Infection? Gooey bubbly krausen

[bduane]

Sorry for the newbie "did I ruin it" thread, but I'm pretty sure I've got my first infection here and was wondering if anybody can confirm.

I opened up the primary to rack to secondary on a ~6%abv all grain blonde ale after 1.5 weeks. Airlock activity stopped after 5-6 days, so I dont think it's normal krausen.

See picture attached, it's a bubbly snotty looking layer on top. I racked the beer under it to secondary and I'll see what happens.

Is this an infection? Any idea why kind?

 

[mux]

Looks like krausen to me. Maybe it didn't drop out yet. Was fermentation complete?

 

[azscoob]

Looking pretty normal to me as well.

 

[COLObrewer]

Appears to be normal kreusen to me, you probably should have left it in primary, did you take a hydrometer sample?

 

[bduane]

Yes, the gravity was at 1.011, which is around where I expected it to be, it could potentially go down another couple points, but not much more than that.

The Krausen didn't look like it was moving much like i've seen before when i have a good active Krausen layer going. Typically i can see a lot of bubbling and bubbles popping etc, this seemed mostly still.

I tasted my hydrometer sample and it tasted good, not sour at all.

Hopefully it is normal... it's just never seen this snot-like texture before in my krausen.

 

[cravej]

Airlock activity stopped after 5-6 days, so I dont think it's normal krausen.

Airlock activity or lack of activity isn't a very good indicator of fermentation.

Is this an infection? Any idea why kind?

Looks like a yeast infection.

 

[Horace]

Hop Sludge and Krausen from an active fermentation, nice...

 

[greatschmaltez]

You're good dude

 

[greenbirds]

Not an infection. That type of krausen sometimes can hang around for weeks post-fermentation . Depends on yeast strain, conditions, etc.

 

[bduane]

Not an infection. That type of krausen sometimes can hang around for weeks post-fermentation . Depends on yeast strain, conditions, etc.

Good to hear, first time I've seen such a "lingering" krausen. I might have fermented a bit warm, wonder if that could have something to do with it.

 

[funkswing]

What yeast strain did you use? Some strains will stick around and hang on top of the beer like that. It would interesting to know the yeast strain.

You did the right thing by racking from underneath it.

 

[bitlumpkin]

i wish my brew I did on Sunday morning looked like that. so far Danstar Munich dry is just flat as hell.

 

[QuaffableQuips]

Looks like a perfectly healthy kräusen to me, too. Every yeast strain is different. Wyeast 1469, for example, produces a kräusen that won't quit. I always have to rack from under it.

 

[bitlumpkin]

rack city chick rack rack city chick.

 

[TTB-J]

WLP041 gave me a pretty stubborn krausen, took two weeks to fall. Beer turned out great though, so no complaints here.

 

[Komodo]

WLP545 gave me a strong and clean ferment with a kind of foamy beer head krausen.

WLP550 started strong, kinda tapered off, fired back up, died off then up again as I raised the temp. The krausen is like this one, the consistency of spray foam before it dries.

I wonder if krausen from the same yeast changes according to ingredients? Otherwise we should start a yeast/krausen consistency database. LOL

 

[Hudginsclan]

That's the kreusen from a top-cropping yeast. That "snot" is yeast hanging ten on the foam. It can persist long after fermentation is finished.

 

[bduane]

After a week in the secondary there are no signs of anything forming on the top, so I believe this confirms what everybody was saying, just a stubborn krausen! A shame I was so worried, i was planning on racking my Founders Breakfast stout clone on top of the yeast, but opted to use a couple of fresh packets instead.

The breakfast stout is about a week into fermentation, has been bery slow for about 3 days, there is a similar layer of krausen, not quite as "snotty" looking though.

Some have asked what yeast: Fermentis US-05

 

[bessieflames]

I have used US-05 many times and never had a krausen like that until last time. It lasted for 2 1/2 weeks before it fell. Not sure what was different, maybe just a happy bunch of yeast. It also had 84% attenuation.

 

[Brewskii]

Looks like a yeast infection.

that made me laugh out loud ! Thank God I swallowed my beer before I got to that part!