Beer Forum

I brewed up and English Standard/Ordinary bitter on Feb. 14th. I initially had the fermenter in the basement (ambient temp in basement is ~55 degrees). Fermentation started normally and had a nice krausen. The krausen was still there on March 2nd when I moved the fermenter to a warmer location (~66 degrees). As of today (March 7), there is still a krausen about 1/2" thick on top of the beer. The airlock is still bubbling at the rate of about once every 30 seconds. Will it ever stop and will the krausen drop into the beer? I haven't taken a hydrometer reading as I usually wait until krausen has fallen and bubbling has stopped. Thoughts?

Was there a starter involved? Go ahead and check gravity and get back to us.

Mills

Sounds like the beer was fermented fairly cool. What temp did the primary run at in your basement was around 55? My bet is that it is probably done. Definitely take a gravity reading and then proceed if you are pleased with the results.

Sheen wrote:Give the carboy a swirl to encourage the krausen the drop. I've had to do that a few times, and it got things moving. Not with 1275, though...

I've done that twice already, so as others suggest, I'll take a gravity reading and see where I'm at. Thanks!

Mills wrote:Was there a starter involved? Go ahead and check gravity and get back to us.

Mills

No starter, just the Activator smack pack. I'll take a gravity reading today or tomorrow and see where I'm at. Thanks!

brewinhard wrote:Sounds like the beer was fermented fairly cool. What temp did the primary run at in your basement was around 55? My bet is that it is probably done. Definitely take a gravity reading and then proceed if you are pleased with the results.

I don't have temperature measurement in the fermenter yet, so unsure what temp the wort was at while fermenting, but I've heard it can run up to 10 degrees above ambient, so maybe it was as high as about 65? Will take a gravity reading and see where it's at. Thanks!

Not many of us do have actual thermowells in our wort constantly monitoring and adjusting temps. But you should at least have a fermometer strip stuck to the side of EVERY fermenter that you use. They are cheap and help you to at least attempt to control the temp of the fermentation.