Krausen not falling

I've seen a couple of threads on here about this, but there has never been an answer that I really found to be sufficient. To start off, I'm brewing a Kolsch from a kit by Austin Hombrew (extract kit with steeping grains), specifically the Texas Kolsch. It's been in my fridge sitting between 64-59 degrees for the past 12 days and the krausen hasn't fallen really at all after a fairly slow and long fermentation. Last night however i decided to give the carboy a decent shaking and sloshing (not much, just enough to kick the beer up a little on the sides and agitate the whole thing). Some of the krausen remnants started to fall (small green chunks smaller than gravel). My question is, should I use this process over time to help sink the krausen, or should I just sit back and wait? What about even just transfering to the secondary for cold conditioning as is? Is it bad for the beer that I made the krausen fall prematurely?

Are you sure that it's not just krausen stuck to the walls of the carboy? This happens on every brew of mine, so even though the krausen has fallen it looks like it is still there.

There is krausen stuck to the walls of the carboy, however there is a layer of greenish krausen that has thinned but never really subsided (its interspersed with bubbles too). Whenever I give the carboy a shake little pieces of it fall to the bottom, I'm just not sure if this is the way I have to get the krausen to fall (this is my first time using a fridge to ferment). Also, I'm not sure if this will necessarily impact the end resulting beer in some negative way.

I am not sure how much wheat was in your brew, but it was probably enough to form that thick, persistent krausen. Wheat in your beer also does the same thing with the head when poured. There are lots of proteins in wheat malt that help build and retain that creamy head, as well as your krausen.

Your beer is probably well past the krausen stage, but it sounds like there are still some remnants of the 'head' that didn't fall back into the beer. No big deal. Regardless, you need to check your gravity reading to see if the fermentation is complete or not. That's the only rule one needs to follow. Visual clues can be misleading.

My Wit did the same thing, and it looks like my Honey Wheat is going to be the same as well. I'm just careful when I rack to stay above the trub and below the krausen.

FlyGuy said:

I am not sure how much wheat was in your brew, but it was probably enough to form that thick, persistent krausen. Wheat in your beer also does the same thing with the head when poured. There are lots of proteins in wheat malt that help build and retain that creamy head, as well as your krausen.

Your beer is probably well past the krausen stage, but it sounds like there are still some remnants of the 'head' that didn't fall back into the beer. No big deal. Regardless, you need to check your gravity reading to see if the fermentation is complete or not. That's the only rule one needs to follow. Visual clues can be misleading.

Click to expand...

Ah, yes, of course. I used 1/4lb. of red wheat in the steeping grains and 2lbs. of wheat extract. That makes a lot of sense now. I didn't think about the wheat proteins initially. I'll also be taking a gravity check in the morning as well. Thanks a bunch

Do you think that sloshing the krausen until it all falls would affect the beer at all? I don't think it would, but I've been wrong before.

Some true top fermenting yeasts will remain on the surface after a healthy fermentation. US 56 (05) is one of these, it sounds like it's also trapped some hop debris up there but it's perfectly normal.
Beer that has been under-pitched doesn't tend to get this so it sounds like you've done a good job with that Kolsh.

Heres an example of what will often remain after a good ferment, you can culture and repitch it if you like

My Kolsch is doing the same thing it wont drop. I will just wait it out I am not worried if it takes two or 3 weeks to drop. I never do secondarys anymore so I can wait.

FYI, I just learned the other day that the technical term for "krausen stuck to the walls of the fermenter" is "braun hefe".

that's german for "brown yeast"

My Kolsch did the same thing, 3 weeks passed and the krausen was still sitting there so I just siphoned it to secondary. It's taking ages for the yeast to settle and I think that's normal for Kolsch.

I've made beers with lots of wheat or oats that kept foam on the surface long after the gravity indicated that fermentation was complete. I found it pretty much went away after transfering to secondary.

Don't worry too much It happens all the time when I use California ale yeast, Its the only yeast that does that to me.

"Braun hefe." Definitley cool. Got another technical/German term under the belt. I really appreciate all the info, experiences and additions to the thread. The krausen is breaking up ever so slowly if I give the carboy a little slosh. I'll be sure to keep ya'll posted on the progress and the end result especially if I feel that there has been any interesting turn of events.

DAAB said:

Some true top fermenting yeasts will remain on the surface after a healthy fermentation. US 56 (05) is one of these, it sounds like it's also trapped some hop debris up there but it's perfectly normal.
Beer that has been under-pitched doesn't tend to get this so it sounds like you've done a good job with that Kolsh.

Heres an example of what will often remain after a good ferment, you can culture and repitch it if you like

Click to expand...

I'm brewing a hefeweizen that has been in the primary 9 days now, and I took a gravity reading last night and it's done. I'm planning on bottling today(I don't have a secondary), but it has exactly the krausen head that is shown in your picture, even after this long in the primary. Should I wait for it to fall, or skim the top and save the yeast and go ahead and bottle? This is the first batch I've done that has had this thick head, and yes, there was a lot of wheat in my recipe. This will also be the first time that I pitch on the yeast cake, and I'm just not sure if I should skim the yeast from the top before I do that. Any Ideas?

After 23 days in the primary, I finally transfered my kolsch. That persistent krausen didn't end up being the only puzzling thing about it either. The airlock was still burping about 2 or three times every minute, even after 3+ weeks. My hydrometer was reading about 1.1 or so, which seems way off. This has been a screwy beer because my original reading was thrown off by an excessive amount of trub and hop debris that i picked up in my sample thief. So for now, I'm at a loss... and a little confused about this beer. It sure smelled good while I was racking to the secondary, guess we'll see after a few weeks of cold conditioning. Thanks for all the help again.

FlyGuy said:

I am not sure how much wheat was in your brew, but it was probably enough to form that thick, persistent krausen. Wheat in your beer also does the same thing with the head when poured. There are lots of proteins in wheat malt that help build and retain that creamy head, as well as your krausen.

Your beer is probably well past the krausen stage, but it sounds like there are still some remnants of the 'head' that didn't fall back into the beer. No big deal. Regardless, you need to check your gravity reading to see if the fermentation is complete or not. That's the only rule one needs to follow. Visual clues can be misleading.

Click to expand...

^^this was about the best info I could find so I'm gonna hijack this thread instead of starting another.

I have a 1 month old caramel cream ale AG recipe that has 7.7% wheat content & was 1.064. I underpitched the WL cream ale blend and added lots of irish moss for clarity. Lactose used but only .2 oz/gal. Here is the photo from 3 weeks into primary, last SG check was 1.016. no sour or off flavors. air lock is still moving and co2 bubbles very active - piece of krausen drops then quickly rises again from bubble. WHY WON'T THIS KRausen fall?? it is also very chunky looking which is odd. this is part of a large batch in which every single carboy has the same thing. very odd....