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So we brewed 42L of ESB on Saturday with an OG of 1.062. My yeast is Wyeast 1318 - London Ale III. Made a 2L starter, saved a little under 500ml in a mason jar and then pitched the rest into the 2 buckets.

So it's been 5 days @19C and the SG is down to 1.027. Seems a touch high and it looks like all the yeast is stuck in a gummy foam on the top of the beer. It seems like it's only hops and proteins in the trub.

Any thoughts? Should I give it a stir? Leave it alone?

That yeast is very much like that. I used it a few times, and I wouldn't hesitate to give it a swirl or two to mix it back in.

Excellent. Done. Just needed someone to push me over the edge.

Agree with X. I used it for a milk stout last spring and I had to swirl the fermenter a couple of times during fermentation to rouse the yeast and get it going again.

Looks healthy to me!

Keggermeister wrote:Looks healthy to me!

Was thinking the same thing Nick. I would have just left it alone and let it work at it's own pace.
After 5 days how can anyone determine that a gravity is stuck with a drop that much?

I don't even check gravity until I'm sure my brew is finished, which for me is at least 2 weeks on primary.
And I never stir back in the krausen on top. I know it also contains yeast, but I feel when it is time for the
yeast to drop, it will, and then the healthy yeast will help condition the beer. From what I have read on the
matter, the krausen also contains bitter hop oils etc. that you really don't want stirred back in most brews.
It will cling to the fermenter when you rack.
I have never used that yeast before, but I feel my statements apply to at least all the yeast I have used.

Of course I could be talking out of my ass, but that never stopped me before, and as always your mileage may vary

The krausen on that yeast won't cling to the fermenter when you rack. It will eventually collapse into the beer, although I have had to shake it when fermentation looked 95% finished to get it to drop. Then fermentation starts again for 5 days. Kind of a weird 2 stage system. he may have been at that point.

I've used that yeast, and it can be slow to finish and quick to give up and hang out at the top. 19ºC is a little on the cool side for an English yeast anyway, I wouldn't expect it to be done in 5 days.

Thanks for the advice guys. Besides stirring, I've also bumped up the temp to 21C.

Normally I would have just left it alone but another brewer is interested in using the yeast cake on Sunday so I was hoping fermentation would be complete by then. With yeasts like 1056, it's usually done in 5 days.

That krausen would probably have been perfect to scoop off and use for a new starter.

mr x wrote:That krausen would probably have been perfect to scoop off and use for a new starter.

The foaminess is back and I'm just gonna leave it alone for another week. Will collect some of that and make a starter for the other guy.