Lumpy Krausen on Top?

[HappyWarrior]

Brewing an American Pale Ale, and I've never had this happen before.

Fermentation suddenly stopped after 24 hours, and the above formed on top.

Does anyone know what it is? Will it be detriment to things, or how can it be got rid of?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Hello]

Looks good. Most of it will all drop over time. It's only been a couple of days it seems, so give it the necessary time for the yeast to continue to work.

 

[HappyWarrior]

That's reassuring - thanks! And it's good, even though the air lock is dead?

 

[unionrdr]

When rapid airlock activity slows or stops, only initial fermentation is done. It'll then leave the krausen left-overs you see floating while it creeps slowly, uneventfully down to FG. Then give it 3-7 days to clean up any by-products of fermentation & settle out clear or slightly misty. Then prime & bottle.

 

[aprichman]

If you are using a glass carboy with a good seal the airlock completely stopping should indicate the end of fermentation. That doesn't mean the yeast are not doing other things but ethanol fermentation produces CO2 and it had to go somewhere (out your airlock or through a bad seal)

 

[aprichman]

Airlock completely stopping after 24 hours is pretty unusual. Have you watched it for 2-3 minutes straight?

 

[brewprint]

I have 2 primaries.

One has a rubber seal around the lid and the other does not. The one with a rubber seal will have activity for days and days longer than the one without.

Do not expect to have a perfect seal unless you have a rubber seal around your lid.

Airlock activity means nothing to indicate fermentation.

I recently brewed a big beer with 10lbs LME and 1lb corn sugar. I put a blow off tube on it and it was the bucket that doesn't have a rubber seal on it.

I never did see the krausen get into the tube so I wondered if anything happened. I opened it after a week and sure as could be the Krausen was almost all the way to the blowoff tube just not quite. I know if I would've had this brew in the other bucket the blowoff tube would've had a lot of activity.

 

[aprichman]

I have 2 primaries.

One has a rubber seal around the lid and the other does not. The one with a rubber seal will have activity for days and days longer than the one without.

Do not expect to have a perfect seal unless you have a rubber seal around your lid.

Airlock activity means nothing to indicate fermentation.

I recently brewed a big beer with 10lbs LME and 1lb corn sugar. I put a blow off tube on it and it was the bucket that doesn't have a rubber seal on it.

I never did see the krausen get into the tube so I wondered if anything happened. I opened it after a week and sure as could be the Krausen was almost all the way to the blowoff tube just not quite. I know if I would've had this brew in the other bucket the blowoff tube would've had a lot of activity.

Glass carboys and HDPE buckets do not behave the same way. Even if the seal was perfect the polymer allows a small level of gas to diffuse through it. HDPE has good barrier properties for a polymer but it is not perfect. Glass on the other hand is impenetrable to gas - if you have a good seal on your carboy there is nowhere for it to go except through the airlock. Obviously it is bad practice to rely on the airlock to gauge fermentation because it is nearly impossible to verify if your seal is good but if it is good and fermentation is happening it should blow a bubble even if it is once or twice a day. CO2 is a byproduct of fermentation and that gas will go down its pressure gradient - it's science!

 

[unionrdr]

Plastic buckets aren't as readily gas permeable as people think. It takes quite some time for it to happen. My latest ESB was in plastic primary for 4 weeks & 3 days with no ill effects.

 

[brewprint]

Sounds almost like the fear of oxidation. That's extremely hard to do yet there are so many people who lose sleep over the thought.

 

[unionrdr]

You're right about that.So many worry over something that actually takes longer to happen than the time the beer is actually in it.