Stuck Fermentation or impatient brewer??

Hey everyone,

Just had a quick question concerning my 1st brew. While I have read in my "Joy of Homebrewing" book to "relax", I wanted to make sure I don't screw up this first brew.
I am brewing a Vanilla Hefeweizen (from a kit at homebrewheaven.com). It has been in the primary for 6 days now and is bubbling roughly every 1 to 1.5 minutes. The problem that I have is that the krauesen has not fallen yet. The fermentation was pretty aggressive for about 48-72 hours and has gradually slowed to its current point. There is a good amount (2" or so of trub settled out. The wort temp is 71 degrees and I used the Wyeast 368 liquid yeast packet. The SG was 1.056 and I am afraid to open the bucket to take a gravity reading, because it may either contaminate the wort or cause some of the krauesen to mix in with the beer. I read that the krauesen causes off flavors, so I don't want to do this if I can keep from it, but I'm kinda at a loss. So what do I do, wait a while longer to see if it falls, or use my racking cane to take a gravity reading?? Thanks in advance for the help.

PH24

Don't worry about it now. Open up and take a reading using sanatized utensils.
Any krausen will go to the bottom anyway and won't affect your brew anymore than it would if it fell naturally.
I assume you will be racking to secondary?

boo boo said:

Don't worry about it now. Open up and take a reading using sanatized utensils.
Any krausen will go to the bottom anyway and won't affect your brew anymore than it would if it fell naturally.
I assume you will be racking to secondary?

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Yes, I will be racking to secondary because that is when I add the vanilla bean. The only thing that I am worried about is it clearing too much. I would really like the traditional hefe cloudiness.

There'll be enough yeast for you to swirl when you pour into your serving glass to cloud up your beer.

Sounds like a normal fermentation for a top-cropping Hefe yeast.

Well, I took the great advice on here and took a gravity reading. It was about 1.013, so I guess it is pretty much done. I transferred it to the secondary yesterday (Saturday) and added the vanilla bean. I sliced the vanilla bean in half and rolled it with a rolling pin before putting it in the secondary. Now how long should I wait before kegging to get a good vanilla flavor? The airlock rose yesterday and bubbled a few times, but now the airlock has settled all the way down, so I don't want to leave it too long and have the beer oxidize. Any advice??