When your beer looks like pea soup ...

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osgood

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Hey All -
I've never seen nor heard of anything like this, so I need to call in the big guns.

I just brewed by fourth batch ... 8-gallon stainless kettle with thermometer, and 1/2" ball valve over an sp10 bayou burner.

I used:
18 lbs grain
6 oz hops, 1 oz fwh - the rest at 20 mins or later.
US-05

Pre-boil gravity was 1.071, OG was 1.100, but LOADED with hop pellet fragments!

(I calculated the OG to theoretically be 1.084 ... without the hob debris).

The "specimen" is now in the basement at 72*, the yeast love it ... they were churing at 3 hours.

It smells like ... like heaven. I cried a little at the first whiff.

The problem is that it looks like pea soup ... I mean GREEN.

**** Have you ever seen beer look like this? None of my other batches looked like this, but none had all the late hop additions and non were as heavy (OG-wise). Thoughts?

Thanks for your feedback ... you're helping a new homebrewer ...
 
Pre-boil gravity was 1.071, OG was 1.100, but LOADED with hop pellet fragments!

(I calculated the OG to theoretically be 1.084 ... without the hob debris).

How did you calculate the 1.084 exactly?

I'm fairly sure particles in the wort (hops) will not affect the gravity reading. Only stuff dissolved in the wort (sugars) will do that. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong...
 
How did you calculate the 1.084 exactly?

I'm fairly sure particles in the wort (hops) will not affect the gravity reading. Only stuff dissolved in the wort (sugars) will do that. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong...

You are correct. The fine solids in the sample do not effect the hydrometer reading. The dissolved sugars are what increases the SG.
 
Chess is right, any solids don't affect the reading, only dissolved solids.
 
This worried me when I did a double IPA for my 3rd or 4th batch. Friend said it looked like green vomit. I was worried but just waited it out and it cleared up beautifully.
 
There are 2 schools of thought on this.

1) try to screen of filter all the gunk out before it gets into your fermenter. Cleaner in = cleaner out.
2) It doesn't make a damn bit of difference. Hurry up and dump it in so we can get back to drinking our beer!


I guess I'm in the middle. I drain through a paint straining bag to get all the big bits out but don't worry about all the fine trub.

It all really does drop out eventually either way though.
 
Ya, I should have mentioned that I strain mine through a fine cheesecloth. Also, I have a big 1/2" auto siphon that I rack from kettle to fermenter. Drains 10g in about 8 minutes. I just hold the hose up at the top of the fermenter and let it splash to aerate. Oxygen system is in the near future, tho.
 
I whirlpool to a degree but mostly I just open up the valve and let it drain. Near the end when it get's green/brown with trub/hops I cut it off. For most PA/IPA's the hops going in the FV will only add to the experience.

A good long cold-crash will settle it out fine.
 
There are 2 schools of thought on this.

1) try to screen of filter all the gunk out before it gets into your fermenter. Cleaner in = cleaner out.
2) It doesn't make a damn bit of difference. Hurry up and dump it in so we can get back to drinking our beer!

Both ways make great beer. leave it alone for a couple of weeks. It'll be fine.
 
How did you calculate the 1.084 exactly?

I'm fairly sure particles in the wort (hops) will not affect the gravity reading. Only stuff dissolved in the wort (sugars) will do that. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong...

Hmmm ... makes sense. I'll be shocked if my OG was really 1.100. Well, shocked and pretty drunk in a few weeks.

As far as the calculation goes, (Initial Concentration) * (Initial Volume) = (Final Concentration) * (Final Volume); solve for final concentration:

(70 gravity pts) * 6 gallon = (Final Concentration) * 5 gallons
(70 * 6)/5 = Final Concentration
84 Gravity Points = Final Concentration

Thanks for the note ...
 
This worried me when I did a double IPA for my 3rd or 4th batch. Friend said it looked like green vomit. I was worried but just waited it out and it cleared up beautifully.

This is GOOD news! It does look like pig vomit right now, although hops are starting to settle out, which is giving it more of a "I'm getting over the flu" yellow color.

Should be light, I didn't use any malts with any significant color.

Thanks - I'll sleep a little better knowing I'm not going to be eating my IIPA with a spoon.
 
There are 2 schools of thought on this.

1) try to screen of filter all the gunk out before it gets into your fermenter. Cleaner in = cleaner out.
2) It doesn't make a damn bit of difference. Hurry up and dump it in so we can get back to drinking our beer!


I guess I'm in the middle. I drain through a paint straining bag to get all the big bits out but don't worry about all the fine trub.

It all really does drop out eventually either way though.

If I CAN drink it (instead of eating it), I will! I'm with ya!
 
I whirlpool to a degree but mostly I just open up the valve and let it drain. Near the end when it get's green/brown with trub/hops I cut it off. For most PA/IPA's the hops going in the FV will only add to the experience.

A good long cold-crash will settle it out fine.

What do you recommend for a cold crash? Prior to secondary? Prior to bottling? Both? Temp and duration?
 
I just racked to secondary after 9 days ... green sludge dropped out like (like you said). Smells phenomenomenomenomemal ...

Gravity in the seconday was 1.024 ... dry hopping with 1oz of Amarillo ...

Ohmygah ...

Bottling late next week ... two weeks and then bottoms up!
 
Oh, I'm not the kind to say, "I told you so....."!

Wait. Yes I am! :D


I have to tell you about a dryhopped IIPA I did a few years ago. My husband called it "Bogwater Sludge" while it was in the fermenter.

It was brown-ish with green floaties that looked disgusting.

It was one of the best IIPAs I ever made! It turned into a beautiful hoppy amber red beer that made me drool.
 
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