Strange Fermentation

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Martybhoy

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I brewed an IPA on Saturday. I aerated well and the yeast I used was WLP001.


I checked gravity yesterday and it had only moved from 1.060 to 1.047, despite plenty of krausen and vigorous airlock activity. I checked again this morning and it had dropped to 1.035 in the space of 12hrs.

It is fermenting, but very slow.

Issues that I am aware of -

-pH was 5.6. I usually hit 5.1-5.2.

-Wort cooler had a small leak where hose meets copper, and the drips may have ended up in the cooling wort, although I fixed this during the aroma steep, so temp was 70°+ during the leak.

- my starter went mental in the flask, and over-spilled. So my yeast count may have been off a little.

- my starter was made a week before brew day rather than 2 days before.

Anyone got any ideas what would cause a slow fermentation, and could this have implications on the beer?
 
On its own it's decent. But from Saturday to Wednesday it only dropped from 1.060 to 1.047.

Normally after 3-4 days, the bulk of fermentation is done.
 
Perhaps it's not strange after all lol.

Just different from what I'm used to.

[emoji106]
 
I mostly use cml now. I find they kick off within 12 hours,go mental for up to 4 days,usually less. Then seem done but on closer inspection (shine a light through the fv) they continue to micro bubble for up to a fortnight. I only take a fg after around 12 days so as to determine and plan bottling.
 
http://beersmith.com/blog/2015/05/07/mash-ph-and-why-it-matters-for-all-grain-beer-brewing/

There's a line here that says lower ph is better for yeast health so maybe it just took a while to get going for that reason. Instinctively I can also buy the idea that a week old starter had sort of gone to sleep a bit too.

Did the airlock take any longer than usual to start up (i.e. was it a longer lag phase than usual?)


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Sounds likely. So it got going as you'd expect just has gone slowly. Hope it finishes up fine for you


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Now down to 1.016 and, I guess, still going. I'll have to hold off the rack to secondary for dry hopping.

Fingers crossed
 
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