First batch of Homebrew ever. Has it been compromised?

I just finished my first batch of Home brew (Brooklyn Homebrew American IPA) about 12 hours ago and am excited to see how my finished product comes out. This is a great site that i referenced throughout the entire process. Thanks to all of you who had similar questions to mine and to all of the folks who had the answers to them.

Just went to check to see if my fermentation had begun and it is bubbling smoothly but i noticed some brown on top of the bubbles sitting on top of the carboy. Is this just hopp residue or has my batch been compromised? Thanks in advance.

That's normal. Keep in mind that nothing you do from now on can help, any intervention will only hurt your beer. There is a saying here " relax and have a home brew". Never give up on beer or underestimate it.

Leave it alone for two week minimum. Make sure you adhere to the specific temperature the yeast requires. Good luck.

I'm sorry, there is definitely a saccharomyces infection in that beer.

Stop that RAM!

ReverseApacheMaster said:

I'm sorry, there is definitely a saccharomyces infection in that beer.

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I must agree, there is no doubt about it.....but that is what you were going for!

ReverseApacheMaster said:

I'm sorry, there is definitely a saccharomyces infection in that beer.

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Now that's just mean. Funny though....

charlottebrewer said:

That's normal. Keep in mind that nothing you do from now on can help, any intervention will only hurt your beer. There is a saying here " relax and have a home brew". Never give up on beer or underestimate it.

Leave it alone for two week minimum. Make sure you adhere to the specific temperature the yeast requires. Good luck.

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Agreed, but you also mentioned the 2 best things that you CAN do from now on to help the beer. 1) Control the fermentation temperatures to the low end of the yeast's recommended range. 2) Leave the beer alone for at least 2 weeks before doing anything else to it.

After 2 weeks take gravity readings to determine that final gravity has been reached. Then bottle, do a secondary or wait longer then bottle. I like primary for 3 weeks then bottling.

The brown stuff is nothing to worry about. It's just junk getting tossed out of the beer. Proteins, hop compounds, small hop and grain bits that didn't settle and other crap that got caught on top and lifted up when the yeast started forming krausen. The yeast are just helping make a cleaner beer. It's going to happen pretty much every time you brew (at least an ale). It's nothing to worry about. Doesn't matter if some of it drops back in your beer or you rock the carboy and some of the beer splashes on it.

<Obligatory> That beer is definitely infected, please wait 3 weeks, bottle, and send to me for proper disposal.

Thank you for all the posts (and jokes) storage temp is on the money. Looking forward to bottling and hopefully enjoying my first batch in the weeks to come.

Good luck! I hope you're successful and this batch is just the beginning of a delicious addiction.

Looks fine. Give it time and all should be ok.

I like glass carboys, in that you will see the foam drop back into the liquid as it ends fermentation.

EllisTX said:

Good luck! I hope you're successful and this batch is just the beginning of a delicious addiction.

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Addiction for sure. As soon as I put my batch into the fermenter, I'm planning on what my next batch will be.

squeekybobo said:

Addiction for sure. As soon as I put my batch into the fermenter, I'm planning on what my next batch will be.

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It doesn't get better. I have probably two years of future brews planned.

I catch my self looking a diff beer types/styles at work... oops

I could not agree more. I am constantly in these forums looking at recipes and advice from all of the more experienced and knowledgeable brewers. Also trying to read and learn from the small mistakes others have made so i can possibly prevent myself from making them. I would really like to brew a bock style for the colder months coming up as my next batch and was wondering if i could possibly get some advice or even some recipes. Thanks in advance.