Why does by brew look like this?

I uncovered my 5 week old brew (2 primary, 3 secondary) to bottle it and it looks funny.

Check this out, it is real dark at the top. I went ahead and bottled it. When I was bottling it, the color evened out. It tastes and smells fine.

Another thing is odd too. The beer is slightly carbonated with a few bubbles rising up from the bottom. Before, adding the sugar?????

Its probably just strange light refraction making the color look off. I'm a color scientist and light and colors still surprise me. Then again, it could be oxidation. I don't know much about oxidation and its effects on color, so dont freak out yet.

all fermented beer will develop some residual carbonation depending on the temperature of the beer. If you think about it, the yeast is putting off C02. Its natural that some of that would dissolve in the beer.

Did you use the hydrometer?
The bubbles could be co2 coming out of suspension.
I wouldn't worry if you have a stable gravity
I'll wait with you for the experts.
Regards

The carbonation thing is normal. I get that all the time. Just a little CO2 escaping, no worries. The color is interesting. Maybe there's yeast and whatnot settling and it's making the brews color change toward the bottom. I really don't know. It looks like a really big black and tan.

Edcculus said:

Its probably just strange light refraction making the color look off. I'm a color scientist and light and colors still surprise me. Then again, it could be oxidation. I don't know much about oxidation and its effects on color, so dont freak out yet.

all fermented beer will develop some residual carbonation depending on the temperature of the beer. If you think about it, the yeast is putting off C02. Its natural that some of that would dissolve in the beer.

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It was not the light. I moved it around and looked at it from many different angles and under different light. I thought the same thing at first too. What was odd, was the more I moved it around the further the darkness dropped. When I first looked at it the darkness was darker, but only about 1 inch deep.

HOOTER said:

The carbonation thing is normal. I get that all the time. Just a little CO2 escaping, no worries. The color is interesting. Maybe there's yeast and whatnot settling and it's making the brews color change toward the bottom. I really don't know. It looks like a really big black and tan.

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It is not the yeast. There was litterally a vary small amount of yeast that settled out of this after 3 weeks in the secondary. I think most of it settled out during primary.

I am not to worried about it. It tasted and smelled fine. I just thought that the color and carbonation was odd. It literally had a noticeable carbonation when drinking it. You say that is normal?

I'm going to guess it was oxidation as well. It appears that the top of the beer, the part subject to oxygen exposure, has darkened. Usually when racking a beer from pirmary to secondary, dissolved CO2 escapes and forms a buffer on top of the beer, protecting it from oxygen. It appears that that didn't occur here.

KingBrianI said:

I'm going to guess it was oxidation as well. It appears that the top of the beer, the part subject to oxygen exposure, has darkened. Usually when racking a beer from pirmary to secondary, dissolved CO2 escapes and forms a buffer on top of the beer, protecting it from oxygen. It appears that that didn't occur here.

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Is it ruined?

nah, very rarely is a brew ever "ruined" . Time fixes most anything, although time typically works against an oxidized beer. How does it taste now? If it is good, then go ahead and drink it. Oxidation tends to give beer a cardboardy or sherry like taste. It's actually a desired characteristic of some styles. My suggestion is to drink some now, some in a few weeks, and some later. That way you can see juyst what effect it has on the beer. Not only will you get to enjoy your brew, you'll also learn about oxidation an the flavors associated with it.

dark on top means the yeast is falling to the bottom. with less yeast in suspension it looks darker which is a good thing. Not as much yeastr to reflect the ligh. Yeast slowly falls over time. You can speed it up by crash cooling it down to low 40s

Chimone said:

dark on top means the yeast is falling to the bottom. with less yeast in suspension it looks darker which is a good thing. Not as much yeastr to reflect the ligh. Yeast slowly falls over time. You can speed it up by crash cooling it down to low 40s

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Will there still be enought yeast to bottle condition?

impatient said:

Will there still be enought yeast to bottle condition?

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more than enough. Unless you filter which most of us do not, you will be fine. No need to agitate at all either

Chimone said:

more than enough. Unless you filter which most of us do not, you will be fine. No need to agitate at all either

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thanks.....

one way to know for sure if it is yeast falling out of suspension, go throw that sucker somewhere outside, garage etc where its 25* or so, maybe a bit colder and see if it drops more.

i dont know how cold it gets there, but we were at 19* last night, and my beer was liquid this morning in my garage (also was 19 @ 5 a.m. this morning). no ice what so ever.
i have a feelin this will be a very clear batch indeed

Chimone said:

more than enough. Unless you filter which most of us do not, you will be fine. No need to agitate at all either

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I was going to ask..

if your beer is oxidized.... could you use the drill bit stir thingy to knock the o2 out, like you do when making wine??

Different from others, I'm going to guess that when you moved that carboy up high to on top of your counter, you jostled it around. (It's hard to lift it up high, especially without a milk crate or carboy handle.) I'm guessing this got some of your yeast and trub to get disturbed off the bottom, but it didn't rise all the way up to the top. If you let it sit a day or two, my bet is it will settle out again. If this is the case, I'm guessing you have a bit more stuff on the bottom of your bottles than you're used to.

That is also a crap load of headspace for a secondary. You may want to find something closer to 5 gal. for a secondary.

double_e5 said:

That is also a crap load of headspace for a secondary. You may want to find something closer to 5 gal. for a secondary.

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That is the first thing I noticed. That is a lot of headspace. When I used a secondary and did small batches I would even go so far as to rack just before it reached FG just to ensure a bit more fermentation would take place and blanket some CO2 over the 2 gallons worth of headspace in my secondary.

I'm sure it will be fine ... might want to drink it young though. 4 months miraculously healed an infected brew I made but I'm not sure about oxidation...

Check out these shots of yeast settling out over time.. I think it might answer your question

Tech - Settling Yeast for Decanting - Maltose Falcons Home Brewing Society (Los Angeles Homebrewing)

The headspace isnt much of a problem as long as there is no splashing going on. When you rack to the secondary you will release enough CO2 out of suspension to form a nice blanket over top of the beer. CO2 is heavier than oxygen so the blanket of CO2 will cover the beer nicely as long as its not disturbed.

Don't worry about the head space I use 7 gal carboys for secondaries all the time the CO2 layer that forms will protect your beer, just don't do a lot of splashing around. Your beer is not ruined I'm sure it is just fine I've had lots of beers look like that in the secondary.

impatient said:

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All this is is the yeast in suspension settling out. It's not oxidation (you can't see it, it's a chemical reaction) it's not ruined, it's perfectly normal.

stevenryals said:

I was going to ask..

if your beer is oxidized.... could you use the drill bit stir thingy to knock the o2 out, like you do when making wine??

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NO no noooo!!! Stirring it up will not only put the yeast back into suspension, but if there's any oxygen in the carboy at all, it'll oxidize it even more. The process you're describing is called de-gassing, to get all the CO2 out of suspension. Wine makers also add campden tablets during this process to get rid of oxidation.

CnnmnSchnpps said:

Check out these shots of yeast settling out over time.. I think it might answer your question

Tech - Settling Yeast for Decanting - Maltose Falcons Home Brewing Society (Los Angeles Homebrewing)

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This is exactly what's going on. Cold crashing hastens the process, but I wouldn't put it below freezing.

EvilTOJ said:

All this is is the yeast in suspension settling out. It's not oxidation (you can't see it, it's a chemical reaction)...

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Not to argue with your point, but just because it was a chemical doesn't mean you can't see it. Rust is oxidation, why do you think the copper statue of liberty is green? Or if you've ever used iodine to test for a complete conversion of starches.

there is probably nothing wrong with this brew.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/my-lager-102016/

see mine? very similar. it cleared up after another week or so, and is crystal clear now.

You really need to minimize the headspace in your secondary vessel, or you will encounter the unpleasantries of oxidation sooner than later.

flyangler18 said:

You really need to minimize the headspace in your secondary vessel, or you will encounter the unpleasantries of oxidation sooner than later.

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That was my thought at well. I boil a quart or so of water before I rack to the secondary. If I can't fill it up to the neck from the primary, I siphon enough boiled water in to do the job. FWIU, boiling should remove most of the oxygen. I could care less about the small amount of dilution, I don't have the ability to hit my target SG's that well anyway.

How long can you secondary and still have fair shot at bottle/keg conditioning successfully without adding new yeast?

It does look like settling yeast. Notice how you can see some shapes through the darker part, but you cannot see anything through the lighter part.

has this began to drop down the bottle yet?

over a few days you should be able to see a visible difference in the top/bottom ratio...

just wondering..

It is yeast settling out. Nothing to worry about.

Yes, you want to keep headspace to a minimum, but it isn't something I normally fret over. You can't see oxidation - at least not after only a few weeks. But you will taste it. As long as you siphoned well and didn't splash during transfer, I wouldn't worry about that.

if it is yeast settling out, couldn't he put a flash light on one side of it, and see it well in the dark top side and not so well in the below that? just asking my noob question in case im ever trying to figure it out