Very slow fermentation action... worried I under pitched.

[stewnbrew]

Hello -- I just started a Chocolate Maple Porter last night. After cooling the wort and dry pitching the yeast it was in the fermenter with the blowoff hose attached by around 9:30pm.

Normally within the firsty 12 hours of pitching I have always seen vigorous action as the yeast starts eating up sugars. However this time there is a very thin krausen film on the top of the wort (maybe 1/4 inch). And there is very slow bubble action (maybe 1 bubble every 10 seconds or so.

This may not be a problem at all, but I am used to seeing much more action within the first 12 hours. This is my first porter brew and maybe I'm just not accustomed to a slightly different behavior from this brew.

I used a Lallemand brand "nottingham" yeast strain. My ambient temperature in the room is 65.3 F.

Is there any reason for concern? Should the fermentation be more active at this stage? Is this going to negatively effect the flavor of the beer?\

Cheers!

 

[phuff7129]

Way too early to worry. If you have the start of a krausen within 12 hours that is completely normal. I usually see vigorous activity between 24 and 48 hours. If your porter is higher gravity say, 1.06 or above you might want to pitch another pack.

 

[RM-MN]

You probably should make a "swamp cooler" to keep your beer a little cooler. Fermentation activity will raise the beer temperature and Nottingham can get pretty active and start giving off flavors if it gets much warmer than you room temp.

 

[BigFloyd]

You probably should make a "swamp cooler" to keep your beer a little cooler. Fermentation activity will raise the beer temperature and Nottingham can get pretty active and start giving off flavors if it gets much warmer than you room temp.

Since you're using Nottingham, do this ^^^^^^ without delay. 65*F ambient can give you a ferment temp of 72-75. Notty starts throwing some funky off-flavors at 68 (that's beer temp, not air) and will get worse the warmer it gets.

On the other hand, it will do great around 60*F beer temp for the first 3-5 days. After that, you won't have to cool it. Your 65* room will be just fine to let it finish.

BTW, unless it's a high gravity beer, you didn't under pitch.

 

[stewnbrew]

Thanks for all the response. I did get a little anxious too early. I think all brewers can attest to the fact of getting a little excited and concerned (about their batches). The krausen formed shortly after I wrote my first message and is going strong since.

I was able to move the fermenter to a cooler area of the house. Now at ambient temp of 58F. At least there is a couple benefits of living in Upstate NY this time of year.

I'm curious, is there any general rules of thumb around the whole temperature aspect of fermentation? I mean does it depend on on the type of beer/yeast/ingredients etc?

Thanks again!

 

[RM-MN]

Each strain of yeast has its preferred temperature range. Usually one would want to keep the beer near the lower end of that range for the cleanest flavor.