[cornershot]

I brewed the oatmeal stout from the January/February Zymurgy yesterday and pitched a 2L starter of wlp039 East Midlands ale yeast. It's about 20 hours after pitch and fermentation is quite active at 65f but there's no krausen. Just a few bubbles on top of the beer. This yeast is supposed to be a good top cropper. I'm not terribly worried but I've never had a beer with no krausen. Any thoughts?

[Jeff M]

RDWHAHB?  Take a sample and check the gravity?  It sounds strange to me but then lots of things int he beer world are strange to me

[majorvices]

I have been fermenting in either stainless conicals or 15 gallon sanke kegs and can't see krausen any more. can't remember the last time I stressed about what my krausen looks like. Been several years.

[cornershot]

Not stressin' but I really wanted to top crop it!

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[majorvices]

Well, looks like yer out of luck.

[duboman]

At 20 hours I would say relax and it should get krausen. Btw, did you use ferm cap at any point? That can reduce the amount of krausen that develops

[cornershot]

At 20 hours I would say relax and it should get krausen. Btw, did you use ferm cap at any point? That can reduce the amount of krausen that develops

No ferm cap. Didn't do anything out of the ordinary. Everything was impeccably clean. I don't suppose 1.5# of oatmeal could have have krausen-inhibiting qualities?
For all you bucket and conical users, I have sincere pity that you can't witness the magic of fermentation visible only through a carboy. It's a beautiful thing to behold!

[HoosierBrew]

At 20 hours I would say relax and it should get krausen. Btw, did you use ferm cap at any point? That can reduce the amount of krausen that develops

No ferm cap. Didn't do anything out of the ordinary. Everything was impeccably clean. I don't suppose 1.5# of oatmeal could have have krausen-inhibiting qualities?
For all you bucket and conical users, I have sincere pity that you can't witness the magic of fermentation visible only through a carboy. It's a beautiful thing to behold!

I've made quite a few oatmeal stouts using ~ that amount of oats and had good krausen.  Never used that strain though.

[jamminbrew]

Every once in a while, I have a batch that just doesn't have much of a krausen. No rhyme or reason, or any connection I can figure. Never had an issue with the end result, though. I assume you are using a glass carboy, so can you see the yeast swirling around? Is your airlock going nuts? If so, don't worry, and it'll probably be just fine.

[cornershot]

Every once in a while, I have a batch that just doesn't have much of a krausen. No rhyme or reason, or any connection I can figure. Never had an issue with the end result, though. I assume you are using a glass carboy, so can you see the yeast swirling around? Is your airlock going nuts? If so, don't worry, and it'll probably be just fine.

Yes, I'm using glass. The airlock is bubbling furiously and the yeast are doing their dance, rising and falling, spinning and churning, ebbing and flowing in an orgy of consumption and reproduction... it's like Woodstock in there, man! I wonder if they'd like some music?

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[duboman]

Good music works wonders!

[reverseapachemaster]

I wouldn't sweat it. Check back in 8-12 hours. You'll probably see some krausen pop up.