Unusual ferment

[markm1878]

I have an american pale ale fermenting at the moment. It's been fermenting for a week today. At about days 2-3 the krausen took off and rose about 3-4 inches and never dropped. Today (day 7) its shot up again by another couple of inches! I've never came across this before, has anyone else?

I'm pretty sure all my other ferments had all finished by now but I generally leave them alone for a few weeks unless racking to secondary, theres still some airlock activity but not much.

If it helps, the OG was 1055 and the yeast was nbs west coast ale. I've not been able to take another gravity reading because there's no tap on the fv and the i'd just take a sample of krausen if I got it from the top.

Thanks

[markm1878]

Must be very unusual!

[Capn Ahab]

RDWHAHB

[TC2642]

Looks fine to me.

[Fil]

is it a genuine top fermentor?

[markm1878]

Yes, its this one http://www.themaltmiller.co.uk/index.ph ... ductId=443 its still there, the krausen wont sink... i was hoping to dry hop too but i'll need to wait for it to settle before racking. Could be weeks!

[boingy]

For me, that's ringing a few alarm bells.
How has the temperature been?
I'd be digging through that foam with a sanitised ladle to get a sample for the hydro jar. Check the sg and see how it tastes,

[markm1878]

The temp has been stable. Set to 19 degrees in the ferment fridge, its barely deviated (.3 degrees allowed on stc) Just checked this morning and it seems to have dropped back a bit now. Its back to about the original level before its rose for the second time.

[markm1878]

Would dropping the temperature sink the krausen?

[Fil]

the MM blurb says its highly floculant so it should sink eventually. when its done its job and if its still floating on top a few sharp raps with a wooden spoon on the FV side could be all you need to break the surface tension keeping it above

[markm1878]

Thanks Fil. Just checked today and its gone back down. More or less the level of the beer now. Ill transfer it to secondary in a few days. Quite a wild one that... if I had brewed a litre or 2 morw id have needed a blowoff tube.