Does hibiscus inhibit krausen?

I'm brewing a hibiscus pale ale using and american northwest ale yeast by wyeast. I brewed this batch on Saturday with an og of 1.054 and there has been little to no krausen formation (albeit the gravity has fallen to 1.012).. Prior research on this ale yeast has said that it provides a thick krausen that doesn't seem to dissipate.

Could it be the hibiscus that is inhibiting the krausen? Or are there other factors?

Here is what it looks like



There is no sign of infection -- the beer smells delicious and there is a healthy yeast cake on the bottom.

Let me know what you think

Could be, if it has a fair amount of oils present in it. Tried a quick Google search and mostly came up with Hibiscus oils for hair and crap. Never used it myself but I've seen the same happen before in Belgian Wit's when I used oats. Funny too because a few times everything was fine in the fermenter and in the glass. Other times though the oil in the oats killed the krausen and lead to a head that dissipated nearly instantly.


Rev.

Rev2010 said:

Could be, if it has a fair amount of oils present in it. Tried a quick Google search and mostly came up with Hibiscus oils for hair and crap. Never used it myself but I've seen the same happen before in Belgian Wit's when I used oats. Funny too because a few times everything was fine in the fermenter and in the glass. Other times though the oil in the oats killed the krausen and lead to a head that dissipated nearly instantly.


Rev.

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A quick google search said that it contains an essential oil that is good for hair and for aroma therapy.. but would oils consist in a similar capacity in dried leaves?

I currently have a hibiscus pale ale fermenting. Brewed it on Sunday and it's had a good amount of krausen since Monday. It was a foamy pink krausen on Monday; today it's a weird looking burgundy fluff. This is only my second try at hibiscus. First time was a failure - used it in secondary and resulted in infection. This time, I added the hibiscus at flame out.

I've made a lemongrass hibiscus summer ale the last two years, both times putting the hibiscus in after I transferred to a secondary. I can't speak to the effect in the primary, but I've obtained the results I wanted each time by putting it in the secondary.

A4J said:

I currently have a hibiscus pale ale fermenting. Brewed it on Sunday and it's had a good amount of krausen since Monday. It was a foamy pink krausen on Monday; today it's a weird looking burgundy fluff. This is only my second try at hibiscus. First time was a failure - used it in secondary and resulted in infection. This time, I added the hibiscus at flame out.

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How much Hibiscus did you add at flame out?

dynobyte said:

I've made a lemongrass hibiscus summer ale the last two years, both times putting the hibiscus in after I transferred to a secondary. I can't speak to the effect in the primary, but I've obtained the results I wanted each time by putting it in the secondary.

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Do you wash the leaves when you put it into the secondary? Or do you make tea?

Daren_Z said:

How much Hibiscus did you add at flame out?

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IIRC, it was 4 cups by volume.

Daren_Z said:

Do you wash the leaves when you put it into the secondary? Or do you make tea?

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I don't know what dynobyte did, but in my first attempt, I soaked it in vodka for approx 30 seconds. In hindsight, I should've made a tea with it, or soak it in vodka overnight.

A4J said:

IIRC, it was 4 cups by volume.

I don't know what dynobyte did, but in my first attempt, I soaked it in vodka for approx 30 seconds. In hindsight, I should've made a tea with it, or soak it in vodka overnight.

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Were you going for a bold or a more subtle hibiscus flavour with the brew? Also, does the high alcohol content of vodka kill any potential bigs that might infect the brew?

Sorry if I sound like a noob, this is my first attempt at additions other than hops.

i had a healthy krausen and plenty of head on the finished beer with my hibiscus wheat (3oz dried hibiscus at flameout) - it's possible that the wheat countered the effects of the hibiscus but it's not a very oily flower so I don't think anything in there would reduce head/krausen

Daren_Z said:

Were you going for a bold or a more subtle hibiscus flavour with the brew?

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I'm going for something in the middle. (i.e., you can tell that there's obviously hibiscus but not too overpowering). I know it may seem like I added a lot at flameout but I'm thinking that a lot of the flavor will fade during the fermentation process, so we'll see.

Daren_Z said:

Also, does the high alcohol content of vodka kill any potential bugs that might infect the brew?

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That's the idea, but vodka is only 40% alcohol so it needs to be soaked overnight in order to kill the nasties.

I believe it was 4oz I added in a secondary this last time, nothing at flame out. I didn't wash it, soak it in vodka, make tea, etc...just dropped it in and everything was good to go.