Dirty Beer

Just racked my 2nd batch (weistephaner hefeweisen recipe) to the secondary, but it still seems to have a lot of protien on top. I didn't siphon after I boiled so my primary was full of break and hop fragments. My questions are, will this make my brew taste like crap and is it bad that there is a fair amount of trub and krausen in my secondary?

Not familiar with the recipe, but generally all that stuff sinks during the resting it does in your secondary (settler). Just siphon carefully off that when it's done and it should be okay. Anyone else agree with that?

I would have left it in the primary for a little longer...a straight ten days works for me although I generaly make beers of a similar gravity with similar yeasts.
Beer is fine in the primary for several weeks, if you can get more crud to drop out in that you will often get a clearer beer with a more stable sediment in the bottle.

It wont effect the taste though.

Because brewing is pretty much a weekend thing for me, I usuallly leave stuff alone until the weekend. You didn't really say how long it was in the primary, you did say it's your second batch. I remember what I was like for my second batch - I wanted it done, NOW!!!

I agree with "DAAB" a little more time in the primary won't hurt anything, even the 1-2-3 rule is not set in stone. Judge what's going on with the beer you brewed and go from there.

1-2-3 = 1week primary, 2weeks secondary, 3weeks conditioning.
1-2-3 = 10days primary, 20days secondary, 30days conditioning.
both work.

Patience is one of the keys to this hobby. It will help you make really good brews instead of seeming to always taste like green/young beer.

Sounds like you racked a bit early.
If nothing is setteling out, ou mat benifit from racking to another carboy and letting it sit for another week or two.
Some heavier beers require a few weeks to ferment out depending on the yeast used. You can get away with leavinng the beer in the primary for a few weeks if it is in cooler temps.
In the meantime brew another batch. If you tend to be impatient, having a few batches at various stages makes it easier to let the other's age properly.

I rack to secondary when both the Krausen falls into the beer and at least one week has elapsed.

The magic word in brewing is "WAIT". Time cures and mellows many problems.

I imagine it will be OK.

I just made a similar beer recently and there are several of my experiences that you may find helpful. They kind of revolve around one experience that weinstephan yeast strain is a very unusual strain of yeast. The first problem I had was it took almost 5 days to start fermenting and when the yeast did rise to the top of the carboy it looked like mold. Then the krausen is not like a typical yeast, it was slimy looking and brownish tan instead of a typical white frothy krausen. Finally it took almost 3 weeks to finish in the primary. But all in all it turned out to be a very good beer. You are probably getting more trub in your secondary because there was still some fermentation activity, so I would let it go a bit if you want then bottle it. If its still cloudy, no worries, its a hefeweizen.

Thanks mjm, that's some of the best advice I've gotten, and I was worried about the slimy tan head in the fermenter. Hopefully I will be drinking a tasty hefe soon.

ilikestuff said:

Thanks mjm, that's some of the best advice I've gotten, and I was worried about the slimy tan head in the fermenter. Hopefully I will be drinking a tasty hefe soon.

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I'm doing the exact same recipe for my second brew ever. 14 days into primary ferm and the airlock has finally slowed to a couple minutes per bubble (after going apesh!t for 12 days straight). I peeked early on, around 6 days into it, and the foam was the same as you described it - tan and very thick. I panicked for a second or two, then closed the lid and figured I'd wait it out. I'll check it again tomorrow or so (day 16) and see if it's ready to go into the 2ndary. I'll cross my fingers for the both of us