I used a different yeast than normal for my CDA based on cost and availability. It was very active with a huge krausen and I could watch the convection through the carboy, so I’m not worried about the fermentation per se, but after the krausen died down, there’s still a huge mass floating on top, which pretty much looks like yeast, and I’m wondering if this is normal for this strain. Imperial Independence is tabbed as Anchor Liberty.
Apologies for the crappy cell phone picture. My main concern is that I plan on dry hopping this beer in a few days and worry that the pellets will just float on top of this float and not break through to the beer below. I’ve had some wicked krausen rings before, but not anything that hung around this long.
I used the Anchor Liberty strain (different supplier) once and only once. I found it threw up such a head that so much yeast went out my blowoff that not enough was left to complete fermentation. You’re lucky to have had a half filled carboy.
I haven’t stirred it too vigorously, but I rocked the carboy a couple times and it didn’t go anywhere. I’ll probably have to swirl it up after adding the dry hops.
I’ve used it before, but I ferment in stainless so I don’t know what the krausen looked like. It’s supposedly the same strain as WY1272.
Pale ales I’ve brewed with 1272 usually finish around 1.012, but the Imperial strain got down to 1.008. I don’t know if that’s typical for it or not. If you remember to post your FG, I’d be interested.
The final gravity was 1.011. The batch before that (Wyeast 1332 NW Ale) finished at 1.012, so a slight decrease. This recipe used to finish at 1.022-1.024, but I added some dextrose to dry it out (extract batch).
