First Brew - beer separation?

Hey all,

I started my first brew (IPA) this past sunday. Within 24 hours the krausen was above an inch and the airlock was bubbling like crazy. This being the third day, the krausen has completely subsided and barely any bubbling in the airlock, but I noticed that the beer in the carboy had separated into a darker liquid on the top half and a lighter one on the bottom. Is this normal and what does it mean?

-Chris

yes this is fine. Its also normal. Its also what should happen. Congrats on your first homebrew!!! The separation you are seeing is the yeast falling to the bottom. The yeast work really hard for a few days untill almost all the sugar is consumed, and then they fall to the bottom. Its called flocculation. When the yeast flocculate, they fall out of the beer and end up in the bottom of the fermenter. BUT, this does not mean that all the yeast have fallen. There are still some residual sugars that need to be slowly consumed by the yeast. If you took a gravity measurement now, it would be about 75% less than what it was at the time you pitched the yeast. In about a week, it should be around 80% or above your Original Gravity. (OG) After a cold crash (below 40 degrees or so for a couple days) The rest of the yeast will flocculate. Cheers!

Thanks for the explanation! I searched for this separation thing before posting but didn't see it until after I posted.

What the flocculate!?! No problem!

i too hate being separated from my brews!

DarkNoonBrewer said:

What the flocculate!?! No problem!

Click to expand...

from wikipedia, the yeast is clumping together and settling....


flocculation refers to the process by which fine particulates are caused to clump together into floc. The floc may then float to the top of the liquid, settle to the bottom of the liquid, or can be readily filtered from the liquid.

DarkNoonBrewer is right - once the yeast gets done doing it's thing (attenuates out/flocculates) you should have a homogeneous color.