Fermentation stopped but still krausen

[svenito]

I've got a batch fermenting with S05 and the gravity has stopped falling, but there's still thick krausen on top. It has fallen since pitching, but I can't see through it at all. On Tuesday it would have been in primary for two weeks. I upped the temp one °C yesterday to give the yeast a chance to clean up.

I want to cold condition this one, so should I wait for the krausen to fall or can I go ahead and drop the temp next week any way?

 

[foxbat]

You're not alone.

 

[MickDundee]

Not US-05, but my current brew using Safale K-97 still has a thick krausen 9 days after pitching, but I know it does create a sense krausen. I figure I’ll just leave it 3 weeks in the FV rather than the usual 2.

 

[MickDundee]

Not US-05, but my current brew using Safale K-97 still has a thick krausen 9 days after pitching, but I know it does create a sense krausen. I figure I’ll just leave it 3 weeks in the FV rather than the usual 2.

Almost a week later and the Krausen is still just as thick. I’ve bumped the temperature up to 18.5C to see if it helps then I’ll disconnect the heat belt completely on Monday and let it sit at ambient temperature (about 14-15C) to see if that helps the Krausen to subside.

I still hope to bottle next weekend. Maybe I should sanitise a jar and harvest some of this top fermenting yeast!

 

[svenito]

I did a bit of reading on other forums about this, and one person said they were fed up of waiting and decided to rack off under the krausen. Once they dipped their syphon in, the whole thing just fell apart and disappeared. Others said they knocked the vessel and the krausen disappeared. I checked on mine again and noticed it had fallen a little more but was still there, so I sanitized a paddle and poked it. Sure enough it just fell away. I've now dropped the temp to 3C and fined it.

Theory is that sometimes the yeast in the krausen sticks together so much that it doesn't drop down and if you disturb the structure it will release and go. I didn't want to wait too long as I also dry hopped and didn't want it to be hopped too long.

So give it a knock/rock or a gentle stir and see.

 

[MickDundee]

I did a bit of reading on other forums about this, and one person said they were fed up of waiting and decided to rack off under the krausen. Once they dipped their syphon in, the whole thing just fell apart and disappeared. Others said they knocked the vessel and the krausen disappeared. I checked on mine again and noticed it had fallen a little more but was still there, so I sanitized a paddle and poked it. Sure enough it just fell away. I've now dropped the temp to 3C and fined it.

Theory is that sometimes the yeast in the krausen sticks together so much that it doesn't drop down and if you disturb the structure it will release and go. I didn't want to wait too long as I also dry hopped and didn't want it to be hopped too long.

So give it a knock/rock or a gentle stir and see.

Yeah I’ll maybe do that midweek, give t 3 or 4 days to sink. I don’t have cold crash capabilities.

 

[terrym]

If it's any help my first experience of using a cultured SN 1698 yeast was slightly similar in that the yeast was so top fermenting I had to keep turning it in to keep it going. If I left it the beer underneath just started to clear and the fermentatation died back. However I did re-use this yeast a couple of times after and this characteristic seemed to go way. So you could turn it in like I did and see what happens.