12 days, fully attenuated, krausen won't fall

I made a batch of beer on 1/7 and the krausen won't drop, but it is fully attenuated. OG was 1.052, I pitched a new packet of US-05 that I rehydrated, pitched at 64*F, temp went up to 67*F during active fermentation, now its holding at 62*F. I took a hydrometer sample and it is 1.011. The krausen is stuck to the sides of the fermenter but also covers the entire surface of the wort.

I've seen a lot of other threads about US-05 keeping a krausen for a long time, but I've never had it happen. I was planning on going 3 weeks in primary before bottling, but I normally start to lower the temp gradually during the 3rd week to help it clear.

So, should I just let it go at 62*F until the krausen drops on its own, and then crash it, or go ahead and crash it now?

How does it taste?

If you're at terminal gravity and it tastes good, I'd go ahead and crash it/bottle/keg.

CharlosCarlies said:

How does it taste?

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It tastes pretty good, but it is yeasty from all of the yeast still in suspension. It is pretty hoppy, about 45-50 IBU depending on which calculator I use, so it could go longer to help the flavors mellow.

I'm looking at this from a commercial perspective, but 12 days is usually plenty for US-05 in a medium/low OG beer assuming your processes are good.

I'd personally go ahead and crash it. Since it sounds like you bottle, any necessary conditioning will be taken care of there IMO.

It's down to 60 with no change in the krausen. I guess I'll keep dropping the temp and see what happens.

Personally I would have transferred it to a secondary for the sole purpose of cold crashing it... no more krausen...

atreid said:

Personally I would have transferred it to a secondary for the sole purpose of cold crashing it... no more krausen...

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Yeah, I was considering moving it to secondary to dry hop. The problem is this was a 6 gal batch and my secondaries are only 5 gal carboys. Obviously I'll lose some to the trub, but I'm sure I'll lose .5 gallons or so of otherwise good beer. I have an open top fermenter that I was given, but I've been leery of using it in my basement because of bugs and such, even if I put cling wrap over the top of it.

I'd be very surprised you fill your primaries at 100%, since you need some headspace for the krausen, even if you use a blowoff... Your primary probably contains 5.0-5.5 gallons max. With the trub left out, you'll probably end up with a little less than 5 gallons in the carboy, with just enough head space to fit the dry hop. It's actually a good thing to have it pretty full to limit O2 exposition (oxydation).

A new krausen is doubtful at this point. If it's really really full, you can put a blowoff for the secondary just to be safe. Normally I wouldn't at this point, but since you are having krausen problems...

I think I misread 6 gal batch vs 6 gal container... but still... ;-)

atreid said:

I think I misread 6 gal batch vs 6 gal container... but still... ;-)

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My primary is a Cooper's fermenter and it is filled to 23 liters. I'll take it out of the fermentation chamber so I can get a better look at it to see how high the trub is and how low the krausen goes down. You're right though, I may end up losing a full gallon in trying not to rack any trub or krausen. I'll probably omit the dry hop just to get every drop of beer I can into the carboy.

Omit the dryhop? Sounds to me like you're going insane or something...! ;-)

What style of beer is this?

It's an experiment I'm doing - to see if I can make as good a batch of beer with a beefed up no boil kit as I can a full boil extract or PM. My goal is to come up with an easy recipe that I can use to keep beer in rotation that won't eat up a lot of time to make.

I'm not really sure what category this would fit in. This is based on the Cooper's Real Ale kit, which is already moderately hopped (~40 IBU), but bittering hops only.

I'm hoping with the cascade hops that it turns out like an APA. BeerSmith tells me I should be at 5.4% ABV, 47 IBU (not sure I believe this), 7.7 SRM. I've been debating dry hopping to be more along the lines of an APA.

Recipe:
3.75lbs Cooper's Real Ale LME
2lbs Light DME
1lb dextrose
.25lb maltodextrine
1oz Cascade Pellet Hops (7.1%)
US-05 11g pack

Boil 3 liters of water and boil hops for 10 minutes, strain into fermenter. Mix in light DME and other adjuncts, mix in LME, top up with water and mix well.

Then I would NOT skip the dryhop part...

I know it's a personal taste thing, but this recipe looks tasteless already as it is... ;-) Without the dryhop part, I'm afraid it's gonna have the personality of an uncooked green bean...

You only need to sacrifice less than a tiny liter, after all... ;-)

atreid said:

I'm afraid it's gonna have the personality of an uncooked green bean...

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LOL. Yeah, it tastes okay as is, but it lacks that hop aroma I love in my APAs.

If the stupid krausen drops by tomorrow I'll dry hop in primary, otherwise I'll just rack to secondary and dry hop there.

I got home and checked on it and the krausen is falling out. It is still there, across most of the surface, but very thin compared to the last few days. I took another hydrometer sample and it is at 1.011. I'm amazed at the difference in the smell, taste and appearance in just 1 day at a slightly lower temp. Much less yeasty and cleaner. I'll definitely dry hop it tomorrow to get some more hop flavor and aroma.

Thanks for the replies!