Everlasting Krausen

[pmastello]

Ok, so maybe not everlasting, but this krausen has been on top of my fermenting beer for the past two weeks.

I brewed my first Belgian strong blonde two weeks ago, mainly pilsner malt and some cane sugar.
I pitched a 3l starter from one whitelabs vial of wlp530 at 18c, let it rise to 20 over a week left it there for another week. Came back today and expected it to be done. Instead i found a thick brown creamy looking krausen on the top. Normally i would take a gravity reading and check the attenuation, except i broke my hydrometer when i was brewing last. So I don't know my OG or if I've reached my planned FG. I work full time and can't get to my
Lhbs to buy a new hydrometer.
Did I also mention I'm moving house too? I have to be out by Friday, and the only thing left to move is my fermenting fridge.

What do I do? Just keg it on friday and let it be? Does anyone have experience with wlp530? Does it leave a foamy krausen after finishing? Is that normal for that strain? I don't really want to move my full fermenter, especially when I only use glad wrap as a lid.

 

[bignath]

whilst i can't help you with your problem as i've never done a beer like that, or used that yeast, but there was a remarkably similar question posed here a few months back about a guy who was moving house and his beer wasn't done yet.
He ended up strapping it into the front seat of his car with the seat belt and driving it to the new place if i remember correctly

 

[bowie in space]

Surely your beer must be done by now. At those temps my ales are usually done in 3-4 days. Sounds like your yeast has done its job. I really can't be bothered with a hydrometer these days. Probably the reason I haven't broken one in three years of brewing. It sounds like yours is ready to be kegged.
Go ahead, take a walk on the wild side :icon_drunk:

 

[dr K]

taste it
you don't need a hydrometer to tell if its still wort like, and a hydrometer is not going to indicate acetaldehyde.
WLP530 is a pretty fast fermentor, your krausen is possibly a shit load of debris (hop/trub) , dont move it if you can avoid it, just keg it (unless it tastes like arse in which case ditch it)

K

 

[emnpaul]

taste it
you don't need a hydrometer to tell if its still wort like, and a hydrometer is not going to indicate acetaldehyde.
WLP530 is a pretty fast fermentor, your krausen is possibly a shit load of debris (hop/trub) , dont move it if you can avoid it, just keg it (unless it tastes like arse in which case ditch it)

K

Can you tell us what arse actually tastes like? I've often wondered but never been game to try it. :icon_vomit:

 

[mondestrunken]

I'm hoping for some suggestions here...I laid down my first Belgian beer (a dubbel based on "Clone Brews" Chimay Red), and I used WLP530 Abbey Ale (Wyeast equivalent seems to be 3787 Trappist High Gravity, apparentlyly from Westmalle).

Basically, this yeast went ape-shit, foamed out of the fermenter, and came close to knighting a member of the royal family. As per the title of this thread, a thick brown foamy krausen has hung around for over a week. OG: ~1.068, current gravity ~1.020. The beer tastes OK, but it's still a little sweet. I'm about to add 1/2 kilo of white sugar (dissolved) to dry it out a little.

Normally, I'm used to krausen falling back into the fermenter after a week, but this one just hung around. Anyone with any experience on this yeast?

 

[Camo6]

Once it's finished, cold crashing for a week should drop the krausen.

 

[mondestrunken]

Just got a like on this (thanks Edd). Incidentally I recently made a dubbel a couple of weeks ago, OG ~1060 this time with WLP550 (Achouffe). Active fermentation was not as crazy, but the krausen hung around for ages as well. Probably a good thing though as the smokey phenolics got cleaned up nicely.