Just Checking

I brewed my first batch of IPA and a day later it has an inch layer on top. Is this right?

mullisjr said:

I brewed my first batch of IPA and a day later it has an inch layer on top. Is this right?

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An inch layer of ?? I assume foam (krausen), that's fine, normal.

Do you have it in a glass carboy? If not (it's in an ale pail), IMO, I wouldn't open the lid to look at it unless I was really sure there was some problem that needed to be dealt with.

Let it be for 3 -4 weeks, check gravity towards the end of that time. If your gravity is in final range for 3 consecutive days, bottle it.

that seems like a lot of headspace, however I've never used a glass carboy or better bottle for primary fermentation.

Thats not a great pic, but no need to panic. Fermenting beer looks a lot like crap.

Your krausen my get a lot bigger than that before it falls. Perfectly normal fermentation and that crazy gnome is correct, fermentation can be pretty scary to look at sometimes.

Looks like some hop residue to me. RDWHAHB

mr_bell said:

that seems like a lot of headspace, however I've never used a glass carboy or better bottle for primary fermentation.

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I don't want to hijack this thread, but is it bad to have a lot of headspace if you use a glass carboy for primary? I'm about to throw a batch in that will have a similar amount of headspace...

As for the original posting: Yep! That's exactly what my IPA looked like. In a few days you should see that foam rise and then fall, leaving a ring of that tasty looking hop residue around the sides of the carboy.

luckylindy345 said:

I don't want to hijack this thread, but is it bad to have a lot of headspace if you use a glass carboy for primary? I'm about to throw a batch in that will have a similar amount of headspace...

As for the original posting: Yep! That's exactly what my IPA looked like. In a few days you should see that foam rise and then fall, leaving a ring of that tasty looking hop residue around the sides of the carboy.

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Head space is no problem. If you have an airlock the space will be all C02. That protects your brew.

luckylindy345 said:

I don't want to hijack this thread, but is it bad to have a lot of headspace if you use a glass carboy for primary? I'm about to throw a batch in that will have a similar amount of headspace...

As for the original posting: Yep! That's exactly what my IPA looked like. In a few days you should see that foam rise and then fall, leaving a ring of that tasty looking hop residue around the sides of the carboy.

Click to expand...

Like mentioned above, CO2 will fill the the headspace. That is not just hop residue around the edges, you will have that in everybeer, even your very low hop brews. It's the collection of proteins and yeasties that stick to the sides during fermentation. Don't stir them back down. It is good that they stick. A

To the OP:
And to answer you're next thread, Just use Oxiclean and hot water and let soak, that crust will fall right off. Then rinse a few times and store till next use.

IrregularPulse said:

To the OP:
And to answer you're next thread, Just use Oxiclean and hot water and let soak, that crust will fall right off. Then rinse a few times and store till next use.

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Good catch!!

haha I'm getting the hang of this forum