normal krausen

guys,

I'm trying not to panic but I've had my witbier ( who's in the garden ) papazian recipe going now for 2 weeks using:

5lbs light dme
2lbs honey
1.5 oz corriander
.75 oz bitter orange peel
wlp550 yeast belgian ale

going for 2 weeks now i have confirmed fermentation has stoped over a week ago at 1.010 but my Krausen is not budging 2 weeks later it's thick !!! i swirled it against my better judment and all it did was "crack"nthe krausen kinda looked like cake not yeast cake but like hey it's my birthday cake also looks kinda slimy not like snot but not foamy either. any thoughts?

forgot hop sched

1 oz hallertauer 60min
1/2 oz hallertauer 10 min
1/2 oz hallertauer 5 min

dont think it makles a difference to my problem but figured id list it anyway

I had a Krausen that seemed like it wouldnt fall, so I gave it a swirl and sure enough it fell right to the bottom and a week later I was transfering to a keg.

EricT said:

I had a Krausen that seemed like it wouldnt fall, so I gave it a swirl and sure enough it fell right to the bottom and a week later I was transfering to a keg.

Click to expand...

I'll try that but last time I swirled it only cracked the krausen as it is so thick

EricT said:

I had a Krausen that seemed like it wouldnt fall, so I gave it a swirl and sure enough it fell right to the bottom and a week later I was transfering to a keg.

Click to expand...

I just did it and the bottom of the krausen seems to be flaking off its so thick though as it breaks off it is literally coming off in chunks

If there's a significant amount of yeast in the bottom of your fermenter, then I wouldn't even bother knocking the krausen down. I'd be interested to see what others say.

ThePearsonFam said:

If there's a significant amount of yeast in the bottom of your fermenter, then I wouldn't even bother knocking the krausen down. I'd be interested to see what others say.

Click to expand...

there is a ton of yeast in thr bottom it's actually the most ive ever seen !!!! maybe that;s playing a factor here.

Aschecte said:

I just did it and the bottom of the krausen seems to be flaking off its so thick though as it breaks off it is literally coming off in chunks

Click to expand...

Haha, sounds like a good krausen though. Is it sinking to the bottom? I would give it another week. Its only been 2 weeks now anyway right?

EricT said:

Haha, sounds like a good krausen though. Is it sinking to the bottom? I would give it another week. Its only been 2 weeks now anyway right?

Click to expand...

it's an insane krausen I've heard witbier and belgian yeast strains can be quite impressive when it comes to to the krausen. and yes it is sinking to the bottom but only what flakes off the bottom of the krausen. I gave it one hell of a spin/shake and it barely dented it !!

Dont shake it too much, you dont want to aerate(sp) it. I would leave it alone at this point, let it sit and check it in a few days.

EricT said:

Dont shake it too much, you dont want to aerate(sp) it. I would leave it alone at this point, let it sit and check it in a few days.

Click to expand...

good call I'll leave her be for now !! doesn't it have a co2 barrier at this point to protect it from oxygen so shaking it shouldn't cause too much harm should it?

Aschecte said:

good call I'll leave her be for now !! doesn't it have a co2 barrier at this point to protect it from oxygen so shaking it shouldn't cause too much harm should it?

Click to expand...

As long as the air lock is still on it and it was burping like crazy while you were swirling/shaking you should be fine.

I am still a noob, but in my humble opinion, I would rack under the krausen to a secondary, and let it sit for a week and see if anything develops. If not, which is what I suspect, you will be fine; if stuff begins to appear to grow again on the surface then there might be a problem.

well heres the update..... I knocked some of the krausen down before I went out a few hours ago I came home checked and the krausen has risen about 3" it's growing now!!! what gives !!!!

Sounds like it is still fermenting. If it was my beer I would leave it alone for at least 2 more weeks. I see you are in Fla. Are you doing anything to control temp?

CBK said:

Sounds like it is still fermenting. If it was my beer I would leave it alone for at least 2 more weeks. I see you are in Fla. Are you doing anything to control temp?

Click to expand...

Agree, I dont think its done yet.

CBK said:

Sounds like it is still fermenting. If it was my beer I would leave it alone for at least 2 more weeks. I see you are in Fla. Are you doing anything to control temp?

Click to expand...

no I guess it's not done yet but it's weird as I'm at 1.010 I guess it's gonna be a dry one. I don't live in florida the state I live in Florida n.y. about 2 hours south of you off route 87. I don't know about rochester but's cold down here in orange county. p.s. I use brew belts and v heaters with a johnson a419 digi temp controller. set at 72

just another update I did another hydro reading just to see where it's at and I'm still at 1.010 but the krausen seems to be thining out a tiny bit it's still 100% there but now you can see beer beneeth it. also first time I tasted. Oh My God !!!!! it's freakin' awesome. I highly reccomend Papazian's who's in the garden recipe. The only thing I wonder is about subbing it with Wheat Dme ? as it is supposed to be a witbier.

I believe you off gased some CO2 when you swirled the beer. That CO2 probably built a "head" on your beer. Palmer caustions that the kraeusen contains a lot of very bitter compounds, so I second the racking under the kraeusen idea.
Cheers.

What I would do; however I am no expert by any means.

1) transfer to secondary.
2) put secondary in a 30 to 32 degree fridge to cold crash and forget about it for at least another 2 to 4 weeks.
3) transfer to bottle/keg, wait another week or two.
4) begin consumption

I tried a little expierement today..... I noticed due to slowing/stopping of fermentation my original temp of 72 degrees dropped to like 67-68 degrees. I dont know if that could cause a krausen to get "stuck" but I checked with beersmith and the ideal temp for the yeast I used is like 68-78 degrees so I was on the very low side of where I should be so I placed my v belt back on and set my control back to 72 degrees and guess what I don't know if it is coincidence or if the temp increase did it but the krausen is falling it now is only Islands of Krausen in the beer. What does everyone think is it temp related or chance?

It has officially fallen the Krausen is no more !!!!

Pics or it didn't happen