The Case of the Disappearing Krausen.

[Stauffbier]

So, I've made a heck of a lot of yeast starters in my homebrewing adventures. I've seen just about every scenario when it comes to how different yeasts react in my starter vessel.

Well.... Today I've been noticing something I've never observed before. I'm spinning a 1.5L starter of Wyeast - Greenbelt on the stir plate. It's been spinning for about 24 hours now. The yeast was a bit old, so it took about 15 hours before I noticed even a hint of krausen. Not long after that it started foaming up like normal, which put my mind at ease. Then, about 2 hours later the krausen dropped completely. Not a sign of foam or anything. I really didn't believe it was done, so I just let it keep spinning. About an hour later the krausen formed again. Then... yeah, you guessed it! It disappeared yet again. It did this a few more times, and now it has a krausen again. The foam just comes and goes as it pleases. I've never seen that happen before.

I have no idea why it's doing that. There has been a lot of fluctuation in temp and humidity here today. Maybe that has something to do with it.

This is obviously a non-issue, and I'm not worried about my yeast. I just thought I'd share the strange phenomenon.

 

[dannyhawkins]

How did you like the results of the GreenBelt yeast?

I really like it and use it often.

 

[Stauffbier]

I like it very much. I was actually drinking this very beer last night, and it's really good!

 

[Black Island Brewer]

Bier war sein letztes wort dann trugen ihn die Englein fort...

Awesome sig!

 

[Stauffbier]

Awesome sig!

Thanks! It's actually a quote from one of my German beer glasses..

 

[dannyhawkins]

Yeah this yeast seems to have a mind of its own.
I've had lots of problems with blow off in fermenters, and it built up a huge krausen and blew out the foam stopper in my starter one time. I also had some reclaimed in a mason jar that would not stop building pressure. I vented it often but it went on for about six months.
This stuff acts funny but it is really good. I used to be able to pick up a distinct flavor but as I used it more often I just get a creamy mouthfeel or silkiness now.
I think I'm going to go to a clean yeast for a while then back to this one and see if I can get that flavor back. Now that I think about it, I got that flavor before I had temp control so maybe ill try a bit warmer fermentation as well.

 

[dannyhawkins]

I made a starter not long ago and had to post about it here. So another day another GreenBelt starter. This one was new in box from AHS. I smacked the pack when I started to boil water for the DME. Anyway throughout the entire fermentation there was no foam whatsoever on the surface. I was up late anyway so I could not help notice it would not foam. It got me thinking I had residue in the pot that contaminated it, butter or soap or something. Eventually it quit bubbling out CO2 and I put it into the fridge to settle down. When I poured it into a mason jar for transport it foamed up like a beer and held the cap of head for several hours. I figured that was good enough proof that nothing was contaminated, and used it with great results. There was plenty of krausen in the fermenter. I posted about it in another thread but wanted to add it here. This stuff is crazy. But good.

 

[progmac]

funny you mention this...right now i am fermenting a 1.042OG blonde with wyeast 1272 in the lower 60s. after three days, the krausen was gone. 'that was fast,' i thought. then today, day four, the krausen is back! i had never seen this before.

also, i have a slightly higher gravity batch (1.052) from the same brew day next to it, same yeast, same pitch rate, same nutrients, etc, and that one has had a consistent krausen since the beginning.

 

[Stauffbier]

I brewed another IPA about 4 weeks ago with the same batch of yeast that I started this thread about. I've been keeping a culture alive since I made this thread by feeding it every once in a while. I never did get the same strange results with the krausen, but the recent IPA I made just wouldn't clear. I went 3 weeks in primary and then dry hopped for 5 days. It was still cloudy as hell on bottling day. I couldn't cold crash this one since I had other active fermentations going in the ferm chamber. It's been in the bottle since Saturday, and now the yeast is starting to drop out. I haven't had that much sediment in my bottles since I was a noob, but the beer still tastes fantastic. It is definitely one of the strangest yeasts I've used. It never seems to act the same way twice, but it always makes really good beer.