US-05 Question

[bransona]

Hey, fellas,

I've recently brewed my third batch with US-05, and the results are varying pretty dramatically. First batch krausen'd after about 12-24 hours, never got more than a half inch. Next batch krausened sometime after 24 hours and got up to an inch of very thick, beautiful brown goopiness (pretty excited to try that one once it finishes). The third is a DIPA, the highest gravity of them all, and it has *seemingly* yet to krausen at all after ~36 hours. There is an itty-bitty ring of stuff around the top of the beer, but I honestly think that's from moving it around and stuff then getting stuck on the sides of the bucket. I know the high gravity can make US-05 slow to take off, but it smells like beer already! The bucket isn't airtight, so no airlock activity could have ever cued me into the activity in the bucket. I've looked into the bucket a couple of times, and the surface is just barely foamy/white. Is it still going to take off? Did the ferment just rock out overnight so I couldn't notice it? I'll take a gravity reading next weekend, but I was wondering what you guys thought about this---particularly if it's slow starting or already pretty far along.

Ferment temp is between 60-70, on the low side externally (62-64 in my swamp cooler)

 

[Dixon9717]

I wouldn't worry about it. I've had all different kinds of behavior from 05. As long as your temp is within reason you should be fine.

 

[bransona]

Stellar. I think it's in the sweet spot for what I'm after out of us-05, 64-68, looking for a nice neutral flavor, good attenuation.

 

[brrman]

It will all depend on the gravity of the wort, thew type of malt involved, the volume of wort, the ambient temp, whether or not the yeast were getting paid overtime... lots and lots of various things.

Yeast do not always act the same. Fortunately they typically give you consistent results, though.

 

[pablosbrewing]

Pitching directly into wort kills up to half the cells - rehydrate in 80F water for about 30 minutes, stirring at about 15-20 minutes and then again just before pitching.


DIPA:

Pitch 2 packs for any wort over 1.060

Aeration is important with high gravity, I use a stainless air stone and aquarium pump, some people shake or stir, some use pure O2. Make some foam.

 

[C-Rider]

I don't understand this interest in watching the krausen. I put my wort in the fermenter, add yeast, cover and look at it the next day to see if it needs blow off. If not I forget about it for 4 weeks.

 

[johnsant]

I like beer porn. I have a peep show every day!

 

[Bosh]

I can't see **** since I used a plastic bucket but others have said that lots of hops can make the krausen seem less because of all the oils.

 

[DapperD]

I used to peek at my buckets often. Now I pitch and check daily till I see bubbling in my blowoff then I just let it do its thing. Once fermentation starts there not much else you can do.

 

[slym2none]

Wort pervs!!!

 

[unionrdr]

I've had beers that only made maybe a 1/4" of krausen from start to finish. others, a blow off wasn't good enough. That thin ring is definitely from the krausen.

 

[bransona]

Alright, thanks! I won't do an actual test until Saturday, but honestly, it SMELLS like beer. I hope it isn't just the hops in there fooling me, but I seriously feel like I smell that kinda delicious, funky beer smell that we all know so well in IPA's. Hopefully it's not just optimism, lol.

 

[unionrdr]

Sounds to me like it's well on it's way to a stable FG. They do so quite uneventfully sometimes. I don't think you have any worries.

 

[bransona]

Thanks for all your help, union! You're a voice of reason on so many of my posts

 

[unionrdr]

Thanks, I try...