I brewed a witbier with this strain two weeks ago (OG = 1.050), and went to rack from bucket to keg last night, and was surprised to see quite a bit of krausen still present when I took the lid off the primary. I used a starter, and things took off pretty quickly after pitching. Is this typical of this strain, and if so, how much longer should I expect it to take for things to settle down? I’m certain that fermentation is done, but I didn’t want to siphon it with so much of a mess on the top.
Yes, this is very typical of this yeast strain, the krausen stays on for 4-5 weeks. You can be patient, or you can try racking and adding gelatin to knock most of the yeast out of there in secondary.
Is it the yeast, or is it the proteins in the wheat that do it?
Hmm… I think it’s more the yeast. I’ve used other yeasts in wheat beers where the krausen falls like normal. This strain it has staying power, just like 2565.
Top cropping yeast. When the beer is done it is done. Commercial brewers don’t wait for the krausen to fall back into the beer. You should know your FG (specifically by forced fermentation test) and when it’s done you can feel safe to rack.