Yeast still active after 4 weeks

[rbnfrance]

Hi All,

I have a Czech Lager in fermentation. I use a stainless conical fermenter , and the batch size is 300 litres. I am ready to keg it in the next few days, so I went to turn up the temp from 11 to 16 degrees, only to find that it has gone cloudy with suspended yeast again. About 1 week ago, I drained the yeast out of the bottom of the fermenter, and there was quite a lot to drain out. By now I would have expected all the yeast to have settled out. Being curious, I opened the lid, and I can see big chunks of yeast churning around in there, and also bubbles on the surface.

Now I am wondering whether to keg it, or leave it a while, and also whether to use finings (probably gelatin) to try to clarify it. Anyone have experience of this?

Thanks

 

[Kent88]

What is the gravity of the beer? With a batch as big as 300 liters (or roughly 80 gallons, I think?) you should really be checking the gravity and re-checking it after a couple more day to see whether it is stable, indicating it is finished.

 

[rbnfrance]

What is the gravity of the beer? With a batch as big as 300 liters (or roughly 80 gallons, I think?) you should really be checking the gravity and re-checking it after a couple more day to see whether it is stable, indicating it is finished.

Yes, sorry....Gravity hasn't moved for 2 weeks at least. Fermentation was very fast, and it reached target in about 5 days. Now I'm just wondering why its churning up so much. To me, it looked like co2 bubbles were bonding to lumps of yeast and rising up, then falling again. Movement under the surface was obvious. Never seen this in a beer of this age. Doesn't taste or smell like an infection of any kind. Cheers.

 

[Nagorg]

So you pitched ~19 day's ago? Lagers take longer than ales generally speaking. I'd go ahead and ramp up the temp for a D-Rest of ~2-3 days, then cold crash for another couple of weeks and then keg it. It should clear during the crash. You can add gelatin during the crash to help out.

 

[rbnfrance]

So you pitched ~19 day's ago? Lagers take longer than ales generally speaking. I'd go ahead and ramp up the temp for a D-Rest of ~2-3 days, then cold crash for another couple of weeks and then keg it. It should clear during the crash. You can add gelatin during the crash to help out.

Thanks for the tips. Pitched 28 days ago. My plan was to keg it after the D-rest. Its 40 degrees (100F +) here in China at the moment and I'm having trouble maintaining low temps. Once I have it in kegs, I can put them into a big chest freezer and its much easier to maintain. So I was going to age at a low temp in the kegs. Do you think that'll be a problem? and does that affect your advice?

Many Thanks!

 

[Yooper]

Thanks for the tips. Pitched 28 days ago. My plan was to keg it after the D-rest. Its 40 degrees (100F +) here in China at the moment and I'm having trouble maintaining low temps. Once I have it in kegs, I can put them into a big chest freezer and its much easier to maintain. So I was going to age at a low temp in the kegs. Do you think that'll be a problem? and does that affect your advice?

Many Thanks!

If the gravity hasn't changed in two weeks, it's not going to go any lower. If the SG is at an acceptable SG (under 1.020), then I would package and lager.

 

[kh54s10]

If you keg it, then lager it, all the sediment will drop to the bottom of the kegs. It may take a pint or two to suck the sediment out but after that it should be clear.