Krausen doesn't look yeasty for top cropping

[LukeAtThat]

Hi all,

As the title says I'm hoping to try top cropping yeast for the first time but it doesn't look yeasty like pictures/videos I've seen or past beers I've brewed. It looks more like general beer head, have I missed my opportunity or is there still hope?

The yeast is Wlp500 which had a huge lag time of 72 hours (should have made a starter). Fermentation kicked off on Wednesday night and has been going strong since. I've been checking a few tines a day and cleaned the first 'krausen' but it hasn't looked yeasty at all.

Am I wrong in thinking it needs to look thick and yeasty for top cropping or should i forget about it for this beer? It smells amazing btw.

Thanks in advance

 

[MHBT]

From my extremely limited knowledge on top cropping, i think that is fine dude, just skim some of that foam into a sanitized container

 

[LukeAtThat]

So I gave it a go, the foam had decreased a lot, so much so that I barely got any in a jar. The foam that I did get turned into liquid almost immediately so I don't have high hopes. I took a reading on my refractometer while I was at it and it read around 15 brix, so it seems it might have a while to go yet. Hopefully I'll have more luck harvesting yeast from the bottom