BRY-97 and the case of the sticky krausen

[colemangis]

I thought my full-boil light-malt extract brew never took off due to 100% lack of air lock activity. After 36 hours I opened the bucket to see a huge dome of krausen -- what a relief. My plastic fermentation bucket clearly had a leak. Two days after leak discovery I racked to secondary. My question: the krausen was very goopy and did not disintegrate; there were vugs where bubbles once occupied, the color was good; but the krausen seem to stick together like one unit. While siphoning the last 0.5 gallon the still congealed krausen wrinkled and folded while it swirled around instead of breaking apart. I hope this is clear; it is difficult to explain how awkwardly the krausen stuck together. Is this normal? Should krausen disintegrate after fermentation stops and has the beer is racked to secondary?

Thanks,
Austin

 

[user 19629]

If there was still krausen on the beer you racked way too early.
Next time wait till the krausen drops before you transfer.
You really don't need to transfer to secondary at all.

 

[colemangis]

Cool, thanks for the input. I was worried the brew was susceptible to infection because of the leak, so I transferred. Next time I will wait until the krausen subsides. I'm concerned the krausen behavior signified an infection. Since I racked early, did I lose a large amount of yeast?

Sorry this post should've been in the beginners section...

 

[user 19629]

You probably did lose a large amount of yeast but unless it was high gravity beer I think you'll be fine.
A small leak isn't going to cause the beer to become infected. Truthfully most of the time I never see airlock bubbles, and many times I don't even use one. I'll just put some foil on top of the carboy or set the lid loosly on the bucket.
If I were you I'd just leave it alone for another week and then check the gravity. If it's alot higher then you want give it a gentle swirl and let it sit a few more days and see if the gravity drops any. And again most of the time there isn't any reason to transfer to a secondary.

 

[colemangis]

Duly noted and very much appreciated! Your comments help a lot.

 

[user 19629]

How's the beer doing?

 

[kh54s10]

Some things that were not fully noted in the responses previously:

Since co2 was finding it's way out of the bucket it was unlikely anything bad would get in.
Transfer to secondary, if you do at all, after reaching final gravity.
Since it seems to have been transferred to secondary at 3 1/2 days there was probably some fermentation activity in the secondary fermenter.
There is some yeast in the krausen but there is also plenty of yeast in suspension in the wort.

I would also be interested in a follow-up by the OP.