Problems with Belgian Wit

[DrewsBrew]

I brewed a Bell's Oberon clone on Sunday. In another thread I had mentioned my yeast exploding and I had lost some of it. Well, after about 24 hours I started to get krausen so I thought all was well. At 48 hours post brew the krausen had already started to fall and I have almost zip for airlock activity. My pitching temp was 68 to 70 and it fell to 64-65 (per the stick on thermometer) which it has constantly been at. This is just about room temperature. With almost no airlock activity, no tempurature rise, and a receding Krausen, am I to assume that my fermentation is a dud because I ended up not pitching enough yeast?

As a last ditch effort, I raised the room temp in order to raise the temp in the fermenter so that maybe that would help to get my yeasties working. I did this last night and got the fermenter temp up to about 68 by this morning.

Should I get another vial and repitch? Its the WLP400.

 

[trent]

Whats the gravity reading? what was OG?

 

[sonetlumiere85]

From whitelabs.com:

""Be patient"
By: TJ Vitolo
Date: June 22, 2007
Beers brewed: Witbier
Comments: Very active yeast that yielded a perfect Witbier, but be patient. Pitched the yeast at 72 Degrees. Fermentation was more ferocious than WLP300. Fermentation had ceased in 3 days, but had a huge krausen. I gave it a swirl and had even more action for 2 more days. Swirled it again, and had another 2 days of action. Had about 79 percent attenuation. What it yielded was a perfectly fermented witbier with a light amount of phenols and it was just tart for my taste."

For what its worth.

I agree, use your hydrometer to tell if it is done or not. Your fall in temperature might've slowed things down a bit, especially when ideal temp range for the strain is 67-74

 

[DrewsBrew]

when I get home form work, I'll pop it open and give it a stir....since I've raised the temp a bit. Maybe that will kick start it. I haven't taken a gravity on it as I didn't want to crack it open. I will do that today as well.

 

[discgolfin]

give it some time..it obviously had a good fermentation going and just becasue the bubbles stopped and krausen fell does not show it is done..I could very well be done but I would wait a few days and take a gravity reading...

I remeber when I first started out and I would check the beer every few hours and freak out if it haddent started or it started and stopped..now I throw it in the closet and leave it be..in a few days I check that its going and I wait a few weeks before I check the gravity..


Jay

 

[malkore]

I'd take a gravity reading before you do any stirring.

the low OG on wit's can cause them to ferment very rapidly. Airlocks are a poor indicator that fermentation has become 'stuck' or has 'finished'.

trust the hydrometer. would not surprise me if this one's done.

 

[Hammer]

I've got my second batch of Belgian Wit in the fermenter beside me bubbling right now.
I've found that the top cropping yeast I use is what I term "lazy"
It krausens to the top of the fermenter and stops doing its job.
Since I use a better bottle to ferment, I can watch what's going on.
I don't even break the blow-off seal, I just swirl it every 12 hours. I know this seems like a lot, but every time I do, all the yeast falls to the bottom and has to ferment more sugars to rise to the top again. Then I have to send it to the basement again.
Even with all that, it's tough to get your FG down where you want it. I do make my Belgian kinda big, tho, it OG'd 1.060.
So, my $.02 is swirl it often, it will work.