Wyeast 1007 Still Cranking

[Julez]

Hi all,

I have an Alt fermenting at the moment at 16 degrees with Wyeast 1007. It's been going for quite a while, about 9 days so far and still has a two-inch krauesen on top. It appears to almost be at terminal gravity now (about 1.015).

I'm just wondering what a normal fermentation time is for this yeast at 16 degrees-ish? It also has what I would describe as a "sludgy-looking" krauesen, quite wet and heavy looking. The beer tastes good, but I'm wondering if this is normal?

Cheers, Julez :icon_cheers:

 

[newguy]

Sounds normal for 1007. I do my alts at about the same temperature and mine take about 2 weeks to completely finish, if not a little longer. Wait for the krausen to completely disappear. The beer will start to appear darker as the yeast settles out. Once the light band (yeasty beer) disappears at the bottom of the fermenter, it's done. Sounds like it won't be long. If you want to speed things up you can quite safely raise the temperature now as there is little danger of ester formation at this late stage. That is, as long as you don't let the temperature get ridiculously high. 20-21 shouldn't be a problem.

 

[Julez]

Sounds normal for 1007. I do my alts at about the same temperature and mine take about 2 weeks to completely finish, if not a little longer. Wait for the krausen to completely disappear. The beer will start to appear darker as the yeast settles out. Once the light band (yeasty beer) disappears at the bottom of the fermenter, it's done. Sounds like it won't be long. If you want to speed things up you can quite safely raise the temperature now as there is little danger of ester formation at this late stage. That is, as long as you don't let the temperature get ridiculously high. 20-21 shouldn't be a problem.

Thanks Newguy

Is there any advantage in speeding it up, or disadvantage? I'm happy to let it run its course. I did find a couple of other snippets of info about this yeast in other threads, where people had hurried the yeast along by stirring up their wort to get things moving. Is this necessary? I'm just happy if I get a good beer at the end of the process!

Many thanks.

 

[tdh]

Yep, as newguy reckons, ramp it up for a few days.
It will do the beer a favour.
I like to ramp the temps up gradually throughout the ferment e.g. start at 16*, stay at 18* till close to FG, then climb slowly to low 20's til FG attained, then rack to secondary.

tdh

 

[Julez]

Yep, as newguy reckons, ramp it up for a few days.
It will do the beer a favour.

Cheers tdh...why though? i.e. what is the benefit in speeding it up? (not being rhetorical, I just don't know the answer)!

Julez

 

[tdh]

Not speeding it up, just ramping up the temp.

A side benfit is that it will finish up a tad earlier as well.

Esters won't be added to the flavour but any diacetyl that is lurking will be mopped up.

tdh

 

[Julez]

Not speeding it up, just ramping up the temp.

A side benfit is that it will finish up a tad earlier as well.

Esters won't be added to the flavour but any diacetyl that is lurking will be mopped up.

tdh

Oh, okay, that makes sense!