Poor Fermentation

[MAiton]

Hello,

I completed my second All-Grain batch of beer Sunday evening and I have some concerns regarding the fermentation. First off, here is a breakdown of the Stout recipe I used:

For 5 Gallon:
Maris Otter (10 lbs)
Flaked Barkley (1 1/4 lbs)
Chocolate Malt (12.50 Oz)
Roasted Barley Malt (12.50 Oz)
Fuggles (2.75 Oz @ 60 mins)
Whirlfloc Tab (15 mins)
Fuggles (1.25 Oz @ 00 mins)
Danstar Windsor Yeast

Mash temps were consistent @ 153F for 60 mins and Ph was 5.5 after about 15 mins in. My batch sparge temperature was 161F (Low but adjustments will be made next time). My Original Gravity measured out at 1.058 (Book suggested 1.066). Using an online calculator my efficiency was said to be around 62%. Also, I rehydrated my yeast with 90F water for 15 mins before I added it to the fermenter.

Now, onto my problem. After about 8 hours, the fermentation appeared to be well underway; lots of activity, 2" of krausen, etc. But by the 24 hour mark, the fermentation appeared to have slowed down dramatically. By today, the krausen has settled and the activity seems to be minimal. Why would my fermentation have died off so suddenly? I built a temperature controlled room for my fermenter and it fluctuates slowly around 68F at all times.

All help is appreciated.

Mike

 

[BrewInspector]

Sounds fine to me.
Fermentation is most often essentially done in a three to four day time period. What you describe is not all that unusual.

You can't go by visuals just like you can't rely on bubbles from the airlock as confirmation of activity or the completion of activity but they may be indicators.

I use fastferment conicals and the shadow of krausen stains are what I often see by day two or three indicating that I missed the high krausen event. Just let it ride for a while. Check gravity if you want to confirm completion.

 

[RM-MN]

Just a comment on your batch sparge. Your sparge water temperature isn't critical. You will get essentially the same sugars out by using cool water and it will be easier to handle than the hot water.

If you want to increase the brewhouse efficiency there are two ways to do so. The best is to mill the grains finer. If you don't have your own mill this may be out of your control. The second way is to mash longer. This is limited as to the increase but may be worthwhile.

If you want the fermentation to last longer, ferment cooler. You will get less krausen and a slower ferment if you control the fermentation down to 62. You mentioned a temperature controlled room but the best is to control the beer temperature. I use a 62 degree room and at the peak of fermentation the beer temp will get up to 65. In a 68 degree room I would expect the beer temp to be about 73-75. This is pushing the upper limit of the yeast's preferred temperature and my yield some off flavors in your beer.

 

[MAiton]

If you want the fermentation to last longer, ferment cooler. You will get less krausen and a slower ferment if you control the fermentation down to 62. You mentioned a temperature controlled room but the best is to control the beer temperature. I use a 62 degree room and at the peak of fermentation the beer temp will get up to 65. In a 68 degree room I would expect the beer temp to be about 73-75. This is pushing the upper limit of the yeast's preferred temperature and my yield some off flavors in your beer.

I think I'll look into this and just buy a longer probe that I can insert into the fermenter. I'll base my controller off the internal temperature of the wort as it's fermenting and adjust the temperature of the room accordingly. My room is in the basement where the temperature is around 58F so my ventilation fan on the "cooling" side of my controller might give me what I need. With fermentation most active within the first 2 to 3 days, I'm assuming that temperatures generated would be the highest at this time. Hopefully that will work.

 

[flars]

You can set the fermentor in a tub of water. The water will act as a heat sink for the heat produced by the yeast when fermentation is the most active. A wet towel over the fermentor and fan can be added to accelerate evaporative cooling when necessary. When needed the water can be warmed to increase the temperature fermenting beer. The temperature of the mass of the water will be easier and cheaper to control than the entire room.

I use a STC-1000 to control an aquarium heater and the fan.

 

[thehaze]

Danstar Windsor is a low attenuating English yeast, which will go crazy for 24-48 hours and then slow down.

Windsor yeast needs low mash temps. and sugar added to boil, in order to make it attenuate more than the 65% people usually get with it. The fermentation will be over in 3 days and at 9-10 days, it can be cold crashed and kegged/bottled.

I like Windsor and the flavours it brings, but its fermentation could seem strange, when coming from yeast that usually make " bubbles " for more than 5-6 days.

 

[leonardoreges]

I brew lots of brown ales using danstar Windsor and my fermentation schedule goes some kind like yours, and I control temps to be a little lower. Fast and about 68% attenuation.
I don't like to keep measuring gravity over and over, but if it decreases your anxiety take a reading and you'll see that's going well, probably you've already reached your FG.

 

[65C]

I don't use that yeast - but I do brew a lot of beer with a very similar recipe (my main brew is some kind of variant on exactly what you're got there)

With M44, Ringwood, US-05 (my main yeasts) I get 4-7 days activity at 17C usually

However I've had ferments that slowed right down until I moved to room temp (22C+) - at that point they've come alive again for a week from the movement and the temp increase

I always let them sit for 4 weeks at least without touching them - and they always sort themselves out in the end

 

[MAiton]

I took a measurement this weekend and I was at a gravity of 1.025 (7 day fermentation). My target was 1.021 but the krausen was completely gone and there was no activity when analyzing the carboy up close with a flashlight.

Being new to this, would my beer reach the 1.021 even though it appears to be completely inactive?

Mike

 

[leonardoreges]

Probably 1025 is your FG.
You mashed at a high temperature, so there’s gonna be lots of unfermentable sugars left, and consequently a high FG.
Anyways, 7 days of fermentation is too soon to take any definitive conclusions, I say wait at least another week before cold crashing it.

 

[thehaze]

Just give it a bit more time and raise the temp a bit. But Windsor will attenuate better using a low mash temp. and sugar in the boil. Lallemand does advise about the mash temp. on the yeasts' specs sheet.

 

[seatazzz]

+/- 0.003 in your gravity reading is normal. I don't think I've ever hit my FG right on the nose. Test the gravity over a couple of days (test, wait a day, then test again), if your numbers are the same you're done, it's that simple.

 

[flars]

Give this one a lot more time. I used a yeast similar to Windsor for a American brown ale. It took 33 days in the primary to get to what might be FG. Details in this thread and how I handled the poor attenuation of Windsor for the same recipe on a previous brew.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/caribou-slobber-with-muntons-ale-yeast.646811/

 

[SanPancho]

dont put the probe inside the fermenter. unless your system is really dialed in and you're using an intelligent PID that learns your cooling rates you will overshoot quite a bit. get some bubble wrap or other insulation and tape it to the side of your fermenter. control is easier that way.

you could also pitch something else with high attenuation in there now and likely have no impact on flavor. maybe rehydrate a bit of US05 for like 30-45 minutes so its really ready to work and then pitch it in. folks do it all the time.

 

[lablover]

Windsor tends to be very fast. I had more blow-off's with it than any other yeast I've used.