Wyeast 2112

I have a 5.5 gallon batch of A California Common Steam Beer fermenting with Wyeast 2112 California Lager Yeast. I am calling it "Steaming Donkey Punch".
My question is why do I have a layer of Krausen on the top of my wort? I was not expecting this considering the 2112 is technically a lager yeast. Any thoughts out there? The carboy is fermenting at a steady 63 degrees, the yeast of course raised the temps a bit.
Thanks all.
Dustin

I always get krausen with that yeast.

Krausen is normal with that yeast. In fact, many lager yeasts will give you krausen also.

Ok thanks guys, I was just a bit surprised to see it so I posted.

This brings up a question that I've been pondering idly for a while. How distinct are lager yeasts from ale yeasts? I know they're technically classed as different species, but there are examples like the Steam Beer yeast, and the Wyeast Kölsch, that seem to be a hybrid. I've been to a few recent lectures in a Darwin class that suggest that the "tree of life" idea, and species identification in general, is very muddy in single-celled asexual organisms due to the high rates (60%+) of lateral gene transfer and whatnot. How distinct is S. pastorianus from S. cerevisiae and S. bayanus? Are things like krausening steam-beer yeasts and Kölsch yeasts lateral-gene-transfer induced chimaeras falling somewhere in between? Or are they convergently evolved from S. pastorianus back into ale characteristics?

Sorry for science talk. Excuse technical inaccuracy/overactive imagination; I'm merely an arts student reading dumbed-down science in my spare time for interest.

EDIT: fixed typo "due to" from "to to"

Kai said:

This brings up a question that I've been pondering idly for a while. How distinct are lager yeasts from ale yeasts? I know they're technically classed as different species, but there are examples like the Steam Beer yeast, and the Wyeast Kölsch, that seem to be a hybrid. I've been to a few recent lectures in a Darwin class that suggest that the "tree of life" idea, and species identification in general, is very muddy in single-celled asexual organisms to to the high rates (60%+) of lateral gene transfer and whatnot. How distinct is S. pastorianus from S. cerevisiae and S. bayanus? Are things like krausening steam-beer yeasts and Kölsch yeasts lateral-gene-transfer induced chimaeras falling somewhere in between? Or are they convergently evolved from S. pastorianus back into ale characteristics?

Sorry for science talk. Excuse technical inaccuracy/overactive imagination; I'm merely an arts student reading dumbed-down science in my spare time for interest.

Click to expand...

wow. I gotta read more...I think

Kai said:

This brings up a question that I've been pondering idly for a while. How distinct are lager yeasts from ale yeasts? I know they're technically classed as different species, but there are examples like the Steam Beer yeast, and the Wyeast Kölsch, that seem to be a hybrid. I've been to a few recent lectures in a Darwin class that suggest that the "tree of life" idea, and species identification in general, is very muddy in single-celled asexual organisms to to the high rates (60%+) of lateral gene transfer and whatnot. How distinct is S. pastorianus from S. cerevisiae and S. bayanus? Are things like krausening steam-beer yeasts and Kölsch yeasts lateral-gene-transfer induced chimaeras falling somewhere in between? Or are they convergently evolved from S. pastorianus back into ale characteristics?

Sorry for science talk. Excuse technical inaccuracy/overactive imagination; I'm merely an arts student reading dumbed-down science in my spare time for interest.

Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure all beer yeast, whether or not ale or lager is S. cerevisiae. If you've read differently, can you tell me where to brush up on my yeast? I'm technically an E. Coli guy.


EDIT: Nevermind, reading Wikipedia now Thanks for the enlightenment!

StankAle said:

I am calling it "Steaming Donkey Punch"

Click to expand...

Nice name! do you have a label for it?

No label yet. I of course had to include the word "Steam" to properly represent the style of beer.
The name is a comical result of a few beers with a friend during the brew process.
Glad ya like it!!! There are a ton of possibilities with label designs.......