Stuck fermentation help

thood6 · Jun 13, 2012

So I brewed two batches this past Sunday. I pitched Sunday night and by Monday morning both feemenations had taken off. One a blonde ale that still has a thick krausen. The other a stout never developed the thick krausen but had a small one for the past couple days. I'm fermenting them both in a chamber that stays between 64 and 67 degrees. The blonde has US-05 and the stout has white labs london ale yeast in it. Should I raise the temperature to try and get the stout going again but risk off flavors in the blonde? Or should I order more yeast for the stout or possibly just let it ride? Any advice is appreciated.

I forgot to mention the reason for the post. The stouts krausen is gone now and it's only day 3.

AmandaK · Jun 13, 2012

Have you taken any gravity readings? Bubbles nor sight alone are indicative of actual fermentation.

Eliterunner1 · Jun 13, 2012

I'm still fairly new to brewing but I have a few brews under my belt. My first question is whether or not you are doing extract or all grain?

AmandaK · Jun 13, 2012

Eliterunner1 said:
I'm still fairly new to brewing but I have a few brews under my belt. My first question is whether or not you are doing extract or all grain?

This is of little value unless we know that it is actually a stuck fermentation via gravity readings.

homebrewdad · Jun 13, 2012

AmandaK said:
This is of little value unless we know that it is actually a stuck fermentation via gravity readings.

This x 100. Bubbles and appearance are entertainment, but the real work of fermentation is measured by gravity - NOTHING ELSE.

If you had bubbles and krausen for three days, odds are overwhelming that everything is fine. Leave the beer alone. Yeast know how to make yeast, LET THEM.

Take gravity readings in another week.

Kate00 · Jun 13, 2012

homebrewdad said:
This x 100. Bubbles and appearance are entertainment, but the real work of fermentation is measured by gravity - NOTHING ELSE.

If you had bubbles and krausen for three days, odds are overwhelming that everything is fine. Leave the beer alone. Yeast know how to make yeast, LET THEM.

Take gravity readings in another week.

Agreed. I had a porter ferment fully without too much krausen. Take a gravity and see where you're at compared to your anticipated FG.

thood6 · Jun 14, 2012

Ok so I finally took a gravity reading today and it was around 1.03 with an OG of 1.06. So it looks like its moving normally. Still no krausen so that's weird but I'll check it again soon to see if it keeps dropping.