Midas Clone - Separation

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johnnymac

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Brewed a Midas Touch clone and have been fermenting 16 days (7 in primary/9 in secondary) @ approx 66-68 degrees. Gave it a look today and noticed some separation going on.

Fermentation had been going strong for the first week and since transferring to the secondary has tapered off significantly.

Never had beer separate like this before so was curious to know if this is normal for a brew like this.

Jnvbc.jpg
 
I am pretty sure that is just yeast settling. Once fermentation finishes, there is no more CO2 being produced to cause the yeast to float around so it settles.
 
If you're going to use a secondary, then it's better to leave the beer in the primary until the FG has been reached, and there is no longer any active fermentation going on. Looks like you transferred to secondary while still fermenting. This would substantially reduce the yeast count and prolong the fermentation time.
I agree with the others that what you see is just the yeast settling out.

-a.
 
That looks like the yeast is settling out. What is your SG? I had a long wait on my Midas Touch clone to ferment out that Muscat Grape Concentrate. It sat in the primary for 2 months!
 
Thanks for your responses everybody!

ajf: Indeed, it was still fermenting when i transferred. I'll have to keep that in mind for my next batch.

bknifefight: i've always forgotten to take SG when i brew, which i'm going to make a point of doing next time. seems like it's the most accurate way of knowing when its done.

For now though, I guess my biggest question is if i should agitate the carboy some and stir up the yeast, or if the yeast is spent should go ahead and bottle it.
 
i wait for that separation line to settle to the bottom, then rack to secondary.

this is very common to see in Apfelwein or meade (which are about the only things i primary in a carboy)
 
Well, yeast will generally drop out when it is either done, or stalled. Check your SG to determine which. The recipe on this site calls for a FG of 1.026 but I had 1.018 for my batch. If it has stalled, rock the carboy and heat it up to get the yeast working again.
 
I didn't take starting gravity, but the recipe I used states a final gravity of 1.01. I took a reading and it was 1.01 exactly.

I did agitate the carboy (in a swirling/reverse swirling motion) and that got the yeast going a little more.

Over the course of the week that followed it began settling again. I finally got around to bottling it on Wednesday (5/12).
 
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