west coast ales.

 

[Mer-man]

That's great. It looks like it ripped through wort with 25% crystal malt that was supposed to finish at 1.014, and is at 1.010.

 

[catdaddy66]

I'm using it in my Cascadian dark wheat tomorrow. I expect the same behavior but will post results regardless.

 

[Mer-man]

And I harvested the slurry.
And the bottling sample tastes awesome

 

[catdaddy66]

I'm using it in my Cascadian dark wheat tomorrow. I expect the same behavior but will post results regardless.

Damn batch got infected AFTER I dry hopped! Sunova...!!! Well, try it again soon and pay closer attention to sanitary practices.

 

[Mer-man]

Yeah, I guess this was just a mellow session. The beer turned out great and my friends have consumed nearly all of it.

1. Sanitation
2. Sanitation
3. Sanitation
:rockin:

Catdaddy, maybe if you add the hops while the yeast are still finishing up, their activity will prevent an infection taking over?
Plus, yeast metabolism of hop oils produces flavors you don't get otherwise.

 

[Mer-man]

To follow this up, my experience has been that WLP090 does not make a very tall krausen.

It ferments down like a monster quickly and produces very clean beer. I am fermenting a christmas beer at the moment on a 3rd gen.

Last week a 2nd gen took a 1.070 beer down to 1.010 and dropped out inside of a week. Not much krausen.

 

[Mer-man]

To follow up further, I heard Neva Parker from White Labs discussing the introduction of WLP090 on The Session. She made it expressly clear that WLP090 makes a very low/minimal krausen.