What happened to my krausen?

[scottywags]

I brewed lil sparkys Nut Brown Ale on Sat and put it in the carboy. It appeared to b doing pretty good building a small krausen. I noticed last night that my Johnson controller that is set for 66 degrees and a 1 temp diff was at 59 degrees...then this morning the krausen has fallen. I'm just getting back into brewing again and not sure if I'm using the correct terms. I did my best to get a good picture....I don't recall this being normal after only 3 &1/2 days in the carboy. Could this be because the temp dropped? and if so, will it start fermenting again or is this garbage at this point?
Thanks for the help

 

[unionrdr]

It could very well be the lower temp causing the yeast to go dormant? But after 3 1/2 days, initial fermentation could also be done, causing the krausen to fall back into the beer as it slowly finishes fermenting. What yeast was it?

 

[TheHopfather]

I'd say one of two things has happened. #1 - your beer fermented out and dropped already, #2 - something went wrong with your fermentation chamber and it got cold and put your yeast to sleep. You have a krausen ring on the carboy, so some fermentation took place, have you checked the gravity to see if it is near where it should finish?

If the beer is done, its done, yeast don't really care about what we think it should be doing. If it got cold you can warm it yup and swirl the carboy to get some yeast back into suspension, it should wake up and keep going.

 

[scottywags]

Thanks for the quick responses, I used nottingham. The original recipe calls for 7 days in the primary then 14 in the secondary...could this really be done after 3 & 1/2? I guess I should take a reading.

 

[rlmiller10]

Nottingham will eat though a beer in 3 days. If you have a wine thief you could pull a sample and check gravity. But I don't like messing with my beer once it is in the fermenter. If it were me, I would raise the temp up to 70 degrees over three days or so (less if you are already up to mid sixties. Then I would let it sit for two weeks, take a verification hydrometer sample, and bottle.

 

[unionrdr]

You don't really need to do a secondary unless you're adding fruit, oaking or the like. Many of us even dry hop in primary. & usually, when the rapid bubbling slows or stops, only initial fermentation is done. It'll then slowly, uneventfully creep down to a stable FG. Provided temps are in range for that yeast.

 

[scottywags]

I wish I would have read your post about raising the temp slowly...lol, I set the temp on the controller to 68 and now it sitting at 64. You'd think being in Florida 90+ degree heat this would have no problem staying at temp!
Regardless, I tried to pull a sample and it was to foamy for me to read...this is half the foam after I poured it in there

 

[unionrdr]

Nice color anyway. I sometimes have to dab the foam out.

 

[ncbrewer]

I always have to dip the foam off because I pour back and forth between two glasses to drive out the CO2. (CO2 can form small bubbles around the hydrometer and affect the reading slightly.) The foam is not a problem at all.

 

[Talgrath]

Looks pretty normal to me. I generally don't worry about the krausen, it does weird things and isn't consistent even in the exact same conditions. As long as the gravity readings look good, it's fine.

 

[flars]

A good head on your SG sample is a indication the fermentation is not done. The fermentation may be getting close to finishing, but it needs more time. Don't rush your beer. Time is on the side of better taste.

 

[mongoose33]

I brewed on Monday, pitched rehydrated S-04 which took off like a rocket. Two days later, the Krausen fell.

Now all I have are yeast rafts and the odd bubbling from down below. All normal.