please help! no foam on fermenting beer.

[jeffsos3000]

im a newbie to making home brew. just mixed up my first kit yesterday .last night there was an ever so slgiht ammount of foam on top of my beer. today when i just checked.there is no foam at all in the fermenting bucket. i am using a coopers diy beer kit that does not use an air lock. when i look through the lis i can see lots of bubling comming to the top of the beer. but there is no foam. my temeature is sitting around the 20 degres celcius mark. it has only been about 20 hours since i made up the brew batch. should i be worried something isnt going right? i was kind of expecting there to be a big foamy head on the fermenting beer.

 

[unionrdr]

You don't always get a lot of krausen. It depends on how much & how healthy the yeast pitch was,& the temp of the wort. 20c=68F,so the temp is good. It's only been 20 hours,so give it time.

 

[brewinchef_fairfax]

Give it a look in 5 to 10 days and see what's in there.. It is however better to just have faith and expect that a good head of krausen will form eventually. Better to not keep peeking in there.

 

[jeffsos3000]

thank you. guess im so intrigued by the fermentation process. that i cant help to keep staring at it . im pretty sure its fermenting at least as when i look through the lid there are tons of little bubbles constantly comming to the top. i guess i was just expecting krausen foam to start. but perhaps it needs a litte more time for that to start hapening. guess ill just leave it be and cheack it sunday or monday. thanks for the response!

 

[unionrdr]

Well,since you have the new style Cooper's fermenter (DIY),it is quite see-through,so no lid poping is needed to see what's doin. I can see where that's addictive,as my original Cooper's micro brew fermenter is a bit translucent as well. But not as much as the new DIY one. Cover it,at least,with a dark tee shirt to keep UV light from skunking the hops. It also keeps it from mezmerizing me with it's undulations. See through fermenters are such ***** teasers...

 

[jeffsos3000]

ha ha i know its quite addicting to stare at. still no krausen forming what so ever. its bubbling away well tons of little bubbles popping up on top. but no foam what so ever. but at least it appears to be fermenting. maybe this kit will take a couple days. the kit im making is a barons american light kit. that uses double malt. unlike a coopers kit that has powdered malt and dextros. so i dont know if that has something to do with it or not. im tempted to pump up the temp to the higher fermenting range and see if that helps at all. but ive read fermentiing in the upper range at say 24 degrees celcius can casue off flavours in the beer. being a newbie i hate the fact that my fermenting beer doesnt look like what ive seen on the internet. though the kit instructions did say it could take 24 to 48 hours for fermentation to begin. hasnt been 48 hours yet. but i sure would like to see that foam! as for the uv light issue. luckily im keeping my fermentor in a small closet closed and kept in the dark.and have the blinds closed in the room. im trying to keep my beer around the 22 degree range. keeping the windows open in the room to keep the ambient temp down. and i have a small ceramic fan heater set at 18 degrees. thats the bare mimumum temp for the yeast fermentation range. but i figure the exothermic reaction of the fermentation will warm the beer a little higher. perhaps tomorrow ill see foam . maybe im being to anal for an extract kit. father keeps telling me just to leave it alone and do its thing. but i cant help but want it to turn out perfect. only thing im icking myself for is not taking any hydrometer reasing. but everying i know that brews there own beer. said not to bother. just to leave it in primary bucket for a few weeks. then transfer into secondary for another 3 to 4.before bottling. so im hoping thats good advice. luckily im not in a huge rush. so will wait and leave beer secondary for a minimum of 3 weeks.

 

[unionrdr]

Those people are mistaken. You don't need 8 weeks between primary & secondary for the average gravity beer. And learn to use a hydrometer!
Leave it in primary the whole time if nothing like oaking or fruit is being added. Let it get down to stable FG. Then 3-7 days after that to clean up by products of fermentation. Rack onto priming solution in bottling bucket & bottle away. Store the bottles in covered boxes for 3-4 weeks on average at 70F or a little more. Then 1-2 weeks fridge time,two weeks giving thicker head & longer lasting,fine bubbled carbonation.
So in the amount of time they say to burn on primary & secondary,I can go from brew kettle to glass & get clear well carbonated beer. Not to mention,the hops will still be prominent.

 

[jeffsos3000]

well i just took a sample and tried my hydrometer out. im sitting at around 1.019 so according to the gravity specs that came with my kit. im kind of in the middle of the gravity range between sg and fg. little closer to the fg side. so im guessing things are working along alright. i tasted the sample and it was very carbonated and had a sweeter taste to it. but smelt great and did taste like beer just like sweet beer. bt i guess i can expect that as there are still sugars that need to be fermented. ill check my gravity reading again tomorrow and see if theres any change. from today

 

[unionrdr]

Meh,just give it another week to knock off a few more gravity points. It's def not an overnight process when it's past initial fermentation,which yours is.

 

[jonmohno]

+1 You want to probably give it a few more weeks, I wouldnt be taking anymore gravity samples til you bottle unless you way underpitched the yeast. My process is to pitch enough yeast(very important) get oxygen into the wort well, ferment low 60's ambient temps for most ales, until krausen dropps usually 2- 4 days + then I get it up to a mid sixties temp(when it slows or about stops activity-at least for the last week to enshure it completley ferments. Then usually up or close to room temp especially if dryhopping.

Also, with you origional question, your beer just simply didnt full start yet at the point it was about to take off. It probably started by now?