Is this an infection?

Is this an infection? I opened my fermenter up to take a hydrometer reading and this is what I saw. I'm just wondering what this is.

Looks like residual krausen to me. How's it taste?

I agree, looks like a typical krausen ring.

It tastes good a little almost natural carbonation but it's not too bad actually. Can this be fixed or is it done?

What do you mean fixed? This is the natural course of things. Take gravity readings to see if fermentation is complete...

That beer is perfectly fine, check it again in a week.

Okay yes I just read on the krausen ring and didn't realize what it was before I posted. Does anyone recommend racking to secondary, bottling, or just waiting. I wanted to bottle thursday as long as my gravity readings were steady all week. Sound like a bad idea?

looks fine,sanatize, take gravity, sanitize, and close back up,sanatize, just to be safe,lol!

jcw203 said:

Okay yes I just read on the krausen ring and didn't realize what it was before I posted. Does anyone recommend racking to secondary, bottling, or just waiting. I wanted to bottle thursday as long as my gravity readings were steady all week. Sound like a bad idea?

Click to expand...

I know it is nerve racking thinking you might screw something up, but it is hard to screw up a beer. There are many schools of thought about how people should proceed (primary only, secondary, etc.), but it is your beer! Do what you want with it. Experiment and try things out. This is how you will truly become better at brewing and you will lock down your process. Read this forum. There are so many people on here that have done anything and everything when it comes to brewing.

Its not ready for secondary I can tell you that right now. But personally I would leave it in the primary bucket until bottle time. To each his own. Keep track of your gravity readings when they level out either transfer it, or just keep it in that bucket for another 2 weeks, dont be constantly checking up on it either, the more you open it the more you risk contamination, as well as releasing the nice co2 buffer that fills the head space in the bucket.

Close it up and walk away for a couple weeks. After experimentation I found it is best to let it sit in primary for a while and skip the secondary unless adding fruit. I typically let it sit in primary for 3-4 weeks. Have been doing so for a couple years after revvy recommended giving it a try. Thanks to the beer yoda I have mastered the yeast. :rockin:

I bottled a pale ale last about 1.5 weeks ago that sat in my primary for 7 weeks. My intention was to bottle after 3 weeks, and it would've been ready for St. Patrick's day. Unfortunately life sometime gets in the way of the best of intentions. I digress. Anyway, the beer (sampled at bottling) was fine. Looking forward to trying it after another 2 weeks or so in the bottle. I've only used my secondary twice (for beer, though it's my go to for Apfelwein) in almost 4 years now.

Read the opinions and do what you feel will give you the best outcome. Hell try batches with and without. I'm personally looking forward to the collaborative experiment between f basic brewing radio and brew your own, on use of secondary fermenters, or not, the March 15th episode which is here:
http://www.basicbrewing.com/index.php?page=radio

Cheers