Strange fermentation or lack thereof

teutonic terror · Post by **teutonic terror** » Fri Jul 14, 2017 4:01 am

Morning BORG!

I brewed a five gallon batch of pale ale Sunday, transfered to the bucket and pitched two
packets of S04 and parked it in my 64F fermentation room.
Since then I have seen no activity in the airlock and I have a small "bathtub" ring of krausen.
I pulled a sample on Wednesday and this morning, both time the gravity was 1.012, down from
OG of 1.060.
The sample on Wed tasted and smelled fine and I'm waiting til after work to taste this sample, but
it also smells OK.
BTW, both samples had white floaties in them which I don't remember ever seeing before.

Looks like it's fermented/ing but I'm wondering because usually with S04 I have a fairly quick
takeoff....

RickBeer · Post by **RickBeer** » Fri Jul 14, 2017 5:44 am

Maybe it peaked and died while you slept¿

Inkleg · Post by **Inkleg** » Fri Jul 14, 2017 5:58 am

Sounds like normal fermentation with that much yeast, that cool of temperature and a leak in the lid somewhere.

Dawg LB Steve · Post by **Dawg LB Steve** » Fri Jul 14, 2017 11:33 am

Inkleg wrote:Sounds like normal fermentation with that much yeast, that cool of temperature and a leak in the lid somewhere.

I would have to agree with this.

Kealia · Post by **Kealia** » Fri Jul 14, 2017 1:00 pm

Sorry, what's the question here? It sounds like everything worked quickly and as it should.
Is it about the floaties and the lack of a huge krausen?

I remember once when I still used buckets that I pitched yeast, put the lid and airlock on, and THEN moved the bucket. That forced air out through the airlock and caused some pressure inside the bucket that really suppressed VISIBLE fermentation until I popped the lid to check it out and heard the gush as it equalized.

teutonic terror · Post by **teutonic terror** » Fri Jul 14, 2017 1:40 pm

Thanks for the responses guys...

I've just never had a fermentation either peak that quickly and/or not show much outwardly
visible signs it happened at all.

I do remember now, Tuesday morning I checked for bubbles and got an aroma of hops around the bucket...
so I'm leaning to there is a leak somewhere in the lid or the seal.
But the damn lid is SO hard to get off....

Now for the floaties question... could it be that it's just yeast that hasn't flocculated out yet
seeing as it reached terminal gravity so fast? I'm not sure how fast S04, or an yeast for that
matter, drops out.

ScrewyBrewer · Post by **ScrewyBrewer** » Fri Jul 14, 2017 4:13 pm

Sounds like you have nothing to worry about at all. I have to ~6 year old fermentors that don't seal air tight anymore, they never show activity in the airlock with 5-6% beers. One whiff inside the chest freezer, and a snoot full of Co2 later, I know everything's gonna be alright. As for the floaties won't they just avoid being transferred, since they're on the surface of the beer?

berryman · Post by **berryman** » Fri Jul 14, 2017 4:17 pm

I agree with all the above. 04 is fast and you gave it a good pitch, you made some fast beer that's all.

FedoraDave · Post by **FedoraDave** » Fri Jul 14, 2017 4:49 pm

Nothing to see here, folks. Move along. It's just beer. Nothing to see. Keep moving, that's it.

Tabasco · Post by **Tabasco** » Sat Jul 15, 2017 7:37 am

There are always aberrations.

My 6 gal mash-in-bag typically averages og and fg to provide 5.0-6.0 abv's. Usually around 1.054 og, give or take.

My next to last batch, same malt, same mash procedure, I got a stunning 1.040 og. I doubted the amount of 2row I had left in the sack could have gone limp, so I figured maybe I screwed up the mash temp at some point because I was drunk, but I know I didn't ... the thermometer is a god and keeps me informed.

In fermentation, same yeast (s05), it only came down to an fg of about 1.012 or something, so I got a beer (I'm not looking at my notes so don't do the calculation) a bit less than 4% abv.

The next batch, same ingredients and methods, came out as normal, say 1.054 og, 1.008 fg (about, as it usually averages around there).

So, go figger.

teutonic terror · Post by **teutonic terror** » Sat Jul 15, 2017 9:05 am

Tabasco wrote:There are always aberrations.

That's where I am now...
The last batch I used S04 on was a smoked porter and that thing roared...had to have a blowoff tube.

Screwy, these "things" are in the sample I pull for gravity readings. I get that from the spigot so it is
at the bottom of the bucket.
Might cold crash it since the keezer's empty to try clear it a bit....

Anyhoo, in a few days, since the gravity is still 1.012, I will have a very tasty pale Pale Ale in the keg
@ 6.3 ABV.

Strange fermentation or lack thereof

Strange fermentation or lack thereof

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