Opened my SS Technologies Brew Bucket to do my dry hopping and noticed the ring of krausen was basically cooked (i.e., black) on the right hand side. It is in a 7 cubic foot freezer with a little Lasko (My Heat?) heater. The heater is as far away from the fermenter as possible but was more or less facing it directly. Anyway, was pretty surprised by this and going forward will face the heater more towards the wall of the freezer. Don't suspect there will be a big impact on the beer as I am guessing it was after the krausen dropped before it started "cooking." Anyone else see this before?
Cooked Krausen
- Thread starter Jay-Brew
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Do you have a small fan in your chamber? They help stabilize your temp throughout your chamber & help prevent condensation.
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The heater I have has a fan in it (confirmed it is the Lasko My Heat). I don't have a dedicated fan otherwise, but that would maybe be of benefit. Next time I'll definitely point the heater away from the fermenter. This is only the second time using my fermentation freezer. The first was with a carboy and this didn't happen. I suspect the brew bucket heats up much more quickly than the carboy hence the problem. Haven't had any notable issues with condensation in the freezer. It seems to me the carboy retained its temperature a little better (less cycling of heat/cold and maybe a little less overshooting with my STC 1000).
Some of the small heaters will allow you to use the fan w/o heat. I quit using the small heaters and went to a ceramic bulb after my heater caught fire!
Fortunately, the temp controller turned off the power & since the foam & wood were all fire resistant I only had some acrid smoke and some melted foam near the remains of the heater.
I've since built a bigger ferm chamber to accommodate ales & wine & the ceramic bulb works great when heat is needed.
Fortunately, the temp controller turned off the power & since the foam & wood were all fire resistant I only had some acrid smoke and some melted foam near the remains of the heater.
I've since built a bigger ferm chamber to accommodate ales & wine & the ceramic bulb works great when heat is needed.
Hope it helps.
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troy2000
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I have a ceramic reptile bulb in my mini-fridge fermenter, and the first time I used it the hot air was pooling at the top and cooking the krausen in my carboy. I added a computer fan that comes on whenever the bulb does, and circulates the warm air. End of problem...
SpeedYellow
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I've gotten black rings in my SS brew bucket too. Has nothing to do with heat since I don't have a hot heat source. It may have just been the first couple uses. Regardless, it hasn't seemed to be a problem.
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Thanks. Thinking some kind of fan set up might be a good idea. The heater has a built in fan but I don't think it does much to distribute the heat effectively throughout the freezer.
My heater, which has a fan in it, was pointed directly at the brew bucket. Where it was pointed is where the krausen turned black. It actually looks like it is burnt. The remaining krausen looks perfectly fine. Given where it is burnt, I am pretty confident in saying I think the heat caused it. I will look at some kind of fan set up to distribute the heat better and not point the heater at the bucket in the future.
