Krausen or infection

[sjlyons81]

Hey guys,
I brewed a Czech pils using wlp 800. I pitched at around 65 had it at 62 for 24 hours and then cooled it to 49F. I had a lot of activity for 72 hrs and consistent airlock (10 bubbles per min) for another 3 days. I went to check the gravity, and it's still .05 or so from the desired fg. Tough to tell exactly though because there was a lot of sludge on top. Not sure if it's krausen or not; it looked thicker than usually. I tasted it- seems ok. No sulfur smells or tastes. I should mention I did a 1500 ml starter but I think I lost a lot trying to decant. I guess I have to questions. 1) what is floating on top of my beer? And 2) if this stalled, do you have any suggestions to get it going again? Thanks.

 

[flars]

Frothy, lumpy, and large bubbles. Looks like a good krausen. A pellicle, from an infection, would look more like a white-bluish oil slick with some spider webs.
Close it up, no need to take an SG reading for 12 to 14 days, unless you suspect no fermentation is taking place. Beer is coming.

 

[jethro55]

0.05 is a lot. It is still attenuating. Leave it go for a few more days - that temp drop was big.

 

[sjlyons81]

Frothy, lumpy, and large bubbles. Looks like a good krausen. A pellicle, from an infection, would look more like a white-bluish oil slick with some spider webs.
Close it up, no need to take an SG reading for 12 to 14 days, unless you suspect no fermentation is taking place. Beer is coming.

That's some good news. Thanks guys.

 

[Sailingeric]

Relax, you are fine. Short of throwing a dead body full of the plague in the fermentation bucket, you will have beer.

 

[brewbama]

I understand opening the lid of the fermenter but I've always resisted the urge. I think breathing in the beer can't be good but who knows. I simply remove the air lock and drain it into a keg without even looking. Sometimes if it's been several weeks after the end of activity, I don't even take a FG reading. It simply doesn't matter that much to me. Afterwards I look to clean of course but i've never seen the dark stuff like that.

 

[Hello]

Alex, what is krausen for $100?

Relax, you are fine. Short of throwing a dead body full of the plague in the fermentation bucket, you will have beer.

Actually, you will still have beer, but it will still have a dead body in it.

 

[SmokeyMcBong]

Relax, you are fine. Short of throwing a dead body full of the plague in the fermentation bucket, you will have beer.

I think that's part of the origional Guinness recipe. You're supposed to dry corpse it for 18 days or till the body sinks...

 

[Hawkeye21]

Not to hijack his thread but this is my first brew, a hefeweizen. I am at day 12 of fermentation and was going to take a reading, this is the first time I opened my fermenter. Is this good? Smelled like beer but I thought 12 days in to fermentation it would be clearer.

 

[shortyz]

Not to hijack his thread but this is my first brew, a hefeweizen. I am at day 12 of fermentation and was going to take a reading, this is the first time I opened my fermenter. Is this good? Smelled like beer but I thought 12 days in to fermentation it would be clearer.

looks good, put the lid back on!

 

[sjlyons81]

Not to hijack his thread but this is my first brew, a hefeweizen. I am at day 12 of fermentation and was going to take a reading, this is the first time I opened my fermenter. Is this good? Smelled like beer but I thought 12 days in to fermentation it would be clearer.

So as a follow up, it's now been 11 days, and my krausen is still has sunk into the beer. The gravity is stuck at 1.021; way too high for a pils. Should i try to raise the temp? Rack it to a secondary? Pitch some more yeast?

 

[flars]

So as a follow up, it's now been 11 days, and my krausen is still has sunk into the beer. The gravity is stuck at 1.021; way too high for a pils. Should i try to raise the temp? Rack it to a secondary? Pitch some more yeast?

Hold the beer temperature at 55°F, give it another week. The yeast might just be taking more time to drop the last few points.

 

[sjlyons81]

Just a follow up, took it out of the fridge raised the temp to 61f using a swamp cooler. Thing went bonkers for 2 days and hit my fg at 1.013. Gonna start lagering.

 

[Hawkeye21]

My hefeweizen has been fermenting for 3 weeks, I finally reached FG of 1.08, been steady for 4 days. However still has krausen or something floating, this normal or should it be more clear? Should I cold crash it for 24-48 hours to help clear? Or proceed to to rack? Appreciate the advice!

 

[SmokeyMcBong]

picture is pretty blurry but it just looks like some co2 bubbles on top. If so and your at FG, bottle her up!! (I'm assuming your at 1.008 not 1.08!)

 

[Hawkeye21]

Thank you. Camera phone doesn't take the best photo especially with low light. And yes, meant to say 1.008. I'll give it another day or so and bottle.

 

[william_shakes_beer]

I remember the early years, when I fretted over each and every step. What have I done wrong this time?

Then I remember the thread where another home brewer described the process followed by Vikings. Toss some water and grains into a open top vessel. Boil, cool, stir with the magic family mash paddle (guess where the yeast strain was hiding ) when it stops bubbling, its time to get drunk and party Whoopee!!! they made beer. They didn't have plastic buckets. They didn't have stir plates. They didn't have eflasks. They didn't ask how many cells of yeast they were pitching. (Man didn't even discover the existence of yeast for several hundred years) They didn't have thermometers, or swamp coolers. More than likely their beer was colonized by all manner of bacteria, insects, and the like. Man has been making Beer for hundreds ( thousands?) of years. All these tools can and do help us control our product to make better, and more consistently better beer. But whatever you do, it'll still be beer. relax. Don't Worry. Its supposed to be fun. Some of the most famous styles of beer came about because someone made a mistake and liked it.