Heavy sludge / mud slide / Krausen top of fermentor

[hazrold]

Hey All,

I am relatively new to this awesome hobby.. 2nd time doing an all grain brew and I've run into some ínteresting krausen, if thats what it is (refer photo).

The photos were taken on day 5 of fermentation, and there is ongoing but slowing airlock activity. I have not seen a sludge this thick before... it is this normal? I plan on dry hopping on day 7, what do I do if this bad boy doesn't settle down?

Ferment volume : 3.8L (1 gallon)
Grain bill: 70% ale Malt, 20% Caramalt, 10% Rye (did not use BIAB)
Process: 70min boil, Hops dropped in at 70min (5g), 10min (10g) and 0min (10g) --- May have over-hopped. I also dropped in irish moss (1/4 of a teaspoon) at 10mins.

This is the first time using rye and irish moss.. can they be the cause for this mud slide? Any help will be much appreciated! -- btw atleast the smelll is awesome!

 

[Sammy86]

Looks like a very normal and healthy fermentation! RDWHAHB!

 

[rmr9]

When I brewed a rye lager recently the yeast cake had that appearance - I think you’re fine

 

[Kickass]

Looks like 1am at the club. Yeast are partying hard, right before they go home and crash hard

 

[hazrold]

Thanks guys. Can I drop my hops on the top of it? Or should I wait till it crashes?

 

[eliastheodosis]

Thanks guys. Can I drop my hops on the top of it? Or should I wait till it crashes?

There is no single answer for that. If you drop them in now it should be fine. It's possible they might have some trouble getting through the krausen and absorbing into the beer. Dry hopping now might also give you bio-transformation effects. Google it and read about the flavors and then decide if you'd want that or not. That effect is not extremely well understood and depends on hops, yeast, etc. So don't get too hung up on it.

I would wait until that krausen just starts to collapse. That would be my preference, and it's a pretty common practice. That might also give you a small amount of bio-transformation. If you add when krausen starts to collapse then there will still be plenty of activity to scrub oxygen that's introduced through dry hopping too.

Looks like a very happy ferm to me too. Smart to have it in a sink in case it overflows!

 

[seatazzz]

Looks great! I've had that happen with beers that included rye in the grain bill as well. As to dry hopping, what @eliastheodosis (and thank heaven for autofill because I cannot spell that at this point in the beers today) said. There are always going to be different opinions, do what works for you. I have found that dry hopping the day after krausen drops works well for me, especially if the yeast is one I want to save.

 

[hotbeer]

Did you get a good cold break when cooling and left a lot of proteins in the kettle? If not, then that might be part of what's causing such impressive foam on top. But still yeast itself might look similar at times. Particularly if you pitched a lot.

I am curious as to what yeast you used and quantity.

After a dozen or so more fermentations you might find that quite a few look a little different even with the same yeast and beer recipe.

 

[hazrold]

Thanks all for the feedback.

I used us-05.. I tried to measure out 3gms in hindsight I may have put in more than that (inaccurate/ insensitive kitchen scale).

Cold crash was via an ice+water bath. Took about 15mins.

my kettle to fermenter transfer process is via a filtered funnel and a kitchen ladle . Everything except the thickest part of the sludgeprobably made it pass the filter

 

[hotbeer]

I tried to measure out 3gms in hindsight I may have put in more than that

More is almost always better than not enough when fermenting beer. Even if you put in the whole 11 gram packet, it'd still be okay. Though it may have gotten so vigorous that it blew out the airlock and stopper. Or just made a big mess spewing out of the airlock or blow off tube.

However with a glass jug, those sides might be thinner than you think. And that can be a issue too for a beer grenade if the stopper doesn't blow out and things get plugged up. So always handle it carefully.