Thick Brown Crud in Carboy

I have only tried homebrewing a few times in the past 10 years but am really hoping to get into it now. I cleaned and sanitized all the equipment last weekend and kicked off a batch of IPA which has been fermenting in the glass carboy now since Sunday night. There is a pretty thick layer of brownish/tan crud that has built up on the top of the batch. Is this normal and will it eventually drop to the bottom?? I don't remember this from the few batches I made in the past but in those cases they were liquid extracts whereas I milled my own grains for this batch.

Yes, this is krausen. It is good. It is normal. It is healthy. You are making beer. Rejoice.

Yes that thick brown crud is the most important part of the brewing process...It means fermentation is happenning...It is called krauzen, it is the house that the yeast build...It will fall at somepoint, towards the end of the fermentation process..

May I suggest you read this great free book on brewing...How to Brew - By John Palmer

Revvy said:

May I suggest you read this great free book on brewing...How to Brew - By John Palmer

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Or buy the book, even. It has a TON more information than the online version.

SWMBO got it for me for Christmas.

I'll definately pick this one up. I have a copy of "The New Complete Joy Of Homebrewing" by Charlie Papazian that's about 12 years old. I read about the kraeusen but unfortunately there are no pics so I wasn't sure if what I was seeing was kraeusen or some bacterial contamination. Thanks for the confirmation that my fermentation appears to be well underway and thanks for the book suggestion....happy brewing!!

The Papazian and Palmer books make good companions. Papazian provides the philosophy and Palmer provides the current best technical advice.

I shopped around and found an AHA subscription deal that included a free Palmer's HTB, and jumped on it like the proverbial duck on a junebug.