No airlock activity....

[rjcortez]

...but still plenty of krausen. I generally take a "no touch" approach and wait until it's clear visibly that fermentation is complete before I start measuring for TG. I'm sitting on two 5 gallon batches that are giving me these mixed signals.

The first is a blonde ale that was in the primary for a week then racked over strawberries and had a VERY aggressive secondary fermentation (blew the cap off my carboy when the blow off tube plugged). That was two weeks ago and still has a thick layer on top. WLP051

The second is a basic brown that's been in the ferment since the 14th, good initial activity, but no notable changes or activity for at least a week. WLP001

Temp has been consistent 68-70 the whole time.

So what's the consensus? Let them sit until they settle out some more or begin taking gravity readings to see if they are just playing tricks on me?

I should note that I'm running out of home brew so I'm getting anxious to get these bottled.

 

[hexXedBrewing]

take a gravity measurement and wait a day or two and take another. if it's still dropping, just wait another few days. my beer's been in the primary since the 14th as well and it's still going.

 

[boist]

Take gravity readings. No airlock activity means nothing, of course, but consecutive identical readings are a good indicator of finished fermentation. In the case of your blond, The stuff on top may not be krausen, but debris from the strawberries. Your brown you said wasn't showing any sighs anyway. Either way you should check and see if either (or both) are done.

 

[rjcortez]

Thanks boist and hexXedBrewing I'll take readings over the next couple of days and see if they are done. Just needed to hear it from someone else I guess.

 

[ReDim]

if there is plenty of healthy krausen, then to me all is well... the only thing left it to put on the airlock tighter or look for other ways gases can escape. Since airlock has some water pressure gases would escape from other leaks with less resistance first.

But I do not think it possible for krausen to be and CO2 not be released...

 

[rjcortez]

ReDim that was one of my first thoughts as well. I'm using the rubber caps for both carboy's and haven't had a problem before with them. Air locks and blow off tube worked fine on these batches, then activity slowly came to a stop. So I don't think it's a leak anywhere.

 

[unionrdr]

When the airlock slows down or stops bubbling it usually means initial fermentation is over. It then slows down fermenting till it gets down to FG. The strawberries have natural sugars,so they would indeed restart fermentation. You'll have to wait till that's done to get a stable FG on it.

 

[ReDim]

I do not know if this is helpful, but I remember grandma making fruit jam, there was krausen from the fruit itself but not from yeast. Fruit Solids and and what not kept forming a krausen on top (that is how she has explained it).

Ohh... (I am having a major fever, not sure if I read though the entire post originally)

 

[rjcortez]

Thanks everyone. Bottled the Brown yesterday, TG was at .012. Strawberry was at .020 and was still somewhat active. What appeared to me to be krausen was actually mostly remains of strawberry that floated to the top. Probably another week or so at this rate.

Must. Have. Patience.

 

[hexXedBrewing]

How did the Brown taste? (I always put aside a glass of it while bottling it haha)