fermentation question

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paul7

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my hefewiezin has been in the primary for 15 days, the o.g. was 1.066. i decided to peek under the lid and take a gravity reading-there is still a layer of krausen but not much foam. the s.g. is 1.020. the fermentation was heavy for the first 3-4 days so i imagined it woulda been complete by now but its at 69% attenuation.

is my yeast spent early or do i just need to wait longer-i was planning to transfer to secondary to free up my primary, but i dont wanna do it yet with the layer of krausen still present

any and all comments or suggestions are appreciated.
 
Check it again in 48 or preferably 72 hrs. If the FG is stable, its done.
 
But unless you plan to secondary (which you probably wouldn't with a hefe) leave it for 3 weeks in primary.
 
I'd just wait it out some more. I had a beer that still had a thick layer of krausen after 3 weeks and didn't settle til about week 5. Unfortunately sometimes the best thing is patience.
 
paul7 said:
my hefewiezin has been in the primary for 15 days, the o.g. was 1.066. i decided to peek under the lid and take a gravity reading-there is still a layer of krausen but not much foam. the s.g. is 1.020. the fermentation was heavy for the first 3-4 days so i imagined it woulda been complete by now but its at 69% attenuation.

is my yeast spent early or do i just need to wait longer-i was planning to transfer to secondary to free up my primary, but i dont wanna do it yet with the layer of krausen still present

any and all comments or suggestions are appreciated.
Click to expand...

Sounds about the same as my pale ale in primary now. It started at OG of 1.044,fast-n-furious ferment for 3-4 days with brown krausen pushing at the lid. Creaking like an old wooden ship!
By the end of the 4th day or so,the krausen went down to about 1/2",tan color as well. SG last Sunday was at 1.020.
I'll check it again this Monday (2 weeks in primary). Patience,young skywalker. Leave it be till it says it's done. Not to mention extra time to clean up after itself.
 
paul7 said:
so if i swirl the container around, should it rouse the yeast a bit?
Click to expand...

Oh yea,verily! I thermal shocked the yeasy on my 1st batch. 2 days later,I gave my Cooper's fermenter enough swirl to stir the yeast off the bottom. It was at 20C at that time. Worked slow & sure from then on.
Much like a lager yeast at low temp. It can really save a batch-if the yeast wasn't killed. But take heart,young skywalker. Yeasties are some very tough lil critters. Boy,have I learned that the hard way!
 

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