Healthy Head?

My yeast is plugging away in here, but I've never seen a batch of wort with so much brown aggregate on the head. Does this look healthy?

This is what it looked like before I went to bed:


This morning:


Must admit I'm a little worried, but I'm prepared to wait it out for a while.

That is Krausen....looks normal to me.

looks perfectly fine to me. Just so you know, head is the foam on top of a poured beer and the foam on top of a fermentation is called a "Krausen." No big deal but using the right terms will help you get a proper answer when you don't have nice pictures like these.

Thanks for the info!

Looks like a normal fermentation.

mmm.... krausen....

It's fine.

I've assimilated a new acronym to my vocabulary: RDWHAHB. I added some more sugars for the yeast to munch on today (day 3). The air lock is bubbling about how it was early day 2. I plan on taking a sample as soon as I get access to a hydrometer. It'll be sitting for a while yet!

I'm itching to get a batch of pumpkin ale or a more wintery themed brew fermenting in the primary soon though.

what was the sugar for?

More specifically, the sugar was in the form of maple syrup, and honestly, I don't know. It's just what the recipe called for!

I found it in "Extreme Brewing", a book my roommate had, written by Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head Brewery. This book is laden with mistakes and terrible technical writing, but that's neither here nor there. He may not be able to write well, but I've had a few of his brews and I can't complain about them.

mavandeh said:

More specifically, the sugar was in the form of maple syrup, and honestly, I don't know. It's just what the recipe called for!

Click to expand...

I wouldn't question one of Sam's recipes. I just had no idea why it was going in.

I honestly can't wait to try it!

Here is a batch of pumpkin ale I made, this is called healthy Krausen


DWRHAHB

Off topic: Do you have the recipe for your pumpkin ale? That's the next thing I'm brewing. Looking to be heavy on the pumpkin/spice!

mavandeh said:

Off topic: Do you have the recipe for your pumpkin ale? That's the next thing I'm brewing. Looking to be heavy on the pumpkin/spice!

Click to expand...

Taken from the 3 Dog Brew BrewLog at http://www.3dogbrew.com/BrewLog/default.aspx

This is a partial mash recipe. The pumpkin "meat" was mashed with the 2 Row and Crystal malts at 154 for 60 minutes.

Rinse pumkin and 'carve' into quarters. Bake at 350° for 1.5 hours. Cool and peel skin, store in refrigerator.

Mash pumpkin meat and grains in 150° water for 1 hour

Drain and sparge with 170° water to make 6 gallons

Boil wort for 60 minutes, adding 1oz Fuggles at first boil
At 30 minutes add 1/2 oz Bullion Hops and 1 tsp Irish moss
At 45 minutes add extract and wort chiller (immersion type)
At 50 minutes add remaining 1oz Fuggles hops
At 55 minutes add spices in steeping bag until flame out

Cool wort to pitching temperature.

Measured SG @78° of 1.060, corrected for temperature to 1.062


Ingredients List
Qty UoM Type Name
1 Vial Liquid Ale Yeast White Labs - Burton Ale WLP023
7.3 lb LME Pale
1 lb Malt UK Light/Med Crystal
1.5 lb Malt US Two Row
5 lb Other Pumpkin pie meat
0.5 oz Pellet Hops Bullion
2 oz Pellet Hops Fuggle
1 oz Spices Cinnamon
0.5 tsp Spices Cloves
2 oz Spices Ginger
2 tsp Spices Nutmeg