atxstanley

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I've seen a couple of threads on here about this, but there has never been an answer that I really found to be sufficient. To start off, I'm brewing a Kolsch from a kit by Austin Hombrew (extract kit with steeping grains), specifically the Texas Kolsch. It's been in my fridge sitting between 64-59 degrees for the past 12 days and the krausen hasn't fallen really at all after a fairly slow and long fermentation. Last night however i decided to give the carboy a decent shaking and sloshing (not much, just enough to kick the beer up a little on the sides and agitate the whole thing). Some of the krausen remnants started to fall (small green chunks smaller than gravel). My question is, should I use this process over time to help sink the krausen, or should I just sit back and wait? What about even just transfering to the secondary for cold conditioning as is? Is it bad for the beer that I made the krausen fall prematurely?

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Irishcrazy2005

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Are you sure that it's not just krausen stuck to the walls of the carboy? This happens on every brew of mine, so even though the krausen has fallen it looks like it is still there.

atxstanley

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There is krausen stuck to the walls of the carboy, however there is a layer of greenish krausen that has thinned but never really subsided (its interspersed with bubbles too). Whenever I give the carboy a shake little pieces of it fall to the bottom, I'm just not sure if this is the way I have to get the krausen to fall (this is my first time using a fridge to ferment). Also, I'm not sure if this will necessarily impact the end resulting beer in some negative way.

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Primary: Dunkelweizen
Primary: Edwort's Apfelwein
Secondary: Empty
Secondary: Empty
Bottled: AHS Southern Brown Ale
Kegged: Purple Haze Clone, Apfelwein, Texas Kolsch, Irish Red Ale

FlyGuy

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I am not sure how much wheat was in your brew, but it was probably enough to form that thick, persistent krausen. Wheat in your beer also does the same thing with the head when poured. There are lots of proteins in wheat malt that help build and retain that creamy head, as well as your krausen.

Your beer is probably well past the krausen stage, but it sounds like there are still some remnants of the 'head' that didn't fall back into the beer. No big deal. Regardless, you need to check your gravity reading to see if the fermentation is complete or not. That's the only rule one needs to follow. Visual clues can be misleading.

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pfranco81

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My Wit did the same thing, and it looks like my Honey Wheat is going to be the same as well. I'm just careful when I rack to stay above the trub and below the krausen.

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atxstanley

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Ah, yes, of course. I used 1/4lb. of red wheat in the steeping grains and 2lbs. of wheat extract. That makes a lot of sense now. I didn't think about the wheat proteins initially. I'll also be taking a gravity check in the morning as well. Thanks a bunch

Do you think that sloshing the krausen until it all falls would affect the beer at all? I don't think it would, but I've been wrong before.

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Primary: Dunkelweizen
Primary: Edwort's Apfelwein
Secondary: Empty
Secondary: Empty
Bottled: AHS Southern Brown Ale
Kegged: Purple Haze Clone, Apfelwein, Texas Kolsch, Irish Red Ale

DAAB

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Some true top fermenting yeasts will remain on the surface after a healthy fermentation. US 56 (05) is one of these, it sounds like it's also trapped some hop debris up there but it's perfectly normal.
Beer that has been under-pitched doesn't tend to get this so it sounds like you've done a good job with that Kolsh.

Heres an example of what will often remain after a good ferment, you can culture and repitch it if you like

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Brew-boy

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My Kolsch is doing the same thing it wont drop. I will just wait it out I am not worried if it takes two or 3 weeks to drop. I never do secondarys anymore so I can wait.

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Cheesefood

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FYI, I just learned the other day that the technical term for "krausen stuck to the walls of the fermenter" is "braun hefe".

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DeathBrewer

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that's german for "brown yeast"

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