Unusual ferment

Get advice on making beer from raw ingredients (malt, hops, water and yeast)
Post Reply
markm1878

Unusual ferment

Post by markm1878 » Fri Oct 24, 2014 5:55 pm

I have an american pale ale fermenting at the moment. It's been fermenting for a week today. At about days 2-3 the krausen took off and rose about 3-4 inches and never dropped. Today (day 7) its shot up again by another couple of inches! I've never came across this before, has anyone else?

I'm pretty sure all my other ferments had all finished by now but I generally leave them alone for a few weeks unless racking to secondary, theres still some airlock activity but not much.

If it helps, the OG was 1055 and the yeast was nbs west coast ale. I've not been able to take another gravity reading because there's no tap on the fv and the i'd just take a sample of krausen if I got it from the top.

Thanks
ImageImage

markm1878

Re: Unusual ferment

Post by markm1878 » Sat Oct 25, 2014 9:13 pm

Must be very unusual!

Capn Ahab

Re: Unusual ferment

Post by Capn Ahab » Sun Oct 26, 2014 12:03 am

RDWHAHB

User avatar
TC2642
Even further under the Table
Posts: 2161
Joined: Wed Aug 08, 2007 6:11 pm
Location: Somewhere between cabbaged and heavily cabbaged

Re: Unusual ferment

Post by TC2642 » Sun Oct 26, 2014 2:00 am

Looks fine to me.
Fermenting -!
Maturing - Lenin's Revenge RIS
Drinking - !
Next brew - PA
Brew after next brew - IPA

Fil
Telling imaginary friend stories
Posts: 5229
Joined: Sun Oct 16, 2011 1:49 pm
Location: Cowley, Oxford

Re: Unusual ferment

Post by Fil » Sun Oct 26, 2014 4:52 am

is it a genuine top fermentor?
ist update for months n months..
Fermnting: not a lot..
Conditioning: nowt
Maturing: Challenger smash, and a kit lager
Drinking: dry one minikeg left in the store
Coming Soon Lots planned for the near future nowt for the immediate :(

markm1878

Re: Unusual ferment

Post by markm1878 » Sun Oct 26, 2014 8:09 am

Yes, its this one http://www.themaltmiller.co.uk/index.ph ... ductId=443 its still there, the krausen wont sink... i was hoping to dry hop too but i'll need to wait for it to settle before racking. Could be weeks!

boingy

Re: Unusual ferment

Post by boingy » Sun Oct 26, 2014 8:41 am

For me, that's ringing a few alarm bells.
How has the temperature been?
I'd be digging through that foam with a sanitised ladle to get a sample for the hydro jar. Check the sg and see how it tastes,

markm1878

Re: Unusual ferment

Post by markm1878 » Sun Oct 26, 2014 8:52 am

The temp has been stable. Set to 19 degrees in the ferment fridge, its barely deviated (.3 degrees allowed on stc) Just checked this morning and it seems to have dropped back a bit now. Its back to about the original level before its rose for the second time.

markm1878

Re: Unusual ferment

Post by markm1878 » Sun Oct 26, 2014 9:20 am

Would dropping the temperature sink the krausen?

Fil
Telling imaginary friend stories
Posts: 5229
Joined: Sun Oct 16, 2011 1:49 pm
Location: Cowley, Oxford

Re: Unusual ferment

Post by Fil » Sun Oct 26, 2014 4:54 pm

the MM blurb says its highly floculant so it should sink eventually. when its done its job and if its still floating on top a few sharp raps with a wooden spoon on the FV side could be all you need to break the surface tension keeping it above
ist update for months n months..
Fermnting: not a lot..
Conditioning: nowt
Maturing: Challenger smash, and a kit lager
Drinking: dry one minikeg left in the store
Coming Soon Lots planned for the near future nowt for the immediate :(

markm1878

Re: Unusual ferment

Post by markm1878 » Mon Oct 27, 2014 4:21 pm

Thanks Fil. Just checked today and its gone back down. More or less the level of the beer now. Ill transfer it to secondary in a few days. Quite a wild one that... if I had brewed a litre or 2 morw id have needed a blowoff tube.
Image

Post Reply