Krausen residue & aging

[yoop89]

Is mold a possibility when aging a sour beer in a fermenter with the headspace covered in krausen residue? I bought some PET carboys for a sour project that I started this weekend and thought they were 6.5 gallon but only ended up to be 6 gallons so I ended up with a little over 1/2 gallon of headspace and one strain that I pitched needed a blowoff hose. My plan was to leave all three alone for 10-12 months.

Should I re-rack to clean it up? Im ok with leaving it as long as it wont cause any long term problems. The krausen has started to fall so I feel like now is the time to re-rack, if needed, to allow the yeast to take up any oxygen introduced or rather clear it from the headspace.

 

[RPh_Guy]

Is mold a possibility when aging a sour beer in a fermenter with the headspace covered in krausen residue?

Not in my experience. I leave mine in primary (PET Fermonster) and I imagine there's plenty of oxygen in the headspace.

I've also never heard of it being a problem for anyone else. If mold did start growing on the side, you could always rack it at that point and since it never was in contact with the beer it would be fine.

Cheers