Snowflakes in my fermenter. Problem?

Dukester · 10-05-2008, 03:17 AM

First off, I went through the FAQ and there is so much there in the "Did I ruin my beer" part I couldn't get through it all. I mean there are at least 20 "Did I ruin my beer" threads and another 10+ "Should I dump it" threads. Too hard to sort through.

I just finished brewing my first batch of beer after a long (15 year) hiatus. It's true what they say about knowledge, if you don't use it, you lose it.

So after filling my carboy with two gallons of cold water, pouring the wort through the strainer into the carboy, and adding enough water to bring it up to 5 1/2 gallons (and prior to adding yeast) I have snowflake like particulate matter in the bottom half of the carboy. It is settling out, but my question, is is this normal? Is this the Irish Moss going to work on the proteins in the beer?

Hope I haven't ruined my first batch in a long time before I even gotten started.

Thanks,

Dukester

DrinksWellWithOthers · 10-05-2008, 04:13 AM

I'm not really sure what you mean by snowflakes, but I'm thinking its just break material that is going to settle out. Got any pictures?

**rabidgerbil** · 10-05-2008, 04:17 AM

sounds like cold break to me

Dukester · 10-05-2008, 04:22 AM

Yep, looks like this:

BuffaloSabresBrewer · 10-05-2008, 04:27 AM

yer good............

**Nurmey** · 10-05-2008, 05:27 AM

You must have done things right since you got such a nice cold break.

**Orfy** · 10-05-2008, 08:16 AM

How do you chill?

Dukester · 10-05-2008, 01:23 PM

Chilled with nothing but good cold Northwest tap water. Added wort to two gallons cold tap water, then additional tap water up to 5.5 gal. Temp was just a hair over 78° after a stir and hydrometer reading.

Now that I know what I'm looking at, I see there are various opinions as to whether or not I should remove the cold break sediment. Should I think about racking to a secondary after it all settles out?

Cheers,

Dukester

JoMarky · 10-05-2008, 01:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dukester

Yep, looks like this:

That's a beaut. Wait til it starts swirling around the carboy when fermentation kicks in, you may want to set an alarm.

**Revvy** · 10-05-2008, 01:34 PM

The reason there are all those "did I ruin my beer" threads lumped in one place, is NOT so that you have to wade through all of them, but to show you that EVERY NEW BREWER thinks they ruined their beer, when in reality their beer is fine...like yours. And to show you that you should first relax, and secondly never dump your beer...

So take the advice given in all of those threads and RELAX!

All you are seeing is normal fermentation; you are seeing yeast/hops/trub/cold breaks all being kicked around