First Time Conical

[swanwick]

Short story: Fermentor not bubbling. Opened top 3" port and looks like there is krausen, but no bubbles in airlock. Can't figure out why.

Longer story........

Recently purchased the SSBrewtech 1/2 barrel chronical BME. Rinsed, passivated, and rinsed again. Tested with water to ensure no leaks. Then sat for a few weeks. Sprayed down with star san solution 30mins prior to adding wort. Dumped collected solution from bottom valve and then poured in two 5 gallon buckets of cooled wort.

A few days prior had done a 2L starter from one vial of Wyeast 3711 (french saison). Cooled it, poured off wort, and then allowed temp to rise again before pouring into fermentor with wort in it. Clamped on lid with blow off running to beaker of star san solution.

Realized about 12hours later that I had not tightened the 3" tri clamp access port (with blow off tube). Tightened that down. Now coming up on 48 hours with no bubbling. Opened up access port and peered in, looks like krausen. Closed back up.

Lid appears tight and ailigned, all clamps are down, 3" triclamp on tight. Blow off tube seems tight (though no clamp on it). Thoughts? It is a 1/2 barrel fermentor with only 11 gallons in it so more headspace than I have had before with buckets/carboys. Could that be it?

Help is appreciated.

 

[iijakii]

If it's fermenting and airlock is not bubbling that just means the CO2 is getting out somewhere else. Lid isn't perfectly airtight. No big deal.

 

[swanwick]

When I poured in the wort, it was VERY vigorous and there was a lot of foam. Is it possible what I am seeing 48hours later is still some of that same foam or does it have to be krausen?

 

[Toejam792]

RDWHAHB I had one take 72 hrs before bubbles. I was worried after 48 like you, opened up looked like krausen. The next day when I came home from work it was going like crazy. I could of fixed the seal when I closed it back up though. Beer turned out great.

 

[Doctor_M]

Take a gravity reading. One benefit of having a conical is being able to take gravity readings in a matter of seconds with very little effort. Just spray your racking port with 90% isopropyl (or starsan) and pull off a sample.

 

[jddevinn]

The 1/2 barrel conical has 18.3 gallons of usable space, with 10 gallons you have 8.3 gallons of head space.... This is a lot of room for the CO2 that is developed to go into. The pressure in the headspace has to rise enough to overcome the airlock. Maybe it just hadn't gotten there yet and everytime you check you release the pressure?

That or you know you have a leak.

 

[swanwick]

Yeah, definitely thinking about the headspace as part of the challenge.

Checked the gravity via sampling port and it seems to have gone down from 1.041 to 1.030 so definitely something going on in there.

Turned temp up a few degrees as that seems to be approach folks use for the french saison yeast. Will be away for 3 days so hoping nature will take its course.

Thx for the advice and affirmations.

 

[swanwick]

Think I found it. Cooling coil exits vessel above wort level due to partial batch. Tightened nut down this morning several turns with wrench. Hoping to get bubbling soon.

 

[moors]

3711 will have white puffy clouds with light brown flakes of yeast flocks riding on top of the foam. The foam looks a little "crispy". 3711 krausen is very recognizable. Take a look at it. If you see crispy looking white puffy foam with little light brown flakes riding on top, it's the 3711 krausen.

I now open-ferment (lid off) all of my brews in the conical during the first week. I started thinking about this during a Hefeweizen that put off some sulfur smells. The beer will re-absorb its own outgassing unless it can breathe. I was pondering this until I visited Germany and observed first-hand breweries that open-fermented to let the beer breathe and outgas.

 

[swanwick]

If you see crispy looking white puffy foam with little light brown flakes riding on top, it's the 3711 krausen.

Yes, did see that. Thx for the info. Have never examined krausen closely before. Just relied on bubbling.

I now open-ferment (lid off) all of my brews in the conical during the first week.

How "open" do you suggest? I have three options

1. take entire lid off
2. take off 3" access port from lid
3. remove 1/2" blow off hose so barb goes out to open air