beerious

Recipes 

Hi All,

I started my first brew (an amber ale) on Tuesday the 23rd... and I noticed that there's some stuff settling at the bottom I'm guessing it's the yeast... I went to the troubleshooting section of John Palmer's how to brew and it says to kinda shake the fermenter a little and move it to a warmer place, I wanted to get a second opinion though because it's my first batch and I have very limited knowledge.

thanks, I appreciate any help..

scrambledegg81

Recipes 

Completely normal. Mostly yeast & particulate matter (hops) that's settling. When you rack (transfer) once it's done fermenting, you want to avoid sucking that stuff up as much as possible. Makes for a cleaner tasting (and looking!) brew.

__________________
Primary: Zilch
Secondary: Nada
Bottled/Fridge: Lagunitas Undercover Investigation Shutdown
Bombers/Growlers/Aging: Firestone Sucaba Barleywine
Kegerator: Just kicked (dammit all!)
Coming Up: Revision of my Belgian Strong

ChshreCat

Recipes 

It's trub. Settling is what it does. As the egg man (coo coo cachoo) says, you wanna let it settle out and leave it behind.

This is what was left behind in one of my batches after I racked it to secondary:
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/attachments/f39/10964d1241065853-leaving-beer-behind-your-yeast-chocolate-yeast-cake.jpg

__________________
"Science + beer = good!"
-Adam Savage

marubozo

Recipes 

Don't shake anything. The stuff that collects at the bottom of the fermenter is a mix of yeast, hops, and various particles from the brewing process. That's a good thing, so just leave it be and try not to suck too much of it up into the bottling bucket or kegs as scrambledegg said and you'll be fine.

scrambledegg81

Recipes 

Dirrrrty.

__________________
Primary: Zilch
Secondary: Nada
Bottled/Fridge: Lagunitas Undercover Investigation Shutdown
Bombers/Growlers/Aging: Firestone Sucaba Barleywine
Kegerator: Just kicked (dammit all!)
Coming Up: Revision of my Belgian Strong

beerious

Recipes 

What about this much stuff at the bottom?? there's like a liters worth and its a 5 gallon brew? Is that still okay?

duffman2

Recipes 

Duffman says trub puts hair on your chest! Oh Yeah!

SumnerH

Recipes 

Yep, perfectly normal. Let it sit, and try not to stick your siphon in it when you rack the beer out of there.

__________________
On deck: Little Bo Pils, Bretta Off Dead (Brett pale)
Secondary: Oude Bruin, Red Sky at Morning (Sour brown ale)
On tap: Saison Duphunk (sour), Amarillo Slim (IPA), Earl White (ginger/bergamot wit)
Bottled: Number 8 (Belgian Strong Dark Ale), Eternale (Barleywine), Ancho Villa (Ancho/pasilla/chocolate/cinnamon RIS), Oak smoked porter (1/2 maple bourbon oaked, 1/2 apple brandy oaked)

nebben

Recipes 

In an all grain brew, all the hot and cold break material falls to the bottom immediately after I pour it into the fermenter. Sometimes it rises past the 1G mark.

Not to worry though. Over the primary fermentation, it will settle/compact, and eventually yeast will accumulate into the trub cake. Most of mine start out with a ~5.25-5.5G volume, and I will usually see about a half gallon loss due to settled trub in the end. The beer ends up fantastic!

beerious

Recipes 

okay, awesome! thanks guys for the reassurance... I was just worried about the fruits of my labor going to waste. All the info. is much appreciated!