Unsettled yeast

I have a brew - a chocolate porter - that still has a nice krausen of yeast sitting on top after 2 weeks in primary. The yeast is White Lab's Burton Ale Yeast that I reclaimed from a pale ale I brewed a few weeks ago. In that brew, the yeast settled out pretty quickly - certainly by two weeks in.

I get that "each brew is different", but was wondering if anyone knew what caused yeast to settle or stay on top. Clearly, as an ale yeast, it's a top fermenting yeast, so what triggers the settlement?

Have you reached you F.G.? If so you could always try and cold crash it.

I use this strain frequently and have noticed similar results. At the 2-week mark, the krausen is still substantial. I let mine in primary for 3 weeks. In that 3rd week, the krausen settles out pretty well. Scientifically, I'm sure the yeast has it's role (flocculation = medium, sedimentation characteristics, etc.), but it probably also has to do with proteins, hop oils, etc. in the beer itself.

Give it another week, maybe cold crash it or keep it at a cool temp... it will settle out.

ChillyP said:

Have you reached you F.G.? If so you could always try and cold crash it.

Click to expand...

I'm down to 1.014 as of yesterday. I haven't checked it today, but I assume it is pretty much done

Yeah, I'd slowly start stepping the temperature down over a couple of days. It should settle out. Do that and it should clear out.