Krausen still on surface of beer after almost 2 weeks

[firejuggler86]

I am fermenting my third batch of beer at the moment, and it has been in the fermenter since Sunday, May 30. With my first two batches, all of the krausen subsided within one week, but this batch still has krausen on the surface. there is considerably less than there was, but it is still present. My question is, does the presence of krausen mean that primary fermentation is not complete? Or could it be just residual foam that is sticking around? The OG for this batch was about 1.04. I don't want to take more than one more hydrometer reading, because I want to retain as much beer for bottling as possible.

Any advice would be appreciated

 

[BendBrewer]

I would wait until the krausen dissipated more. I have had it last up to 2 weeks.

 

[pkeeler]

12 days it is probably done; unless there was a lot of honey in it. Some yeasts leave a foamy top; you didn't say what you used. If you are using a secondary, you can move it now. You can just leave it in the primary for 3 weeks and then bottle it. Hard to imagine a 1.040 ale not fermented and conditioned by 3 weeks.

 

[malkore]

some strains of yeast are just like that. go by gravity and gravity alone. not airlock activity. not krausen residue. gravity and what the recipe dictates.

kolsch yeast will leave krausen a long time too.

 

[munche]

My Amber ale had a big krausen that did not go away until I cold crashed it, and it was in the fermenter for 3-4 weeks

 

[android]

i had this happen with 1272 (american ale II) recently, the darn krausen just wouldn't go away, the beer itself had started to clear significantly, so i finally took gravity and found out i was good to go.

 

[DrinkNoH2O]

i had this happen with 1272 (american ale II) recently, the darn krausen just wouldn't go away, the beer itself had started to clear significantly, so i finally took gravity and found out i was good to go.

Good to know. I've had a Rye IPA fermenting now for about 10 days using 1272 (well, actually WLP051, but basically the same thing) and when I opened it up last night to try and check the gravity there was still quite the krausen on top so I just left it alone. You could tell the level had dropped some but it was still quite high. Initially the fermentation was vigorous and the blowoff stopped bubbling after 4 days (I know I know).

Either way I'll leave it in primary another week at least, so I'll just check the gravity then.

 

[Walker]

timely thread.

I brewed a batch about a week and a half ago and it still has about 2 inches of kraeusen on it. Thick, gooey, golden kraeusen. This is the longest I've had kraeusen sit on a beer like that.

I'm not worried about it and will wait it out for a while longer, but this slow poke beer is focking up my homebrew pipeline schedule. I have plans for that fermenter, and that beer needs to wrap it up already.

 

[DrinkNoH2O]

timely thread.

I brewed a batch about a week and a half ago and it still has about 2 inches of kraeusen on it. Thick, gooey, golden kraeusen. This is the longest I've had kraeusen sit on a beer like that.

I'm not worried about it and will wait it out for a while longer, but this slow poke beer is focking up my homebrew pipeline schedule. I have plans for that fermenter, and that beer needs to wrap it up already.

Haha, same here. That's why I searched/topped this one to see if anyone has had the same experience.

This is my first time using the WLP051 strain, what yeast are you using?

 

[Marmadook1]

I got a beligian wit brewing using WLP 400. I had to pitch 2 of those b.c the 1st one i had shipped and it came doa. Beer was stagnant for 2 or 3 days so i pitched again. Within 10 hrs had a krausen. It built up to 2 inches and is still that thick 12 days after 2nd pitch...its only been 2 weeks so ill give it 1 more but that shiz cray

 

[HopWolf]

Ok my first all grain attempt is a Breakfast Stout clone, hit the OG of 1.084 and pitched a 1L starter of Wyeast 1056 and as I did I was a bit concerned as the starter didn't build up that large yeastie layer after taking it off the stir plate, there was some but not like in the past. I used a can of Fast Pitch and a slap pack of 1056, the can of Fast Pitch seemed soft but no leaks anyway, I used a large blowoff tube as I expected a mess and fermentation started rapidly. I didn't get krausen out the bowoff as the starting volume was a little low in a 6.5 gal carboy.
It's been 17 days at 68F and activity is very slow to nil and there's still a 1/2" layer of krausen on top. I haven't checked gravity as I usally do when I rack to the secondary and this batch has a large amount of fallout at the bottom of the carboy.
Any concerns?
My thoughts are if the gravity is still high I think I may pitch another pack of 1056, if it's done then all I'm concerned about it the krausen layer, will it ever drop? or do I care?
Thanks in advance