Slow/Stagnant Fermentation

[3 Dawg Night]

OK, so I'm going to be that guy...

My tenth brew overall is in my fermenter. It's a Citra APA, OG 1.053, 17g US-05, fermenting at 67F. This is my seventh time using US-05, and they've always been vigorous fermentations before: rapid airlock bubbling, several inches thick krausen, quick finish, etc.

I brewed this one three days ago, and what you can see in the picture below is as far as my krausen has gotten so far. My airlock is bubbling about once every 2-3 seconds. I wouldn't worry so much about all that, but my Tilt shows that it's only dropped from 1.053 to 1.051 in three days. That seems...sluggish. Should I be worried? Should I pull a "real" hydrometer sample, or just let it ride for now?

I had really high hopes for this beer, so I may cry if it doesn't pan out. The Citra smells HEAVENLY every time I open my fermentation chamber!

 

[VikeMan]

I would let it ride.

As an aside, how accurate is a Tilt when it's sitting in krausen?

 

[Shaika-Dzari]

I saw that tilt can give false reading when it's stock into hop or krausen. Maybe shaking it a bit to be sure you don't get false reading ?

Edit: ninja'd by VikeMan

 

[3 Dawg Night]

As an aside, how accurate is a Tilt when it's sitting in krausen?

This is what I've been pondering (and reading threads about) for the past few minutes.

 

[wepeeler]

My experience with Tilts is that they are great for trends. Not so much for real time accuracy. Krausen can definitely affect the readings. Fermentation has been slowing down on my Helles, so I raised the temp for the diacetyl rest, and the Tilt seemed stuck at 1.013. I left it alone for a few days, then decided to shake the fermenter, thinking the yeast had been stressed and stalled. Sure enough, after the shake, the Tilt is reading 1.008, exactly where I wanted to be. Could have been some krausen sticking to the top of the Tilt. I know air lock bubbling isn't the end all of fermentation, but if you have bubbling, it's probably doing its thing. Pretty difficult to screw up with US05.

 

[McKnuckle]

The Tilt seems to be a very expensive, very convenient, but not very reliable, hydrometer. Stop opening the fermenter and leave it alone for a solid 7-10 days before checking gravity again. If there's krausen and bubbling, you are fermenting. As Elliott famously said to ET, "It's working!!"

 

[jschein]

Looks like a very creamy krausen congrats! Yeah the tilt gets crap on it. Difficult to see in a conical, I just wait a couple of weeks to finish anyway. I am in no rush and either is the yeast. Brew on

 

[3 Dawg Night]

UPDATE

I don't know what's going on with my Tilt. It's been reading 1.051 for four days now. I decided to pull a sample for a "real" hydrometer reading: 1.007. I'm going to let it ride for another week or so to clean up a bit, but the sample tasted great! Lots of great Citra flavor!

Looks like I have some Tilt troubleshooting to do before my next brew day. When it works, it's great for trends. When it doesn't, it just makes me worry about my beer.