Belgian Wit Krausen not falling...

[Semper]

Hello All,

I have a general question related to my Wit Krausen not falling. I've searched other threads and seen some other similar situations. Details below:

Pitched Wyeast liquid Belgian Wit yeast smack pack (no starter, won't do that again either)

Had normal solid fermentation for about 4 days and then it slowed the final three days. I racked the beer to my secondary after 1 week (took my gravity reading after racking) I won't do this again because it was too late to realize my gravity was still low before I had racked.

Needless to say I gently swirled the beer around inside my airlocked secondary and got fermentation started again. Started fermenting again pretty solid for about another week and developed another 3-4 inch healthy head of Krausen on top of my brew in the secondary. So I'm pretty sure my gravity has dropped at this point to a more desirable level.

My only question now is the Krausen appears to be hanging around with no plans to drop. I'm planning on taking a final gravity reading in a week or so and letting it sit in my primary for two more weeks. (One week in primary, 3 weeks in secondary.) Has anyone else had Krausen not fall, and if so will this cause any problems with my brew leaving it on top for a couple weeks?


Thanks for any help or suggestions.

 

[Suthrncomfrt1884]

I've had lots of beers that had krausens not fall. No big deal as long as you make sure it's done fermenting.

On a side note...a Belgian Wit only needs 2-3 weeks in primary before its ready to bottle. No need for secondary on a beer like this.

 

[Revvy]

I had a wit beer that I pitched bottle harvested Hoegaarden yeast on Dec. 26th, that STILL had a 2" krausen on it three weeks later. I took a grav reading and it had reached terminal gravity, 1.010. So the beer was done, but the krausen still lingered. I finally gently swirled the beer to knock it down, and let it settle for another week before I bottled it. I'm not normally a fan of knocking them down, and usually let it do it naturally.

But some yeasts are low flocculating, and may have a difficult time. I figured since mine was bottle harvested, and I had pitched the starter at high krausen, maybe it was "genetically mutated" with the flocculation "gene" off or something. So I gently swirled it and let it fall.

I brewed another batch with another mason jars worth of that yeast several months later and had the same thing happen.

Beligan wits are notoriously long krausening.

It's fine, just confirm with multiple hydro readings.

 

[Semper]

Thanks guys for the information..

 

[dstar26t]

I've only used WLP400 and see the same phenomenon. Using the right amount of yeast I just let it go for 3 weeks. The first 24 hours at 68F then ramp up to 72F for the remainder. If the gravity checks out, it's cold crashed and packaged. It's one of the strains I'd like to try top cropping because of the solid looking krausen but I don't brew witbier that much.

 

[fxdude]

Glad I found this thread, I have a wit that's two weeks in the primary and it looks like there's no sign of the krausen falling.

Is there any harm in racking to the bottling bucket with the krausen still on top (other than just a bit more sediment in the bottles) or should I knock it down and let it sit another week even if all of the readings are stable?

 

[Suthrncomfrt1884]

If you rack from underneath the krausen, it shouldn't be an issue. I've done it plenty of times and had no problems with extra sediment.

 

[fxdude]

That's what I was thinking, just always feel a little better getting other opinions. Thanks