Back to Shopping at NorthernBrewer.com

Krausen fell after 1 day- Failing Batch?

Northern Brewer General
#1

I brewed the “Irish Red Extract Kit w/ Specialty Grains” (second batch ever) and used Danstar dry yeast- no starter.

Brewing day went fine, poured the yeast directly into the carboy after filling it etc… 1 DAY LATER- there was 1 inch of young looking krausen sitting atop the batch- air lock bubbling like nothing I’ve seen before.

2 DAYS LATER- The krausen had completely subsided and absolutely no bubbling in the airlock… whats happening? Is this the process of a failing batch? Things I should mention before you give me theories:

Couple things actually:

  1. I noticed today (day 3) I actually used Danstar “Windsor” yeast, not the “Nottingham” that should have come with the kit- my bad, but similar yeast strains i think.

  2. This was the first time I reused a batch of star-san sanitizer (but the fact that there was any fermentation at all would seem to indicate that all my equipment was in fact sterile- I measured ph below 3 so I thought it was good)

  3. The fermometer measured higher than 78 on the carboy and since fermentation is inductive, I can only assume warmer within the carboy.

  4. This could just be normal with dry yeast? Its my first time with it.

Solutions:

-Should I repitch some dry yeast in hopes of restarting the fermentation process?
-I already shook it a bit today to try and oxygenate the batch a little more and bring some yeast back into suspension (though very small yeast cake as of yet)

-ANY SUGGESTIONS?

#2

P.S. OG was 1.047, Potential Alcohol 6% (?), and % Sugar-11.5

#3

[quote=“swebster”]I brewed the “Irish Red Extract Kit w/ Specialty Grains” (second batch ever) and used Danstar dry yeast- no starter.

Brewing day went fine, poured the yeast directly into the carboy after filling it etc… 1 DAY LATER- there was 1 inch of young looking krausen sitting atop the batch- air lock bubbling like nothing I’ve seen before.

2 DAYS LATER- The krausen had completely subsided and absolutely no bubbling in the airlock… whats happening? Is this the process of a failing batch? …

3) The fermometer measured higher than 78 on the carboy and since fermentation is inductive, I can only assume warmer within the carboy.

Solutions:

-Should I repitch some dry yeast in hopes of restarting the fermentation process?
-I already shook it a bit today to try and oxygenate the batch a little more and bring some yeast back into suspension (though very small yeast cake as of yet)

-ANY SUGGESTIONS?[/quote]

Dont repitch. That temp seems kinda warm and could give you some off flavors. The fact that a lower OG beer went crazy on day one with dry yeast says you got good fermentation from the yeast you pitched. When you can, move the fermenter to someplace cooler and leave it on the yeast for at least 3 weeks to clean up after the party they had on day one.

#4

I moved it to a cooler corner of the room yesterday (day 2), after i saw the krausen had fallen completely and now its sitting at 66 ish, also i shook it a little today… effects?

#5

Well, you probably finished most of the fermentation off rather quickly, so now it will be a slow process. The temp for windsor yeast is 64-70, so you found an ok place now that the yeastie kegger is over. A bit cooler than 66 in the room would have been ideal to start things off, like 62 would have been ideal, transitioning up to around 66 by the second week of primary. Fermentation temp is about the second most important thing for a low OG beer besides sanitation. Brewing at temps too high will give off flavors and esters which taste like juicy fruit gum.

Windsor is already a yeast known to produce esters and is not that much like Nottingham at all which is considered neutral and not known to produce many of these flavors.

At least 3 weeks in primary and a cold crash to let as much of the yeast to settle out as possible will help. It will still be drinkable, but will probably have that juicy fruit taste to it.

#6

See my post to your same post in the Yeast section.

#7

thanks all

#8

:cheers:

And I also posted there too. lol.

#9

Barney, you have a wonderful way with words. Thanks for the laugh :stuck_out_tongue:

#10

You made Beer! Seriously friggin awesome. Sure there were things that could have been done better but i find something that could have been done better every time I brew.

Enjoy the fruits of you labor, the best piece of advice I can give you is to start your next batch as soon as possible. As long as your sanitation is good I promise you will make beer every time.

#11

Congrats on your second batch!

Definitely keep it cooler, and age it for a number of extra weeks on the yeast cake. That’s your best bet for the best beer. In the future, as others recommend, try to keep it under 70F when fermenting (except where the style says otherwise).

Back to Shopping at NorthernBrewer.com