Wierd foam - infection?

[fillyo]

I brewed a citra IPA, it never really bubbled away at all, but it went down from 1.070 to 1.018 per my recipe. However, this layer of gunk was on top of the beer when I transferred to secondary, never really had this happen before. Is this infected?

 

[duboman]

No, it's simply not done fermenting, you racked to secondary too soon. You should not remove beer off the yeast until you have verified it has reached final gravity. That layer is krausen.

 

[BeerGrylls]

It's hard to tell just by a photo, but it looks plenty like lots of brews I've done. What yeast is that? How did the sample taste?

You've got to learn the mantra around here:
(R)elax, (D)on't (W)orry, (H)ave (A) (H)ome (B)rew

 

[jro238]

First, totally normal. That is krausen and is a sign that fermentation is going strong. Once fermentation slows down, the krausen will drop back into the beer. This is why you will usually find a ring of gunk in your carboy/bucket about 1-5 inches above liquid level after your beer is done fermenting).

As I said above, this is a sign that fermentation is still going pretty strong so, as duboman said, you racked to secondary too soon. This won't kill your beer or anything, but it is possible that it won't ferment quite as cleanly or attenuate as quickly vs if it had been left in primary.

 

[Cyclman]

Did you measure FG? A recipe should not be your sole guide for fermentation time, even pro brewers measure their beers, and they make those over and over and over.

 

[brew_ny]

looks like US-05

S_M

 

[fillyo]

I used Wyeast 1272 American Ale II. I did take a final gravity, it was just under 1.020, and my recipe per Brewtoad said final gravity should be 1.018, so right there. I did sample, it was a little cloudy but tasted pretty good. I am dry hopping for the next week and then will bottle. Then, we will wait and see how it turns out.

 

[BeerGrylls]

I used Wyeast 1272 American Ale II. I did take a final gravity, it was just under 1.020, and my recipe per Brewtoad said final gravity should be 1.018, so right there. I did sample, it was a little cloudy but tasted pretty good. I am dry hopping for the next week and then will bottle. Then, we will wait and see how it turns out.

You gotta keep in mind, the yeast don't care about your recipe. They'll finish when they're done. Best method is to take gravity samples a few days in a row, if it stays the same, the yeast have finished. You can then move to your next step, whether it be a diacetyl rest, dry hop, secondary condition, cold crash, bugs, etc etc.

 

[bethebrew]

If you want a faster floccer, get yourself some 1968 next time.

 

[jonmohno]

You probably transferred a little early?.You have full krausen of yeast, its thick thats not a bad thing. It sounds like its done basically though, I just personally have never had krausen like that not drop but Ive heard of it happening sometimes.

 

[bethebrew]

You probably transferred a little early.YOu have full krausen of yeast, its thick thats not a bad thing.

Looks like some pellet hop crap too or some protein thing going on with the color/head consistency but otherwise nothing extraordinary.

 

[fillyo]

Ok, thanks for all the feedback, I will just hope for the best.

 

[sass131]

Hello,

I don't want to make a new topic as I have the exact same issue with my latest batch. 14 days ago I pitched in the yeast US-05. OG was 1044. Temp of fermentation in the start was 20 and now the beer sits at 18 C. After 9 days gravity was 1008, there was krausen and I threw in the dry hops thinking that the fermentation had just stopped.

Now after 5 days the krausen is still there and gravity is still 1008. So I find it hard to belive that the krausen is there because fermentation is still going. Maybe there is some other explenation?

I plan to cold condition after 3 days, for 7 days maybe this will help?

I know that krausen is a normal part of fermentation but I have never had krausen staying so long on the beer. That said, I have done only 7 batches.

 

[unionrdr]

Sometimes krausen can be stubborn & not drop back into the beer. At this point,it can be thicker & heavier than usual. since the gravity is stable,you could rack out from under it to bottle.

 

[brew_ny]

Hello,

I don't want to make a new topic as I have the exact same issue with my latest batch. 14 days ago I pitched in the yeast US-05. OG was 1044. Temp of fermentation in the start was 20 and now the beer sits at 18 C. After 9 days gravity was 1008, there was krausen and I threw in the dry hops thinking that the fermentation had just stopped.

Now after 5 days the krausen is still there and gravity is still 1008. So I find it hard to belive that the krausen is there because fermentation is still going. Maybe there is some other explenation?

I plan to cold condition after 3 days, for 7 days maybe this will help?

I know that krausen is a normal part of fermentation but I have never had krausen staying so long on the beer. That said, I have done only 7 batches.

US -05 is a true top fermenting yeast so it will stay on top, cold crashing should make it drop

if you are at FG I would cold crash

I skim it to reuse the yeast

all the best

S_M

 

[jonmohno]

Hello,

I don't want to make a new topic as I have the exact same issue with my latest batch. 14 days ago I pitched in the yeast US-05. OG was 1044. Temp of fermentation in the start was 20 and now the beer sits at 18 C. After 9 days gravity was 1008, there was krausen and I threw in the dry hops thinking that the fermentation had just stopped.

Now after 5 days the krausen is still there and gravity is still 1008. So I find it hard to belive that the krausen is there because fermentation is still going. Maybe there is some other explenation?

I plan to cold condition after 3 days, for 7 days maybe this will help?

I know that krausen is a normal part of fermentation but I have never had krausen staying so long on the beer. That said, I have done only 7 batches.

Ive never had krausen not drop,but Ive heard of it happening sometimes,I think with time it probably would drop eventually,I could see it being a bit of a nuesance if it was still there when one would be ready to bottle from primary,since hes doing secondary probably no worries. And definatly not appearing to be infected as well.

Part of 05's floccuation profile is that its either medium or high floccuater I believe,so in general that means it should drop. It is probably haging on to proteins or trub stuff maybe-it should recede with time. But really I think its not a big deal,his gravity reading is. Reducing temps would help near the end of primary-condidtoning after a few weeks for it do so if it needed it. For me though, It almost always drops at least by after a week of fermentation or at least starts dropping.

 

[duboman]

As a side note, if this is yeast that has been washed/harvested more than a few times it may have mutated and you are seeing less flocculation than the original strain.

 

[BeerGrylls]

Why bother paying much mind to the krausen? It's the beer you're concerned with, right? FG test and rack from under it if needed.

 

[EsoChingado]

just wondering, did you use a clarifier like whirlfloc or the like?

 

[ewebb]

nice looking fermentation

 

[jro238]

Yeah, I've got to amend my previous post a little bit after kegging my pumpkin ale a few weeks ago. I used US-05 for it (~1.055-1.060 OG, 1.009 FG) and checked it after 14 days. The beer was done fermenting but there was still a good 1/2 inch of krausen on top. I just racked from under it and life was good. Great beer

I'm sure the krausen will eventually settle, but as long as the beer is done then I don't see any issue with racking from underneath.