Interesting pattern on Yeast Krausen

[rossbaker]

Is this half light, half dark pattern strange on my krausen?

The side with the light foam is the side where my heat source is coming from in the fermentation fridge. Here's the setup:

This is my first brew with a proper temp control. The guy from keg king suggested (when i bought the temp control unit) that placing the heat pad on the side would be better than having direct contact with the yeast cake. I've seen that others do this as well.

What do people make of it?

 

[djar007]

Does the heat pad fit underneath that bottom shelf. Better spot I think. Wouldn't worry about it being on the side. Looks good too mate.

 

[lael]

The force is strong with this one...

 

[Feldon]

Looks normal to me.

The heated side is more active and gassing up more that's all.

The brown malty stuff that's been pushed to one side should all be eaten up by the yeast by the time its done.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Brewing of beer with the force is he

 

[hsb]

Yin Yang Yeast cake. A balanced beer foretold, mmmmm.

Under shelf a better spot, yes, mmmmm.

 

[jaypes]

Looks good to me, i once saw the virgin mary in one of my brews ( had about 6 pints )

It turned out to be a miracle drop

 

[spog]

Hmm,lets see if I can get my English right. I reckon the lighter side is where the gas is escaping (most active area where gases are meeting less resistance ) and the darker side where least activity is taking place or gases escaping because of a heavier layer of foam on top.
But looks like a healthy ferment all the same. ...cheers....spog...

 

[lael]

Looks good to me, i once saw the virgin mary in one of my brews ( had about 6 pints )

It turned out to be a miracle drop

should have sold it on ebay

 

[jaypes]

Nah, drank it!

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Looks good to me, i once saw the virgin mary in one of my brews ( had about 6 pints

 

[lael]

and... that was the line back there... a few kms.

 

[MrTwalky]

Is this half light, half dark pattern strange on my krausen?

I'd be more worried about that fridge shelf cracking and your beautiful ying yang beer tumbling out onto to floor. 20kg is a lot of weight for those shelves.
Throw a block of wood or something else sturdy to support the brew and ditch the shelf IMO.

 

[einnebcj]

I'd be more worried about that fridge shelf cracking and your beautiful ying yang beer tumbling out onto to floor. 20kg is a lot of weight for those shelves.
Throw a block of wood or something else sturdy to support the brew and ditch the shelf IMO.

Amen to that......been there, broke that......

 

[rossbaker]

I'd be more worried about that fridge shelf cracking and your beautiful ying yang beer tumbling out onto to floor. 20kg is a lot of weight for those shelves.
Throw a block of wood or something else sturdy to support the brew and ditch the shelf IMO.

Top of my list of things to sort out. Thanks for the replies everyone.

 

[SimonT]

I'd also be inclined to tape that temperature probe to the side of the fermentor, under some insulation (if that what's in the glass of water in the door?). I use a folded face washer taped firmly to the side, then jam the probe down between it and the plastic. Pretty ghetto really!

Either the front or the side away from the heat mat. It's the temp of the fermenting wort you want to control after all. But any temp control at all is better than none!

 

[rossbaker]

Yeah, I was wondering about that. Even with hysterisis set to 0.2 the temp of the probe in the water is still fluctuating between 17.4 and 18.4 or so. I had read that a glass of water is a good measure te ambient temperature, but I guess there must be some time lag before the fridge/heater really kick in. I had wondered what the temp of the wort would be doing as compared to the glass of water.

Edit: phone buggering up

 

[Rocker1986]

Well given that a glass of water is about a hundredth (or near enough) of the volume of the wort, and isn't fermenting, it's not really an accurate way to measure what the wort is doing. It will always change temperature faster, and possibly with more "distance" between highest and lowest temps. Simon's method is the best for measuring wort temp short of sticking the probe directly into the wort itself. I do it like that except with a piece of foam covering the probe taped to the side of the FV. Fridge doesn't come on as often either because the temp change is slower.

 

[rossbaker]

Well given that a glass of water is about a hundredth (or near enough) of the volume of the wort, and isn't fermenting, it's not really an accurate way to measure what the wort is doing. It will always change temperature faster, and possibly with more "distance" between highest and lowest temps. Simon's method is the best for measuring wort temp short of sticking the probe directly into the wort itself. I do it like that except with a piece of foam covering the probe taped to the side of the FV. Fridge doesn't come on as often either because the temp change is slower.

Fair enough... I'll swap to this method tonight. Cheers.

 

[Alex.Tas]

stubby holder taped to the side works well for insulating the probe