Persistant Yeast Head

Share your experiences of using brewing yeast.
Post Reply
User avatar
Andy
Virtually comatose but still standing
Posts: 8716
Joined: Fri Nov 18, 2005 1:00 pm
Location: Ash, Surrey
Contact:

Post by Andy » Sat Oct 28, 2006 10:45 am

With the hogs back yeast the yeast cap remains all the way through the fermentation period. It does reduce in depth but it's always there.....

I leave it as is and just be careful when draining off the beer such that the yeast head stays in the bucket 8) Makes reusing the yeast bed as bit of a no-no though....


So in summary - what you've got there is "normal" for me.
Dan!

eskimobob

Post by eskimobob » Sat Oct 28, 2006 11:09 am

I found the same thing with the yeast I got from HTB. I thought it was a good thing because it gave you plenty of time to skim the yeast off rather than it falling into the beer (which presumably might give a yeast bite?) :?

User avatar
bitter_dave
Even further under the Table
Posts: 2170
Joined: Thu Dec 29, 2005 1:00 pm
Location: Whitley Bay

Post by bitter_dave » Sat Oct 28, 2006 11:12 am

I ususually get a persistent yeast head when brewing, but then I tend to barrel after a week rather than 10 days. I just hold it back with a paddle when it reaches tap level.

User avatar
bitter_dave
Even further under the Table
Posts: 2170
Joined: Thu Dec 29, 2005 1:00 pm
Location: Whitley Bay

Post by bitter_dave » Sat Oct 28, 2006 12:29 pm

DaaB wrote:
What yeast do you use B_D?
Generally Safale 04, and Harvey's brewery yeast once. The one occaision I recall when the head didn't last long was with a Brupaks kit, but I fermented at too high a temp - head was frothy for a couple of days, then gone. I tend to barrel after 6-7 days though, and don't touch krausen at all, which may explain why it remains.

mysterio

Post by mysterio » Sat Oct 28, 2006 1:11 pm

Safale US-56 & White Labs California Ale yeast leaves a yeast head exactly like that after fermentation is complete. I just rack from underneath it. Perhaps its the same strain as the one you got from the brewery?

User avatar
Horden Hillbilly
Moderator
Posts: 2150
Joined: Mon May 08, 2006 1:00 pm
Location: Horden, Co. Durham
Contact:

Post by Horden Hillbilly » Sat Oct 28, 2006 3:21 pm

That reminded me of the yeast I used in my early AG days, I recovered the yeast from the bottled conditioned King & Barnes Festive, what a PITA it was to use as it settled on top of the brew & stopped fermenting at 1025!

I got round it by gently stirring it back in the brew, that worked for a couple of days only for it to stare back at me again & stop fermenting!

Eventually after stirring in again a few times more it had dropped to about 1012, by that time I had had enough & dropped into the King Keg.

I presume that it what Graham Wheeler classes as a Northern style yeast. ie it needed to be tended to like the Yorkshire "square stone" system.

If I recall correctly the beer turned out ok though, needless to say that I did not use it again though!

User avatar
Horden Hillbilly
Moderator
Posts: 2150
Joined: Mon May 08, 2006 1:00 pm
Location: Horden, Co. Durham
Contact:

Post by Horden Hillbilly » Sun Nov 19, 2006 1:09 pm

My whitelabs Burton ale yeast is doing the same as Daabs brew, no problems though, it has been fermenting for a week now, just took a hydrometer reading of 1012 & it still is fermenting very slowly, I can still see bubbles rising to the surface, another 2 days should see it out.

This is the first time I have used this yeast and it was very lively after a couple of days, last Tuesday while I was at work Mrs H sent me a text to tell me that it was foaming over the sides of the fv! I always put an old sheet under the fv just in case of any mishaps & the cap off the kits are always put under the tap just in case of any leaks.

Post Reply