NBS West Coast Style Ale Yeast

[Pavros]

As I was running short of homebrew, I threw a Wilko Triple Hop IPA kit on but used a 12g pack of Neale's NBS West Coast Style Ale dry yeast from the Malt Miller.

Has any one used this yeast before? From reading the 3 reviews on MM site, it gets the gravity down pretty low.

My pack was best before Oct 19 (hence why I used it) and has been in the fridge since I bought it. I don't have any temperature control other than wrapping the fv in an old beach towel if I think the temperatures are getting a bit cold!

The yeast took nearly 48 hours to really get going (which is not unusual for my brews) but when it did, boy did it make a huge krausen. Overflow time! I have found this usually only happens with darker beers but this hit the lid in a 25l fv and I only brewed to 20l.

However...and this is my question as I have never seen this before...after 2 1/2 weeks in the fv, there is still about 1/2 inch of krausen and it looks thick, wet and almost doughy! I would have expected this to have dropped by now. Is this normal??

I foolishly dry hopped with 50g of citra and 50g of mosaic yesterday as it has fermented down to 1.007 (from 1.040) and I hoped the hop pellets would encourage the krausen to drop. They haven't and are sitting on top of the foam. Should I:
Slowly stir the foam and pellets with a sterilised spoon?
Stand the fv on my concrete floor in the utility room (ie cold crash)?
Just leave it and it'll drop eventually?
Something else?

 

[Ben034]

I would give the fermenter a gentle shake with the lid on which may encourage the krausen to break up and drop. You want to avoid introducing oxygen if possible as it's got a healthy dose of hops in. Dropping the temp should help as well. Good luck

 

[Pavros]

Update: I shouldn't have worried.

The krausen still seemed 'thick' last night even after lifting the fv up and carrying it gently down the hall a couple of times to encourage it to drop. I find this has worked in the past when I am moving the fv for bottling
or when moving to the concrete floor to cold crash.

So this morning I cracked and gave it a gentle stir with a sterilised spoon. I was surprised to find that the krausen was the usual thin foam. Moving the fv last night together with the weight of the hop pellets must have encouraged the thicker stuff to drop......... or it was just ready and would have dropped naturally if I'd left it and dry hopped today instead of Sunday

Once again I'm reminded that patience is the homebrewer's best friend!