Too much foam?

I popped the lid on my fat tire clone today after exactley one week in the primary just to see how it was going. There was a crazy ammount of foam on top. Is this normal? I don't remember my others having near that much foam if any.

It's normal. It's probably just fermenting a little more slowly than your other batches. I've had some beers ferment out in as little as 24 hours, while others chug along slowly for almost two weeks! I'd put the lid back on and check it next week. It should be done by then, if it's in high krausen now.

Ok thanks. So my others probably had that much foam too I just didn't see it when they were at that stage.

Metsbrew said:

Ok thanks. So my others probably had that much foam too I just didn't see it when they were at that stage.

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Generally, yes. Each ferment is different even with the same yeast strain, due to the temperature, the amount of proteins in the beer, the amount of hops, etc- but usually you have a period of "high krausen" at the peak of fermentation. After the bulk of fermentation is over, it usually falls back into the beer while the yeast keep working at a slower pace. After the fermentation is finished, most yeast strains will then fall to the bottom a little at a time until the beer is pretty clear.

Of course, each yeast strain is a bit different. Some yeast strains don't fall out that easily, some do. Some make a very tightly compacted yeast cake in the bottom, some don't. Some strains make really clear beer, while some don't. So even though they behave similar during fermentation, you will also notice differences in them. It's almost always normal, whatever they're doing!