Infected?

I saw a post which made me a little worried, thought I'd get everyone's opinion since I plan on bottling tomorrow.

I think it is fine, however after cooling when I was pouring into my bucket I did miss the strainer a bit and a little gunk got into the bucket which is what the brown stuff is in the picture I'm assuming (it looks the exact same). Will I be drinking this soon or is it infected?

Looks pretty normal to me, likely just yeast flocculating near the top (which they're supposed to do), and the rest is probably just trub and other funk that'll settle out. Give it some time and make sure to sanitize your hands,etc. whenever you pop the lid for a look.

Also, we'd be curious to know how long you've been fermenting and temps for fermentation?

Tomorrow will be two weeks. It's a hefe. As per another thread I was in, I am looking for three days at 1.014 after about 12 - Yesterday my temp was 73 and hydrometer @ 1.0144 - today was 72 and hydrometer at 1.013

If all goes as planned I will be bottling tomorrow. How long do you tend to keep the bottles refrigerated before getting at 'em? I was thinking a week and a half but this is my first batch so I'm still learning.

Also before bottling should I just skim that stuff off of the top?

That looks normal to me

andygosche said:

Tomorrow will be two weeks. It's a hefe. As per another thread I was in, I am looking for three days at 1.014 after about 12 - Yesterday my temp was 73 and hydrometer @ 1.0144 - today was 72 and hydrometer at 1.013

If all goes as planned I will be bottling tomorrow. How long do you tend to keep the bottles refrigerated before getting at 'em? I was thinking a week and a half but this is my first batch so I'm still learning.

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After you bottle keep them stored in the same place you have been fermenting in. If you refrigerate it the yeast will basically go dormant and won't eat any of the sugar that is in the bottles meaning they won't produce any co2 (carbonation) so you'll have flat beer. Give your beer at least 2 weeks bottle conditioning before you start throwing them in the refrigerator and drinking them (though longer would probably be even better). Its tough, but your patience will be rewarded.

andygosche said:

Also before bottling should I just skim that stuff off of the top?

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Don't mess around with skimming the stuff off the top. No need to go splashing around in your beer. When its time to bottle, carefully move the bucket onto your counter top and let it sit for a while to let any sediment that may have fallen while you were moving it settle down to the bottom. Then simply stick your racking cane in and start pulling beer from underneath that layer that you've got on the top and just stop the siphon once you've got all of the clean beer taken out and leave the gunk on top behind. I like to put a large phone book under one of the edges of the bucket so it sits on the counter top at an angle making it easier to get more of the beer off of the yeast cake at the bottom.

Thanks a lot that really helps, so glad I didn't refrigerate