I still have krausen

[WillPall]

I've just finished fermenting my fourth beer and was about to transfer to secondary when I noticed something odd. It's been in the fermenter for almost 10 days now, and there was no airlock activity after the 4th or 5th day. I was opening the bucket to take a gravity reading before transferring when my eyes met a good 1 inch krausen (or at least I hope it's krausen, I've never seen any, just the tell-tale rings around my fermenter).

Is this normal? Should I just leave it in there for a while and see if it falls? Or can I go ahead and transfer anyway?

Another note: this was not a big beer. OG was 1.045 and I haven't taken a FG because of the fortress of krausen in the bucket.

 

[david_42]

Take a gravity. Some styles will hold a krausen after fermenting, wheats are known for it.

 

[WillPall]

I just took a reading and it was on target. I think the krausen was just CO2 coming out of the beer when I moved the bucket. Is that possible?

Anyway, I went ahead and transferred to secondary. The beer tastes actually very good, I'm happy.

 

[Benny Blanco]

Never heard of actual krausen forming from moving a bucket. What kind of beer is it?

I recently made a wit that held it's krausen for 2 weeks.

 

[TheJadedDog]

I've had krausens last upwards of 3 weeks in some of my beers. Every fermentation is different, just give it time.

 

[reshp1]

What kind of yeast did you use? My Kolsch, Hefeweizen, and now my american wheat all had krausens for weeks, I had to rack out from under it when transferring to the secondary/keg.

 

[WillPall]

The only reason I thought it might be CO2 coming out was because within an hour of letting the bucket sit undisturbed the krausen had fallen quite a bit. Now it's been in secondary for a day or so and there is some airlock activity every couple minutes or so. I wonder if it was just almost done, but stuck at the end, and moving it might have started it back up again.

As far as style, it was a Sam Adams Brown Ale clone. I guess that is like a porter or stout? I have no idea, but no wheat at all, so I dunno why there was still krausen. Anyway, thanks for the help.

Edit: And this is one more reason to start using a carboy for fermentation. Had I not already sanitized everything I would have just sealed up the bucket and let it sit for a while longer. With a carboy I could tell at a glance whether the krausen had fallen, and saved myself some time.