How Thick Should my Krausen Foam be?

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rougebomber

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Hey all,

I am fermenting in a 6 gl carboy for the first time, so im not exactly sure how much krausen activity i should be having. I know that for the most part it just insoluble proteins, hop resins, and dead yeast cells. Here was my recipe:
9 lbs American 2 row
16oz crystal 60
12oz chocolate
8oz black patent
4oz roasted

Mashed at 156 or 60 min
2oz fugggle for bittering at 4.5 aa with overall ibu or around 30
16oz lactose
8oz cocoa
Pitched london ale 111 @ 75
I used a keggle with a bazooka tee.

I also used a 1 liter starter of london ale 3 yeast.
My krausen at 24 hours is only about 1/4 in thick, but bubbling every second and is holding steady at 65 degrees. Is this fine? is it just due to less dead cells from starter, and not having many hops? I have always used a 5.5 gl pail, so ive never been able to really see.

Thanks
 
Each fermentation is an individual thing...sometimes there is a quarter inch of krausen, sometimes it blows out the top. Hard to predict.

I think your beer will be just fine.
 
How thick should the krausen be?

Someone once asked Abe Lincoln how long a man's legs should be. "Long enough to reach the ground." So maybe the krausen should be, "thick enough to keep the beer from escaping," or something like that.
 
your question is imposable to answer. some will have karusen out the airlock others wont go above an inch. and to head off a potential future post at the pass. no your beer isn't infected thats yeast your see floating on the surface of the water.
 
I've had a big day and I may be tired but I'm only seeing 2.5 lbs of malt in your recipe, all of which contains very few fermentables. Did you forget to write down your base malt or did you leave out of your recipe?

To answer your question, the appearance of your krausen can be influenced by a number of factors. This list contain but is not limited to fermentation temperature, pitching rates, fermentable quantities in your wort, yeast strand, hopping rates, if your yeast happens to be depressed on brew day and also proper constellation alignment. In other words, it's impossible to estimate the krausen thickness. As long as you have one at all, the your yeasties are making beer. However, do not hesitate to ship me any beer you brew that showcases any krausen inferiority complex so I may dispose of it safely.

:tank:
 
I've had a big day and I may be tired but I'm only seeing 2.5 lbs of malt in your recipe, all of which contains very few fermentables. Did you forget to write down your base malt or did you leave out of your recipe?

To answer your question, the appearance of your krausen can be influenced by a number of factors. This list contain but is not limited to fermentation temperature, pitching rates, fermentable quantities in your wort, yeast strand, hopping rates, if your yeast happens to be depressed on brew day and also proper constellation alignment. In other words, it's impossible to estimate the krausen thickness. As long as you have one at all, the your yeasties are making beer. However, do not hesitate to ship me any beer you brew that showcases any krausen inferiority complex so I may dispose of it safely.

:tank:
HAHAHA whoops! Thanks for the catch, there was also 9 lbs American 2 row. And thanks for the advice, I was just curious, and about the disposal, I have a way of my own its located just above my belt line. CHEERS!
 
HAHAHA whoops! Thanks for the catch, there was also 9 lbs American 2 row. And thanks for the advice, I was just curious, and about the disposal, I have a way of my own its located just above my belt line. CHEERS!

I'm relieved you didn't forget your base malt. For a second there, I thought you might have been a beginner homebrewer giving his first shot at an AG batch. I was going in my head, "now there's a dude who's going to be really disappointed with the results". For the record, I was using a plastic bucket for 3 years and was getting 3-4 inch thick krausen. I recently switched to a 6.5 gallon carboy and my last 3 batches have only had an inch thick krausen. I don't know if it a coincidence or there is a correlation, but so far there is a big difference. Although I haven't measured the diameter of my bucket and carboy, I could swear the carboy is fatter around the waist. If that's the case, then the larger diameter would probably be responsible for the thinner krausen. Just a thought :)
 
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