will hurt the beer if I swirl my carboy to force the krausen to drop? the krausen has been sitting there for a few weeks now and I want to keg in one week but if the krausen is still there I don't want it in my keg.
1 Answer
You need to know if its done fermenting. Check with a hydrometer. You should taste the beer too. If it isn't done fermenting there may be several undesirable flavors present (unfermented sugar, diacetyl, acetaldehyde, sulfur to name a couple)
It is possible depending on the yeast that the krausen just didn't drop and its done. I wouldn't try to stir it in, just rack from under it to your keg. All in all this is likely not the case and you'll have really yeasty underfermented beer in the keg. Which won't taste the best and may even create other gastro-intestinal "issues" later on.
Unfortunately, the beer is done when IT says its done. You might hurry it along a bit more by warming it up if its not done. If it is done start chilling it down and the krausen should begin to fall on its own.
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it has only been in the carboy for two weeks I generally let them sit for a month but I have never had krausen stay on the top like that for so long. I looked at it this morning and I could see some of it falling through the beer. this is my first all grain brew, went with the smashing pumpkin from northernbrews.– ZeebaSep 19, 2014 at 12:27