QuercusMax
Well-Known Member
A month ago, I brewed a Dubbel with an OG of 1.068. I made up a half gallon starter of WLP530 and pitched the entire starter at high krausen.
I put it in my basement (in the bathroom on a tile floor), with an ambient
temp of about 61 degrees - thought it would be safe enough down there.
My plan was to let it sit for a couple days, then put on temperature control
with a space heater and ramp it up into the low-to-mid-70s.
I aerated with a drill+paint stirrer, and pitched the yeast around noon, and the airlock was already bubbling by the evening. Awesome!
Two days later I come home from work, go down to the basement to check on something, and notice a peculiar smell. Was that... yeast?
Yes, yes it was. It blew the lid off bucket and forced a good pint or two of yeast onto the floor! The airlock was totally clogged too! I cleaned and sanitized the lid, put the fermenter in the bathtub, and loosely placed the
lid on top of the bucket.
A few days later, it seemed safe enough, so I moved it to the corner of my basement and set the controller to 72. A few days after that, upped it to 74. So far so good.
I moved it up to a bench to let it settle, in anticipation of racking it to a keg shortly. The next day, I cracked the lid, and there was still a big fat krausen!
Another week passed - still quite a thick krausen.
Tonight (a few month after brew-day), I decided to rack. Crack open the lid - STILL a krausen! WTF???
Here's a picture of it, after I took a gravity sample:
It had fermented down to 1.010, but never dropped the krausen. Anybody else seen this happen? It tastes great, and I plan on repitching into a Tripel, but this is just weird. I've had yeast rafts before, but never the entire surface still covered. Aside from this, it seems to have dropped really nice and clear, but it's just bizarre.
I put it in my basement (in the bathroom on a tile floor), with an ambient
temp of about 61 degrees - thought it would be safe enough down there.
My plan was to let it sit for a couple days, then put on temperature control
with a space heater and ramp it up into the low-to-mid-70s.
I aerated with a drill+paint stirrer, and pitched the yeast around noon, and the airlock was already bubbling by the evening. Awesome!
Two days later I come home from work, go down to the basement to check on something, and notice a peculiar smell. Was that... yeast?
Yes, yes it was. It blew the lid off bucket and forced a good pint or two of yeast onto the floor! The airlock was totally clogged too! I cleaned and sanitized the lid, put the fermenter in the bathtub, and loosely placed the
lid on top of the bucket.
A few days later, it seemed safe enough, so I moved it to the corner of my basement and set the controller to 72. A few days after that, upped it to 74. So far so good.
I moved it up to a bench to let it settle, in anticipation of racking it to a keg shortly. The next day, I cracked the lid, and there was still a big fat krausen!
Another week passed - still quite a thick krausen.
Tonight (a few month after brew-day), I decided to rack. Crack open the lid - STILL a krausen! WTF???
Here's a picture of it, after I took a gravity sample:
It had fermented down to 1.010, but never dropped the krausen. Anybody else seen this happen? It tastes great, and I plan on repitching into a Tripel, but this is just weird. I've had yeast rafts before, but never the entire surface still covered. Aside from this, it seems to have dropped really nice and clear, but it's just bizarre.
