Stuck fermentation?

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

duskb

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 11, 2008
Messages
350
Reaction score
4
Location
Los Angeles
I pitched some washed 001 into a batch a couple of weeks ago and after four days of no activity I gave up and bought a new tube, repitched, and two days later I was getting very healthy work. So healthy the airlock is even full of yeast blowoff.

Here's the problem I went to transfer yesterday (after two weeks) and there must still be a yeast head at least 1/4" thick all over it, like it's two days in. Normally after two weeks its pretty clear.

Soooo...what's going on here? Did my failure to clear out the airlock prevent the yeast from finishing off? How much longer do I need to wait before I can transfer this stuff?
 
Its just your krausen stuck to the fermentor. Beer should be OK. What does your hydrometer say?
 
What does your hydrometer say?

this is the only way to judge fermentation progress. if you have a gravity close tou your goal, then go ahead and transfer, but it dose not hurt your beer to stay in the fermenter for a month.
 
Its just your krausen stuck to the fermentor. Beer should be OK. What does your hydrometer say?

Sorry for the post...I just found the answer in another thread....I forgot it was called Krausen hence why I couldn't find the answer.

I have not taken a reading yet but based on the level of activity I'm seeing I wont be for awhile. I'll just leave it alone till it's done with its gig. I was hoping to use the bucket for a new batch this weekend but I guess I'll have to wait.
 
Was the two weeks after you pitched the second time? If you didn't start fermentation until day six it only been working for a little over a week?
 
Well I just took another look tonight thinking a few days would clear up all that krausen, no luck. I did take a reading tonight however and aside from the fact that there appears to be a good amount of CO2 in the beer already, the reading came in at 1.010. This is typically when I transfer to keg. Starting G was around 1.045.

It's been about 2.5 weeks...should I wait for krausen to totally clear, or say WTF and just keg the dang stuff?

FYI, It's supposed to be a lighter BMC style ale with WLP001. Cant imagine an early transfer would make it taste any worse than BMC.
 
Back
Top