The head that simply won't go!

[OldThumper]

My current brew has been in the primary for 9 days now and I believe it has pretty much finished fermenting as the S.G = 1010. However, no matter how many times I scim the yeasty head off the surface (I collected 3/4 pint today) the head reforms within a few hours. Is this just a characteristic of the yeast I am using? I am using some fresh brewers yeast I got from a local brewery. It seems so lively and I am wondering if it will ever get tired and sink to the bottom!

Should I wait until however long it takes for the beer to clear and for the head to drop to the bottom of the bucket prior to bottling/kegging? Anybody else experience this sort of behaviour? Whenever I use SO4 dried yeast the head has usually vanished within 48 hours or so and i don't need to scim.

Thanks all.

[Whorst]

I wouldn't worry about it. Rack it and let it finish in the corny.

[OldThumper]

Sorry, I should have used the term "yeast crop" rather than head

So, it is quite normal is it? I think I will king keg this beer tomorrow but if I wanted to bottle it then I would probably wait more as I would like most of the yeast to drop out.

I was just wondering what is going on with the beer and if many people experience a big yeast crop 9 days after starting a brew. This is one of the characterstics of using fresh yeast over dried yeast which I have found, protecting the beer for longer.

[Graham]

You are experiencing the difference between a true top-working yeast and a bottom-worker. I have not come across a packaged yeast that exhibits true top-working characteristics, apart from the Brewlab slopes and the original (25 years ago) Gervin real ale yeast. "What you are seeing is how proper yeast behaves. It is unlikely to sink to the bottom at room temperature until it has experienced some pressure build-up in the cask. I generally siphon the beer out from under the head. If you are using Ringwood yeast, it will be even more "top-working" than most, of course.

[yashicamat]

You are experiencing the difference between a true top-working yeast and a bottom-worker. I have not come across a packaged yeast that exhibits true top-working characteristics, apart from the Brewlab slopes and the original (25 years ago) Gervin real ale yeast. "What you are seeing is how proper yeast behaves. It is unlikely to sink to the bottom at room temperature until it has experienced some pressure build-up in the cask. I generally siphon the beer out from under the head. If you are using Ringwood yeast, it will be even more "top-working" than most, of course.

Do you think that US-05 isn't a true top cropper then, Graham? I have limited experience of liquid yeasts to compare it to, although I am going to change that once I have my stir plate sorted.

[Graham]

Do you think that US-05 isn't a true top cropper then, Graham? I have limited experience of liquid yeasts to compare it to, although I am going to change that once I have my stir plate sorted.

I don't know - I've never tried it. It is unusual for a dried yeast to retain its top-working characteristic, even true top-croppers, due to the propagation method; a side-effect of growing on glucose I believe. I am sure that there are some yeasts that do survive the process, it is just that I've not come across one. I would guess that after a couple of generations some of these yeasts would recover, but I've never tried that either. It is easy to think that a yeast is top-working because there is a foam on top, but this is often just yeast being carried up by the CO2 evolved. It is also true to say that not all so called "ale" yeasts are top croppers anyway. Many of the big breweries that ferment in huge external conicals do not use a traditional strain, but one that works well in their conicals.

[yashicamat]

I don't know - I've never tried it. It is unusual for a dried yeast to retain its top-working characteristic, even true top-croppers, due to the propagation method; a side-effect of growing on glucose I believe. I am sure that there are some yeasts that do survive the process, it is just that I've not come across one. I would guess that after a couple of generations some of these yeasts would recover, but I've never tried that either. It is easy to think that a yeast is top-working because there is a foam on top, but this is often just yeast being carried up by the CO2 evolved. It is also true to say that not all so called "ale" yeasts are top croppers anyway. Many of the big breweries that ferment in huge external conicals do not use a traditional strain, but one that works well in their conicals.

That's very interesting. US-05 seems to produce a thick sticky yeasty mass after a while, but not immediately. I've used a few Wyeast strains (English Ale strains) which have top worked and have produced the characteristic carpet of yeast but I seem to recall that happening pretty rapidly once fermentation got going.

All part of the learning curve for yours truly.

[OldThumper]

Thanks for the input Graham. To start with I assumed the beer must be still fermenting for the yeast to be so active to produce such an abundance of yeast crop very quickly after scimming. The yeast is actually from the Flowerpots brewery but I have found Ringwood to be very similar...

Siphoning under the yeast crop it is then

Thanks all.