Gunk on the TOP of my primary fermenter

toadfuller · 03-25-2008, 12:54 AM

My light ale has been fermenting for exactly one week today. I decided to go and check the gravity today to see if it was time to move it to a secondary. When I opened the lid, there is a whole whole lot of sudsy stuff on top of the liquid... which I have certainly seen before. However... when I dug down to get a liquid sample, the bubbles are really SLUDGE.. like thick, gooey, off white gloop... stuff you would expect to find in the BOTTOM of the fermenter.

I tasted the beer and it does not have any weird off flavors... is this normal? I have brewed a LOT of beer in the past and never seen anything like this.

solidghost · 03-25-2008, 01:17 AM

Hmm....what's your recipe?
Perhaps you should let it settle for a little more? Or it is just yeast? the white gloop I have in my fermenter is usually yeast but it's just about an inch or so thick.

toadfuller · 03-25-2008, 01:47 AM

Its a light, honey ale.. all grain brew. There is gunk on the bottom of the fermenter too, and on the top as well.

**bradsul** · 03-25-2008, 01:52 AM

Some yeasts create different krausen than others. I've used some that create a really thick goop on the top and some that create a really fluffy foam. If the beer tastes fine and there are no strange smells (beyond the normally strange smells of some fermentations) don't worry about it.

Also if it were me and I still had a krausen like that on the beer, I wouldn't bother disturbing it to take a gravity sample as it's obviously not done - but that's just me.

toadfuller · 03-25-2008, 02:16 AM

You might be right... this is the first time I have used this yeast... White Labs California Ale Yeast. I will let it sit another coupla days and see if the gravity comes down at all.m n Thanks for your input.

Bytor1100 · 03-25-2008, 03:01 AM

I've made some hefe with the California ale and it made some goopy krausen that left a ring around the top, nothing to worry about.