New layer of yeasty krausen - what gives?

I brewed up a holiday ale (see sig for recipe) 11 days ago. I fermented it in a temp controlled fridge, and moved it to my basement after a week (only 2-3 deg change). As of three days ago a new, rather thick looking layer of krausen has appeared. I took a gravity reading yesterday, and the tube came out covered in yeast cake from the top layer. Anyone know what's going on? Why would it form a new, think cake on top?

Sounds to me like moving the fermenter roused the yeast, which led to a second krausen. I've seen this happen on my own beers, usually when the yeast is a bit stressed and drops early.

What's most bizarre to me about this is how thick it is. It's really goopy. I'll keep taking hydrometer readings, and if it's stable, I'll transfer it out this weekend avoiding the now bottom and top layers.

What does the beer taste like? What is the gravity now?

SG is 1.015 as of last night... I think OG was 1.052-55? I don't have my notes at work. Tastes yeasty, but that's been pretty common for me when using Weizen yeast. Always tastes better in the secondary.

It looks like you are near the end of fermentation. The higher the fermentation the more pronounced the bananna will be. With all the adjuncts the gravity will be higher than a normal hefe so I would secondary if you are doing that and if not then keg or wait another week to condition and then bottle.

I'll defintely be using a secondary, check out the recipe. This is a banana bread holiday ale, so some bananas and spices will be going in then. I'll probably leave it in there for a good month, then bottle. I'm not too worried about my FG, just the goo. It reminds me of Gremlins when they eat after midnight.

You took it out of the fridge...as it warmed any yeasts that were asleep in the coolness of your fridge got roused when you moved it, woke up and got back to work....

Revvy said:

You took it out of the fridge...as it warmed any yeasts that were asleep in the coolness of your fridge got roused when you moved it, woke up and got back to work....

Click to expand...

Even with just a 2 degree shift in temp? I'm not saying the yeasties wouldn't wake back up, I'm just surprised they would start activating so fiercely again with such a slight change in atmosphere.

Probably the jostling around of the fermenter did it. I intentionally rouse my yeast a few times with highly flocculant strains to get them to finish. Which reminds me, this stubborn tripel sitting next to me needs another good swirl. MMMmm, smells like yeasty bananas.