Pilsner STILL at high kruesen after a month!

SSBrew - 728
Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
pericles

pericles

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 27, 2007
Messages
744
Reaction score
25
Location
Bryn Mawr, PA
I pitched a Classic American Pilsner on December 19, 2010 - a day short of a month ago. I've kept it fermenting at a constant 45F using WLP800 since then. A week ago I let the beer rise to 65F for a 48 hour diacetyl rest. A few days later I planned to transfer to a secondary vessel for lagering but, to my surprise, the beer was at high kreusen. I checked again today - a month after pitching - and the beer was STILL at high kreusen.

I'm aware that lagers take longer to ferment than ales, but high kreusen, a month after pitching, seems a little extreme to me. Is this normal? If so, should I leave the wort on the yeast cake for another week, or transfer to a lagering vessel now? Should I conduct a second diacetyl rest?

Thanks for the advice.
 
pericles said:
I pitched a Classic American Pilsner on December 19, 2010 - a day short of a month ago. I've kept it fermenting at a constant 45F using WLP800 since then. A week ago I let the beer rise to 65F for a 48 hour diacetyl rest. A few days later I planned to transfer to a secondary vessel for lagering but, to my surprise, the beer was at high kreusen. I checked again today - a month after pitching - and the beer was STILL at high kreusen.

I'm aware that lagers take longer to ferment than ales, but high kreusen, a month after pitching, seems a little extreme to me. Is this normal? If so, should I leave the wort on the yeast cake for another week, or transfer to a lagering vessel now? Should I conduct a second diacetyl rest?

Thanks for the advice.
Click to expand...
You should take a gravity reading. The activity you are seeing may just be due to the change in temp and the resulting lowering of CO2 solubility, but the only way to know is to use a hydrometer.
 
Did you check the gravity before moving to the diacetyl rest? It almost sounds like it was laying dormant til you raised the temp.
 
Keep in mind you are fermenting your lager 5 degrees below the optimum fermentation temp as set forth by White Labs. Chances are 45 degrees put the yeast into dormancy and it is just taking a long time to ferment out. I can't speak for others but I usually ferment my lagers at 50ish and then lower it once the fermentation has taken place.
 
Are you sure that it is still fermenting, and not just that the krausen didn't fall? It might be done....a gravity reading will tell you for sure...
 
Gravity's still at 1.03, so it's definitely not done.

Here's a side question: if the kreusen still hasn't fallen when the beer does finish, is it viable to top-crop?
 
Good points to both of you. I'll skip top-cropping for now and, if I like the way it turns out, maybe I'll experiment with top cropping the second batch. If it's hazy, I'll know why.
 

Similar threads

Yesfan
US-05 Feedback and Some Other Questions/Suggestions
Replies
20
Views
2K
day_trippr
day_trippr
BugAC
Lagering temps and the affect on beer
Replies
6
Views
1K
BugAC
BugAC
J
Pilsner fermenting for 2 weeks?
Replies
6
Views
968
Basspaleale
Basspaleale
Joe1980
Pilsner with slight banana flavour
Replies
10
Views
2K
VikeMan
VikeMan
Gnome-de-brew
Timing issue for lagering my Pilsner
Replies
5
Views
942
eliastheodosis
eliastheodosis
CornyKegs 300

Latest posts

Back
Top