I pitched the yeast on my first all grain Sunday PM. Really good activity starting Monday PM and still quite strong. The biggest surprise has been the huge krausen that hasn’t given way as of this evening.
Is it typical to have more vigorous fermentation w/ all-grain vs. extract? Perhaps it was my starter and the fact I pitched it when it had krausen on it?
If you changed a process with your starter, then I’d point to that as the most likely cause of the quicker start. But you may also get a bit extra yeast nutrient from the break material in an AG batch, so that may be contributing as well.
There’s definitely more nutrients in an AG wort than and extract wort. As I have mentioned several times in the past, extract is supposedly lacking in Free Amino Nitrogen. Also, as was mentioned, the break material has nutrients that are probably not present in extract.
And AG will have more protein, which will increase krausen.
Right, the break itself is protein. Should notice a much bigger break with AG as well.
I did, forgot to mention…very large and long lasting break.
As an aside, checked gravity today for the heck of it, and it’s already down to 1.014 (1.012 is supposed to be FG) after 5 days.
Previously I assumed that the krausen and airlock activity correlated pretty close to gravity. In this case I am almost close to FG and yet it’s still chugging away. Thoughts?
Sounds like you’ve done a nice job. I remember my first AG and being blown away by the amount of hot break as compared to extract - all good and normal. Remember that the 1.012 FG is a prediction - a lot of factors influence that number. You could stay at 1.014, hit 1.012 or even lower. It’ll be good.
Does amount of krausen foreshadow how your head retention in the beer will be? Is there a correlation there?
Could explain some of my head retention issues…my beer typically doesn’t get a lot of krausen and I’m wondering what is affecting that. Comes down to water, I’m sure.
Just an update…6 days after pitching and I cannot believe the krausen on this! When will the madness end?
If anything, though, it would be the opposite. The theory is that there are foam positive substances in the beer and once they get used up, they aren’t there for future foam production. In that case, a large krausen would actually cut down on later foam production.
Hmmm, interesting. Thanks for the response, Denny!
Sometimes it doesn’t. I’ve had stuck krausen on batches that just won’t die. Cold crashing may help. Or gently stirring. Or just rack out from underneath. Make sure your gravity is stable first.
Some yeast strains form a krausen that is dense and sits on the top like a raft, not falling like others. That is why you check gravity and not krausen. You just rack the beer off from under the krausen.
I think I may have this ^ situation. Checked gravity again today, moved slightly from a few days ago but certainly close to FG. Moved from 1.057 to 1.012 in a week. Still have the same exact huge float of krausen on top, airlock activity is very minor.
justin- what yeast did you use…might have missed if you said somewhere.
does anyone see a difference in krausen between liquid and dry yeast? i typically use liquid, just used dry on my last batch, and was worried when i didn’t need a blowoff tube (s05 in place of my typical cali ale yeast). still hit FG, so i’m pumped, but wondering if this is typical.
The biggest difference I have noted is from fermentation temp. Warmer temp = bigger krausen. Lower temp = smaller krausen. Same yeasts, same recipes.
WLP001 as a starter.