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Author Topic: krausen question  (Read 10190 times)

Offline Herminator

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krausen question
« on: October 23, 2012, 09:40:38 pm »
So, brewed my first batch this past Saturday, Oct. 20th and everything went as planned!  Super excited.  Fermentation took off rather quickly with lots of karusen and with a fair amount of CO release/bubbles.  Now, Tuesday evening, the krausen has fallen to basically nothing and the CO release is bubbling maybe once every 30 seconds to 1 minute.  I thought krausen lasted longer than essentially 2.5 days.  Is it normal for it to fall so quickly?

The beer is a an Irish Red extract beer.  Temp has been steady 68-70.

THanks for all of your help...and if I need to relax and have a homebrew, just let me know.   ;D
Hermen D.
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Offline euge

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Re: krausen question
« Reply #1 on: October 23, 2012, 09:44:22 pm »
It's not un-normal. ;)

Sounds like a fast ferment but krausen is only one indicator of a good fermentation. Leave the beer alone until at least 10 days have passed. Then check the gravity.
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Offline Herminator

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Re: krausen question
« Reply #2 on: October 24, 2012, 01:48:33 pm »
Thanks Euge for the info and response.  I will do a gravity test here in a few days.  I don't have the OG.  Will that make a difference in determining my later reading or should I just be looking to hit the specific gravity range?  Sorry for all the noob questions. 
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Offline morticaixavier

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Re: krausen question
« Reply #3 on: October 24, 2012, 01:56:05 pm »
Thanks Euge for the info and response.  I will do a gravity test here in a few days.  I don't have the OG.  Will that make a difference in determining my later reading or should I just be looking to hit the specific gravity range?  Sorry for all the noob questions.

no specific range perse. what you are looking for is two readings a few days apart that are the same. That being said if it's stupid high, like above 1.020 you might have questions but more than anything it's about stability of readings.

On the missing OG, is this an extract batch? if so you can probably assume that the OG was more or less whatever the kit/math works out to. If all grain, it's a mystery at this point.
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Offline Herminator

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Re: krausen question
« Reply #4 on: October 24, 2012, 02:35:03 pm »
Great.  Thanks.  I will take a reading of the brew on friday and another on Sunday.  It was an extract batch (first batch ever).  Looked  up the OG numbers of the kit and it indicated 1044.  I guess my next question is...what numbers should I be looking for now.  Again, sorry for the noob questions, I'm still reading palmer's book.

Thanks!
« Last Edit: October 24, 2012, 02:36:44 pm by hd3 »
Hermen D.
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Offline morticaixavier

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Re: krausen question
« Reply #5 on: October 24, 2012, 02:56:11 pm »
I totally understand wanting your first batch to be done but... You might want to wait another week before even bothering with a first reading. Even after the gravity has been stable for a while the yeast is still working on cleaning up after itself. My advice its to brew your second ever batch this weekend and leave the first one alone for another week or so
"Creativity is the residue of wasted time"
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"errors are [...] the portals of discovery"
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Offline Herminator

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Re: krausen question
« Reply #6 on: October 24, 2012, 03:45:40 pm »
great advice.  I will do just that.  Thanks.
Hermen D.
Muerte Brewing

Offline anje

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Re: krausen question
« Reply #7 on: October 24, 2012, 04:08:25 pm »
Relax, kick back, and drink some good store-bought beer for now. You'll get homebrew soon, I promise.

I was in a hurry to bottle and try my first batch (not long ago), too. Bottled after a week. The things took forever (not really, but it felt like it) to clean up their green flavors once bottled. Probably overcompensated by leaving my next two beers on their yeast cakes for a full 4 weeks before bottling those, but they came out much cleaner-tasting, which I largely attribute to patience.

Perhaps I need to acquire a couple smaller containers and divide a single batch among them and bottle one a week once fermentation has stopped, to see how sitting on the yeast affects flavors... 
<-- microbiologist brewster n00b.

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Offline euge

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Re: krausen question
« Reply #8 on: October 24, 2012, 11:35:47 pm »
Exploring does no harm in the scheme of things. How else does one learn? Then one develops wisdom and appreciation of those who have gone before.
The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool. -Richard P. Feynman

Laws are spider-webs, which catch the little flies, but cannot hold the big ones. -Anacharsis

Offline tubercle

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Re: krausen question
« Reply #9 on: October 25, 2012, 08:14:07 pm »
Exploring does no harm in the scheme of things. How else does one learn? Then one develops wisdom and appreciation of those who have gone before.

Amen Euge. My very creed.

As far as sitting on the yeast cake. Weeks don't matter. Measure it in months. That "sitting on the yeast cake will ruin you beer" thing is way over emphasized.

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Offline garc_mall

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Re: krausen question
« Reply #10 on: October 29, 2012, 09:44:28 am »
I think what he was looking for was how long does beer need to sit on the yeast cake to clean itself up (diacetyl, acetaldehyde). Thats why he was referring to it in weeks, rather than months.

However, I agree, when you are talking about off-flavors from leaving the beer on the yeast cake too long, you are talking months, not weeks.

Offline morticaixavier

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Re: krausen question
« Reply #11 on: October 29, 2012, 09:48:50 am »
I think what he was looking for was how long does beer need to sit on the yeast cake to clean itself up (diacetyl, acetaldehyde). Thats why he was referring to it in weeks, rather than months.

However, I agree, when you are talking about off-flavors from leaving the beer on the yeast cake too long, you are talking months, not weeks.

I think you are getting into 'how long is a piece of string' terratory here. I have had beers that weren't right till after 6 weeks and then had beers taht I was drinking 7 days after brewing and were just perfect.
"Creativity is the residue of wasted time"
-A Einstein

"errors are [...] the portals of discovery"
- J Joyce