Super slow fermentation

[huffman]

Brewing for me has always gone pretty much the same. Pour the wort into a 5 gal carboy, pitch the yeast, hard steady fermentation & foam blowing off the next morning, pretty much done in 6~10 days. Not this time, very slow but steady fermentation that remained at the same pace for several weeks. Never hard enough for any foam to move down the blowoff tube. Cocoa settled to the bottom, got a mix of mostly fine but some unusually large bubbles (smaller than a pea) coming up from the bottom.

Used the Alternative Beverages English Oatmeal Stout kit with the addition of 8 oz. of Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa (powdered) to the boil. Yeast was Windsor dry, have used Windsor dozens of times without fail. Any thoughts, wasn't really that tasty at bottling but I'll wait a couple months to see what transpires before coming to a final decision.

 

[Anubis]

The oils from the chocolate could have subdued the foaming. Also with the chocolate it may be a lot for the yeast to handle. What did you hydrometer say? Did you rehydrate the yeast?

 

[vitrael]

Huffman, I had a very similar experience with a porter I just brewed with 4oz of baker's chocolate. All of my previous batches have blown off vigorously. I brew 5G batches and primary in a 5G carboy. They have had huge creamy Kreusen that stuck and were done very fast.

The porter I made was the highest gravity I've done so far (1.065 OG) and I expected an even more dramatic ferment, but I got almost nothing. There was no foam buildup, little bubbling, and yeah, a lot of junk on the bottom releasing big fat bubbles from time to time.

It looked like it wasn't doing much of anything at all after 3 days. Occasional airlock activity, but so lazy looking. I took a gravity reading to decide whether to stir/repitch. I was surprised to find the SG was down to 1.034 already. So I guess I was wrong, and now I'm going to leave it alone.

I hadn't heard/thought of chocolate subduing foaminess (as far as I know, there is no oil in cocoa powder) but it might well be the case. Anyone else have more experience with this?

 

[huffman]

I normally don't take a reading because I am usually in too big a hurry.

Yes, I always rehydrate my yeast for 15 minutes or more in warm water before pitching. Aerate well after pitching and before I top off the carboy.

Tending not to think the cocoa is the only cause because I've brewed with it before though 4 oz of powered is the most I've used in the past. I've taken to using a huge plastic tube I stick in the mouth of the carboy to blow off because the last chocolate stout I brewed blew the stopper & tube off when they got stopped up and sprayed the ceiling with wort, I thought it was funny though the wife did not see the humor in it.

 

[psusan]

I used Welsh's apple white grape frozen concentrate-started it about 2 weeks ago, added the yeast as the recipe called for, waited a week and no fermenting, added yeast inhancer, no fermemting, added another yeast and then another, still nothing. Anybody have a reason or solution for this, we have used this juice before and had some trouble getting it started buy this is off the wall. HELP, I hate to throw it out, if I can find a solution. Thanks

 

[COLObrewer]

I normally don't take a reading because I am usually in too big a hurry.

Yes, I always rehydrate my yeast for 15 minutes or more in warm water before pitching. Aerate well after pitching and before I top off the carboy.

Tending not to think the cocoa is the only cause because I've brewed with it before though 4 oz of powered is the most I've used in the past. I've taken to using a huge plastic tube I stick in the mouth of the carboy to blow off because the last chocolate stout I brewed blew the stopper & tube off when they got stopped up and sprayed the ceiling with wort, I thought it was funny though the wife did not see the humor in it.

There are factors too numerous to track regarding fermentation, some of them are completely out of our control, not the least of which are: Moon phase, barometric pressure, various vibrations and of course inconsistencies in yeast, malts, hops and other ingredients. One fermentation with seemingly the same ingredients will ferment completely different from the previous batch for these reasons. It's a dynamic hobby.

Keep on brewing my friend

 

[huffman]

Keep on brewing my friend

After 20+ years and countless batches I'm not about to give up now. However I like your moon phase theory I can sleep soundly now.

psusan, I'd make a yeast starter and get it going good then pitch it into your batch. If it doesn't work then you have at least eliminated the yeast as being the issue. Good luck.