Anyone ever have a fermentation that gave no visible signs of fermentation? I hadn't seen any bubbles for a couple days after pitching Wyeast Brett Brux into my sour wort, but I didn't worry too much, just figured it was slow to start (I didn't do a starter). After 4 days, I got worried and popped the lid to see no signs of fermentation--no krausen, wort looked unchanged. I gave the bucket a swirl and saw some positive pressure build over the day, but it was very far between bubbles. I figured it was the lacto still working rather than the yeast. I was drinking a Prairie Brett C that night, so I threw in the dregs to try to get it started. Day 5, same thing, didn't look like anything had happened. I pulled out about a cup of wort and put it in a nalgene bottle with some dregs from Urban Family Brett Baby Cakes to see if I could create a makeshift starter (I do all grain and don't have any DME to make wort quickly). No activity after ~36 hours, so I thought maybe the acid was killing the yeast, but the pH was at 3.2, so I didn't really expect that to happen. Day 6 (today), I did what I probably should have done sooner and took a gravity reading. It dropped to 1.010, so clearly fermentation happened, but it was the stealthiest fermentation I've ever experienced. I'm certainly no seasoned veteran--10 clean brews, 4 sour brews to date, still learning all the time--but I've always had a krausen form and scum stuck to the side of the bucket. This had neither and totally caught me off guard. I'm going to take another measurement in a couple days and see what's going on. I was planning to do a secondary with fruit for a month or two (which will be my first time using fruit). How much time should I give it before transferring to secondary?
You're not exactly dealing with quick workers. If you are using a carboy. I'd just shine a bright as jesus flashlight in there and see if I can habituate my eyes towards any work happening. It might take a minute, but typically when I do that. I notice there is all kinds of work happening which I would never otherwise notice and I take my gravity readings and verify it.
I ferment in a plastic bucket, though I've considered switching to glass so I can see what's going on. I do small batches (1-1.5 gallon), so glass wouldn't be too heavy to deal with. I had pitched the other half of the Brett Brux (I typically split the Wyeast pack into two equal halves) on a beer the week prior and it chewed through it in the usual amount of time (2-3 days). Differences were that the previous beer was at pH 3.4 vs 3.2 when I pitched, and for the more recent batch the yeast had been in a tupperware container in the fridge for a week. I haven't had any problem with leaving half the yeast in the fridge in the past, though this one wasn't a smack pack, so maybe there were fewer viable yeast after a week?
hi. I got a similar problem. it's been 6 days of fermentation but no co2 on airlock krausen is looking really good but where is the co2 out. I've checked plastic cover and i am 99% percent sure there is no leakage on cover side.is my beer gonna live my beer kit is American Pale Ale with m44 US West Coast yeast here is the picture of beer lid opened https://pasteboard.co/GBbJ1XN.jpg
Buckets can and do leak at times. Check the seAls and airlock gaskets, but if your fermenting you should be fine. Personally when racking to secondary I use glass or plastic carboys so I can see what is happening and if I'm soaking wood or fruit, nibs, I know the bung is seated firmly.
