There is something in my beer?

There is something in my beer....

Right now I have a Belgian Saison fermenting in a 5 gallon glass carboy. I have it upstairs with a heating pad wrapped around it in an attempt to keep it in the 80F-85F range. I often swirl my fermenters to get the yeast that has settled back up into the wort and doing some yeast work. When I swirl this particular beer, I can hear something rattling around in it! It sounds like a spoon or some other hard object that cannot float, banging into the sides of the carboy. I have no idea what it could possibly be and I can't see into the beer at all. I brewed it alone on a Friday night a few weeks ago. It was a late night but I cannot remember anything remarkable about it. SWMBO hypothesized that it may be a beer cap which it very well may be but I can't imagine how that would happen. I didn't bottle that night but I was drinking. It would not be impossible for a beer cap to make its way into the funnel when transferring from brew kettle to carboy, I just feel it would be highly unlikely. Also, I do not seem to be missing any brewing paraphernalia. I am not worried. I am curious. This beer is not scheduled to bottle until July 10 so I will have to wait until then to see what this thing is. I did not post a pic because there is nothing to see but I will update this thread with a pic once I find out.

In the mean time, just for $h!ts and giggles, are there any guesses?

stir bar from a starter?

Yeah I vote stirbar as well......unless you used a spoon or something and might have dropped it in...

Well we've all had to ferment our beer with some foreign object in it on occasion...and if your sanitation regimin was solid, it will be ok.

But keep us posted....heck if you and swmbo can come up with 5-6 possible ideas, make a poll.....and let us vote.

I have stirbars in my fermenters as well -- that's my vote.

I just dumped a stir bar in to one of my batches this weekend. Totally forgot about it being in there. Oh well. So that's my vote as well. That is of course if you used a stir plate for your starter.

At our last homebrew club meeting, one of the judges found the tip to a beer gun in his sample.

The beer didn't win the monthly contest.

Ferrousity said:

stir bar from a starter?

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Revvy said:

Yeah I vote stirbar as well......unless you used a spoon or something and might have dropped it in...

Well we've all had to ferment our beer with some foreign object in it on occasion...and if your sanitation regimin was solid, it will be ok.

But keep us posted....heck if you and swmbo can come up with 5-6 possible ideas, make a poll.....and let us vote.

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Stevorino said:

I have stirbars in my fermenters as well -- that's my vote.

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I am with these guys, stirbar. It hasn't happened to me yet, but there is a first time for everything.

I wish I could say that is a good guess but I don't have a stir plate yet. I am still swirling my starters.

Are you missing a glass eye?

do you have a pirate as an assistant brewer? Maybe a peg-leg?

Hmm... Did you take a gravity reading from the fermenter? Maybe it's an autosiphon tip?

Missing a ring?

Does it sound metal or does it just sound like something bumping around? Could be a rock, or a nut, or maybe an earring...

Schnitzengiggle said:

I am with these guys, stirbar. It hasn't happened to me yet, but there is a first time for everything.

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From 5-30-08

Revvy said:

Make sure you use a strong enough magnet if you are going to use it to hold the stirbar in place when you pitch...Someone suggested using another stirbar...

I used a refrigerator magnet when I pitched my starter on Monday....

My stirbar is in my primary.

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It's a small capsule that contains nanorobots that will be released into your beer. Once these invade your body, they will make you crave weak, yellow, fizzy beer.

What? You think AB spends millions on R&D and only comes up with "drinkability"?

Tooth? Ear Ring/Nose Ring/Lip Ring/Nipple Ring/Belly Button Ring? I was thinking stirbar as well since I almost dropped mine into the carboy Sunday...

My vote, very small gnome, who is stealing all your brew! Or, a beer cap.

I'm betting you had some genetically modified yeast that have gone on to assemble themselves into a small transformer like robot.

Jenks829 said:

In the mean time, just for $h!ts and giggles, are there any guesses?

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Schnitzengiggle said:

I am with these guys, stirbar. It hasn't happened to me yet, but there is a first time for everything.

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Why just for "Schnitzengiggle" (you spelled it wrong btw, he spells it as one word) the rest of us want to guess too??


Must be no parents here. I am voting a Lego or Weebel from your little toddling brewing assistant. If no such brewing assistant, then I vote for tip from racking cane.

Rick500 said:

Hmm... Did you take a gravity reading from the fermenter? Maybe it's an autosiphon tip?

Missing a ring?

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dontman said:

Why just for "Schnitzengiggle" (you spelled it wrong btw, he spells it as one word) the rest of us want to guess too??


Must be no parents here. I am voting a Lego or Weebel from your little toddling brewing assistant. If no such brewing assistant, then I vote for tip from racking cane.

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I'll have to check my racking cane to be sure all the parts are still on it. I am glad this thread has gotten so many guesses. I makes me want to transfer to a secondary just to see what it is!

The cap to your airlock, which was left in the fermentor because that's where you sanitized and it was hidden in the starsan foam.

nopride said:

The cap to your airlock, which was left in the fermentor because that's where you sanitized and it was hidden in the starsan foam.

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I agree with nopride, almost missed mine the first time I brewed.

nopride said:

The cap to your airlock, which was left in the fermentor because that's where you sanitized and it was hidden in the starsan foam.

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The cap to the air lock is on. The hiding-in-Starsan-foam is a great notion. What ever it is, if it was hiding in Starsan, I can assume it was sanitized!

There is a reason I have such a large collection of stir bars. I drop one in the fermenter just about every other batch.

nopride said:

The cap to your airlock, which was left in the fermentor because that's where you sanitized and it was hidden in the starsan foam.

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There we go I like that answear!

It's a bug which was planted in your brew by the Feds. They think you are supplying beer to the terrorists.

A steak knife........

There was a @#$%ing steak knife in my fermenter! WTF

For the love of pearl I cannot explain how this happened. I looked back at my notes and saw that I brewed on a Friday night alone. I drink when I brew but I don't normally eat. The only reason I would have had a knife around would have been to open something wrapped in plastic. I use scissors to open my yeast pouch by I make starters so that takes that out of the equation. Come to think of it, I think I normally use scissors to open most packages on brew day. I bottled this beer last night and it seemed to taste fine so I may have been fortunate with sanitation.

I know I said I would post a picture but after looking at them I realized that it is not very interesting to see a knife.

On a side note, I now need a witty name for my Belgian Saison with steak knife. What makes this more interesting is my LHBS distributes their packs of muslin bags in plastic wrap balled up about the size of a fist. There are about a dozen muslin bags in there so it is fairly compact. When I opened this pouch, I found a hand written "fortune" that said "Your Beer Will Be Good" along with some lucky numbers. This beer has already had a long, strange ride and it isn't even carbed yet.

-Jenks

P.S. to all those who were worried about the knife, he seems fine......probably a little drunk but still sharp.

Jenks829 said:

A steak knife........

There was a @#$%ing steak knife in my fermenter! WTF

For the love of pearl I cannot explain how this happened. I looked back at my notes and saw that I brewed on a Friday night alone. I drink when I brew but I don't normally eat. The only reason I would have had a knife around would have been to open something wrapped in plastic. I use scissors to open my yeast pouch by I make starters so that takes that out of the equation. Come to think of it, I think I normally use scissors to open most packages on brew day. I bottled this beer last night and it seemed to taste fine so I may have been fortunate with sanitation.

I know I said I would post a picture but after looking at them I realized that it is not very interesting to see a knife.

On a side note, I now need a witty name for my Belgian Saison with steak knife. What makes this more interesting is my LHBS distributes their packs of muslin bags in plastic wrap balled up about the size of a fist. There are about a dozen muslin bags in there so it is fairly compact. When I opened this pouch, I found a hand written "fortune" that said "Your Beer Will Be Good" along with some lucky numbers. This beer has already had a long, strange ride and it isn't even carbed yet.

-Jenks

P.S. to all those who were worried about the knife, he seems fine......probably a little drunk but still sharp.

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When the beer turns out ok, would you please chronical your twisted tale in my https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/wh...where-your-beer-still-turned-out-great-96780/ this is exactly the sort of thing I collect for the nervous new brewers.

names...Hmmmm

Saison Du Steaknife
Saison Du Blade (vaguely sounds "normal" especially if you pronounce it "BlaDay"
Saison Du @#$%ing steak knife in my fermenter!

Justa thought.

Revvy,

I will absolutely add to that post after we sample them next month. I like the Saison Du "BlaDay"

This beer tastes beefy.