Is my beer infected??? Wyeast 2565

[Delirious187]

Just curious what other people think. I brewed a Kolsch style on 11/18 using Wyeast 2565 and 12-13 days later in the primary the krausen hasn’t fallen. Looks more frothy. This is a first for me. I’ve read elsewhere that it could be due in part to the 2 lbs of flaked wheat I used in the mash? I’ve been fermenting steady at 57F. Does this look infected?

 

[slarkin712]

That looks perfectly normal to me. Some Kolsch yeasts are know to produce large amounts of krausen, and I believe that 2565 is one of them. And the krausen can persist well after the beer is done fermenting. The flaked wheat probably has little to do with the long lasting krausen. I've used 2565 numerous times and racked from underneath the krausen when the beer was finished fermenting. Your Kolsch is probably ready for packaging if the gravity is stable.

 

[RM-MN]

That's a healthy looking krausen you have there. Since it has persisted so long and seems to still be fermenting, try raising the temperature a little, one or two degrees per day and it may finish out quicker. You're right at the bottom end of it's preferred temperature range which is fine at the start but the yeast are probably shivering a bit now.

 

[Delirious187]

Thanks guys. Yes I was going for a more authentic pseudo lager with the ale yeast in that temp range. I think I might raise it a few degrees for a couple days then rack it into a secondary and cold crash it. See if that clears things up nicely. I havent checked the gravity yet. I did make a 1 liter starter that spent 24 hours on the stir plate since I read other people had experienced a slow start with this strain.

 

[zeekage]

Thanks guys. Yes I was going for a more authentic pseudo lager with the ale yeast in that temp range. I think I might raise it a few degrees for a couple days then rack it into a secondary and cold crash it. See if that clears things up nicely. I havent checked the gravity yet. I did make a 1 liter starter that spent 24 hours on the stir plate since I read other people had experienced a slow start with this strain.

There's no need to rack just to cold crash. You can crash right in primary if you want. One less place for introduction of oxygen and one less place for chance of infection that way.

 

[Delirious187]

Yeah I see a lot of people are foregoing the secondary stage these days. In my experience I have seen great clearing results from transferring off of the trub and extending the conditioning phase. By no means am I pro... I think I’ll transfer in this case since I still have that rockin head on top.

 

[eastoak]

Yeah I see a lot of people are foregoing the secondary stage these days. In my experience I have seen great clearing results from transferring off of the trub and extending the conditioning phase. By no means am I pro... I think I’ll transfer in this case since I still have that rockin head on top.

even though that makes no sense at all it won't hurt your beer to transfer it to another vessel, just be sure it has reached whatever the final gravity is supposed to be, and flush the next vessel with CO2 if you can.

 

[mufflerbearing]

I had some dunkel that freaked me out. Turned out to be fine.

 

[EarlyAmateurZymurgist]

What you are seeing is a true top-cropping strain in action. I love true top-croppers because top-cropped yeast is much healthier than bottom-cropped yeast. Top-cropped yeast can be repitched almost indefinitely. However, one needs to ferment in an open fermentation vessel or a fermentation vessel with a removable top to crop from the top. When cropping from the top, one should skim and discard the first head the forms (a.k.a. the "brown" head). Ideally, the crop should be taken midway through the fermentation.

 

[Delirious187]

haha you said brown head. I still got the brown head lingering, man this stuff sticks around for a while. Havent had the opportinuty to check gravity or transfer into secondary. I did raise the temp slightly to 61F.

 

[EarlyAmateurZymurgist]

That's not brown head. The brown head is the first head that forms during fermentation. It usually contains trub and particulate matter. The customary practice in UK breweries that employ open fermentation is to skim and discard this head. The clean yeast head forms after the brown head is skimmed (or falls back into the beer). Yeast is skimmed several times during fermentation. Some of the yeast is collected for repitching while the majority of it is discarded. The practice is covered @ time 1:12 in the video linked below.

http://timothytaylor.co.uk/img/video/Timothy Taylor - Fermentation Section.webm

 

[ghosthef]

I use to freak out about infections and a friend told me is know when it was infected rather than question it...well, he was right. If you get an infected batch you will know from the look and smell.