Hi guys. I had a weird night brewing last night where I either screwed up or tried new things three times and I'm wondering if someone can tell me what I have going on here. I'm just doing a light cream ale that I've done before and I have an oatmeal-like cake forming at the top during primary after about 8 hours. I've never seen a buildup like this when I've brewed in the past.
1) I was using a new uncalibrated thermometer and I seem to have mashed in at closer to 175 than 165 which causes obvious problems. I lowered the temp as quickly as I could by stirring and adding cool water, but it took a little while to drop temp.
2) The yeast packets were a bit suspect as the wyeast bags were slightly more inflated than normal. When I broke the nutrient packs, though, they did seem to inflate per normal, so I don't think that this was a bad yeast issue.
3) Finally, I used a whirlfloc tablet (and yeast nutrients) for the first time ever and I don't know how Irish Moss behaves in the kettle or in primary.
Does anyone have any advice? Is this an infection? Or is this some kind of normal looking behavior?
1) I was using a new uncalibrated thermometer and I seem to have mashed in at closer to 175 than 165 which causes obvious problems. I lowered the temp as quickly as I could by stirring and adding cool water, but it took a little while to drop temp.
2) The yeast packets were a bit suspect as the wyeast bags were slightly more inflated than normal. When I broke the nutrient packs, though, they did seem to inflate per normal, so I don't think that this was a bad yeast issue.
3) Finally, I used a whirlfloc tablet (and yeast nutrients) for the first time ever and I don't know how Irish Moss behaves in the kettle or in primary.
Does anyone have any advice? Is this an infection? Or is this some kind of normal looking behavior?