Wyeast 3944 - Violent Fermentation, But Slow?

[lucas]

I put down a wheat beer into which i pitched a 2L starter of wyeast 3944 belgain witbier last sunday evening. by the morning it was bubbling away nicely. when i got home that afternoon it had blown krausen out the airlock. so anyway, i made up a blow off tube thinger and it continued to spit out krausen for the next 30 or so hours.

Id read so many people say this was a slow yeast so i was somewhat worried it might be infected, though i left it to see what happened.

after the 30 hours of spewing out crud it settled right down, instead of filling the whole headspace with form, it now has only a neat layer of bubble on the top of the brew. "yay!", thinks me, "ill give it a few more days then ill rack it".

a few days later (as in today), i took an SG reading to check it was ok to rack and was shocked to find it still up at 1.030 (down from 1.042). i thought it must have just been syrup in the tap so i took another sample but got the same reading. tastes pretty good too, i little more orangey that I'd hoped but from past experience that fades quite quickly.

obviously im not going to rack it yet, as it's still got plenty to do, but can anyone explain how such a vigerous ferment could occur without chewing through all the fermentables? would it be related to the orange zest or corriander seeds that i left in for the primary ferment? (which im hoping to lose when i rack)

thanks for reading

lucas

 

[lucas]

anyone?

 

[Stuster]

Lucas

I've never used this yeast, but have just had some wyeast 1388 slowly chugging through some belgian wort. It is also very slow, with 2 weeks or more seeming to be the norm for this yeast for me. Looking on an American site, some brewers reported as long as three weeks with the 3944, so I'd be leaving it in the primary for a good while yet I think.

According to the wyeast site this yeast is a true top cropping yeast, which is why you got the huge foamy mess at the start of fermentation.

This strain may be a slow starting yeast with true top cropping characteristics

Just forget all about this beer for a week and it should be fine. Looks like you can relax and have a .... :super:

 

[Tyred]

It might be a case of the yeast multiplying but before they start making alcohol. It's possible that it was mainly the yeast that were bubbling out as well. I'm not too sure about it as I'm still pretty new at this.

I had a cider that decided to escape via the airlock. It still took about 7 days to complete after that.

Still at least you know that the yeasties are happy.

 

[lucas]

Lucas

I've never used this yeast, but have just had some wyeast 1388 slowly chugging through some belgian wort. It is also very slow, with 2 weeks or more seeming to be the norm for this yeast for me. Looking on an American site, some brewers reported as long as three weeks with the 3944, so I'd be leaving it in the primary for a good while yet I think.

According to the wyeast site this yeast is a true top cropping yeast, which is why you got the huge foamy mess at the start of fermentation.

This strain may be a slow starting yeast with true top cropping characteristics

Just forget all about this beer for a week and it should be fine. Looks like you can relax and have a .... :super:

[post="125975"][/post]​

so top cropping means massive krausen then? that would certainly clear things up a bit. thanks

 

[lucas]

second time using this yeast. 1 week at 21C and it's only dropped 10-15 points.

Note to self: dont use this yeast when trying to do a quick wit to rebuild the stockpiles

 

[Denwa]

second time using this yeast. 1 week at 21C and it's only dropped 10-15 points.

Note to self: dont use this yeast when trying to do a quick wit to rebuild the stockpiles

The first 24 hours are mostly the yeasties easting O2 and producing CO2 while the grow. Then they slow down and chug through there food .