buckskin

Recipes 

a lot of my friends have been telling me not to disturb my carboy full of brew...but have no reason as to why and I can see sugar collecting at the bottom and i was wondering what ill effect giving it a quick shake o get more sugar dissolved would have on the overall product of my beer.

BierMuncher

Recipes 

That's not sugar at the bottom. It is spent yeast and cold break.

Give the bottom a slight stir with a sanitized racking cane or such is no big deal. You want to avoid splashing though as introducing oxygen into your fermented beer will cause it to go stale very fast.

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evandam

Recipes 

I don't think that is sugar you see on the bottom of the carboy. That is trub (Dead yeast and other proteins). The only reason I know of to "disturb" the carboy is if you have a stuck fermentation to try and resuspend some of the yeast. I'm certainly not an expert, but you want that stuff to fall out so you can rack off of it when you go to a keg or bottle so you have clear beer.

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