What is next?

[PackerfaninSanDiego]

It's been 2 weeks and the cap of foam is still floating on top. What should I do?
This is a Northern Brewers White House Honey Ale beer kit.
This is what part of the recipe reads.....

Active fermentation ends. Approximately 1–2 weeks
after brewing day, active fermentation will end: the cap
of foam falls back into the new beer, bubbling in the
fermentation lock slows down or stops.
17. Transfer beer to secondary fermenter. Sanitize
siphoning equipment and an airlock and carboy bung or
stopper. Siphon the beer from the primary fermenter into
the secondary.

I haven't taken a reading........after racking to secondary it reads to let it condition for another 1-2 weeks. I may just go ahead and rack as it may be a good time with the cap of foam still on the surface........or?

 

[revco]

I would probably continue to wait, that beer doesn't look even remotely done. I can't say why fermentation is taking so long, but it might indicate the yeast took awhile to get off the ground and therefore everything is a bit late. Nothing really appears wrong with the krausen (infection, etc.), it just looks like it's still high krausen to me and it's best to wait until things settle down.

What temp are you fermenting at? I'm assuming by your post count that we can assume you're a somewhat experienced brewer. Has anything changed in your process for this beer vs. other beers?

 

[PackerfaninSanDiego]

Fermentation started the next day. And fermenting@ 68f. I'll let it sit for another week.

 

[day_trippr]

Meh. Sanitize your boil spoon and give it a gentle stir for a few seconds, that cap may just be hanging there waiting for a nudge to drop...

Cheers!

[edit] fwiw, I use 6.5g glass and if I had a cap after two weeks I'd definitely rock that puppy 'til it dropped...

 

[IslandLizard]

17. Transfer beer to secondary fermenter...

1400+ posts and you're following a kit recipe?

I'd have thought you knew better.

 

[PackerfaninSanDiego]

1400+ posts and you're following a kit recipe?

I'd have thought you knew better.

sorry, I'm not as smart as you

 

[IslandLizard]

sorry, I'm not as smart as you

You don't know that, and it wasn't meant to be condescending at all. I reckoned you would've seen at least a few of the threads where kit instructions are being questioned and many considered outdated, like primary done 7 days after pitching, racking to secondaries, etc. without addressing how to determine real done-ness of beer, without infecting it while doing so. Yeast is not on a time schedule, it has it's own, steered 100% by its environment.

Now that krausen layer may well indicate it's still churning, and conditioning at the same time. A good healthy yeast population helps to get there faster than after racking it off. The cap is there for a reason. Use of secondaries (true secondaries that is) is usually not needed unless you add adjuncts after the primary is (nearly) done.

Yeast autolysis is not a real danger on homebrew scale either during the first 4-8 weeks, although one has to be a bit more considerate if the yeast used was repitched without washing.

 

[jekeane]

That cap looks hardened to me Id give it another week (3 total) then break the cap and take a reading. If it is done you can carefully scoop the cap out if it is hard.

 

[Hello]

What yeast? I had S-04 sit like that for just over 3 weeks. It was odd, but it dropped one day just suddenly.

 

[Qhrumphf]

Did that come with Windsor yeast per the original recipe, or with a different strain? I don't have much experience with Windsor (I don't like the flavor profile and I know I'm not alone), but there are other English strains that like to leave a krausen hanging around for a long time. 1469 West Yorkshire often leaves me with krausen until about two weeks, and then it usually drops between the 2nd and 3rd, but sometimes it won't drop at all. However, I don't bother waiting for it to drop if the beer underneath is finished fermenting, clear, and properly conditioned. I'll usually take a gravity sample at a week (punching a hole in the krausen), and that point the beer is almost already done anyway, at which point I'll bottle at ~2 weeks, racking out from under the krausen if I have to. English yeasts are usually done fast. Now, if you used Windsor and pitched dry and what not, it's possible that it's still going, but I'd have expected that yeast to have flocced out by now, finished with fermentation or not.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, take a gravity reading and then report back.

 

[passedpawn]

Some yeasts create a stubborn krausen like that. Since I can see it through my carboys, I give the carboy a gentle shake - I just rock them back and forth a bit - and the krausen sinks every time. It just needs to be broken up. I usually do that just before I cold crash.

Unless you were fermenting very cold (less than 60F), I'd say that the fermentation is finished.

 

[PackerfaninSanDiego]

I gave it a light shake Sunday, it broke up some but never started to sink. I'll check it tonite when I get home. I used WYEAST 1332

 

[Qhrumphf]

Ok, that's another strain I've used where the the kauesen likes to hang around. Check your gravity and once you've confirmed you're done and the beer underneath is clear and conditioned, skip the secondary and just bottle or keg it.

 

[PackerfaninSanDiego]

cap of foam still on top, broke it up this time,,,,,,and it's @1.020. I think it's finished, but will let it sit until readings are constant

 

[PackerfaninSanDiego]

Well the cap of foam is back.

 

[passedpawn]

Well the cap of foam is back.

Well, that's vexing. What was the OG?

 

[PackerfaninSanDiego]

well, that's vexing. What was the og?

1.064

 

[PackerfaninSanDiego]

34 days later, finished @1.015....finally in the bottle.