Rack to Secondary Before Krausen Settles?

[igliashon]

So, I've got this crazy brew--a gluten-free oatmeal gruit with myrica gale, yarrow, and labrador tea instead of hops--that's been in primary for about two weeks now, and since pretty much the day after I pitched, it's had this huge thick foamy white head of krausen on it (looks like the head on a real nice beer). I'm anxious to rack to secondary because I want to start a new brew and need the carboy, but this krausen doesn't seem to be going anywhere. I've heard that myrica gale "renders beer heady" (according to "Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers"), and I'm wondering if this huge head of krausen might be due to it. Should I just go ahead and rack, despite that the krausen hasn't fallen, or should I wait it out? Is there anything wrong with racking to secondary before the krausen has fallen?

 

[cheezydemon3]

I say rack it, but who can say for sure?

 

[Sacreddog717]

Is it at a stable gravity?

 

[Revvy]

What's the gravity? Krausen up usually means it's still fermenting, though sometimes it's not. But you shouldn't go by ANYTHING but gravity when deciding to rack something.

 

[maffewl]

Is there anything wrong with racking to secondary before the krausen has fallen?

Yes and no. Krausen is not a good indicator of fermentation... the only way to know would be to take gravity readings. Once stable, it would be fine to rack to secondary. If the yeast are still doing their thing and you rack too soon, you may have just stalled your fermentation. I would check the gravity reading against anticipated FG, if it's there, you are good to rack. If not, I wouldn't.

 

[igliashon]

Thanks, guys. I generally don't check gravity, as a rule, because I'm lazy and going by rules of thumb has served me well enough this far. It also seems like a waste of good beer and extra exposure to possible contaminants, too. I'm a noob, though, so maybe I'm just not aware of a quick easy efficient way to take gravity readings? I've only read Papazian's book, and he doesn't go into much detail about how to take gravity readings.

FWIW, I do partial boils, so getting a good OG reading is hard (if not impossible), and I don't even know how to reliably calculate anticipated FG for all the wacky gluten-free ingredients and adjuncts I use. So far I've been fine racking to secondary when bubbling dies down, but I've never had a batch bubble this actively for this long. How do you guys take your gravity readings, and how many times does it have to come up the same to say that it's stabilized?

 

[two_one_seven]

Here ya go.

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/brix-specific-gravity-refractometer-w-atc.html

It's out of stock but you get the idea....

 

[Frankiesurf]

If the gravity is the same over three days then your fermentation is done. Test it one day then two days later test it again.

If you don't want to "waste" beer then just sanitize everything that comes in contact with the beer. Then you can just pour it back in. The alternative is to just drink what you have tested and you get a taste of the different stages of your brews.