Another Krausen?

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Linus

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I have no idea what's going on with this batch, and am wondering if it's happened to anyone else.

I'm fermenting a 5 gallon all grain Munich Dunkel. I pitched a one liter starter of WLP 820 Oktoberfest/Marzen (first time with this strain)and it took of within 14 hours. I put it in the fridge at 50 degrees, and it bubbled away for two weeks with a nice high krausen. As the krausen started to come down, I took the carboy out of the fridge for a diacytel rest. The krausen disappeared along with any signs of fermentation. I put it back in the fridge to get the temp down before racking to a secondary to lager, and I have a HUGE krausen again and the air lock is bubbling away.

How much longer is this going to take? Isn't the fermentation over when the krausen drops? All my other lagers only took about 10 days (primary) and attenuated nicely. I know I should take the gravity again, but at this point I think there may be some kind of beer zombie in my fridge. :drunk:
 
You more than likely weren't finished with the initial fermetnation before you racked it to secondary. When you racked it you kicked up enough yeast to start hunting the leftover sugars, and start fermentation again. Maybe even the shifting temps caused it to stall initially. But it is normal. It means the work is not done yet.

It will take however long it needs to finish. That's why I recomend not looking at an airlock or a calender, but hydrometer when determining when to move stuff. But even had you (I'm not sure you did) and it had been stuck for 2 readings over three days, racking would have started up again.

No worries!
 
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