2nd batch fermenting now, very very cloudy

[larrychris109]

hey guys. i brewed my 2nd batch, american pale ale by brewers best, this past weekend and it is now fermenting. i have a small satellite fermenter (just an empty beer bottle with 6-8 oz of beer from the primary) sitting next to my primary fermenter. the beer in the satellite is extremely cloudy. one big difference between this batch and my first batch was that i sprinkled the hops directly into the brewpot this time, while my when making my first beer (a porter recipe), i put the hops into muslin bags. and i did use a strainer when transferring the wort from the brewpot to the primary fermenter. should i try a secondary fermentation or will the cloudiness subside when i rack to the bottling bucket? and if i do need to do a secondary fermentation, since my equipment is limited (i got a brewers best equipment kit which had a 6.5 gallon white plastic fermenting bucket and a 6.5 gallon white plastic bottling bucket), could i just rack from the primary to the cleaned and sanitized bottling bucket, then immediately clean and re-sanitize the primary fermentation bucket, and re-rack back into that same primary fermentation bucket? i also have read that after transferring to a secondary fermentation the beer should sit for at least 2 more weeks before bottling. is this true? any help or input on this matter would be greatly apprecatied. thanks guys.

 

[unionrdr]

You don't need to do all that. If it's still really cloudy,the yeast is still in suspension,doin it's thing. It'll get clearer as fermentation completes. It'll also need a lil time to clean up after itself. My pale ale has been going for over 2 weeks,& it's still cloudy. Just starting to clear.
I'm gunna wait a lil longer,since the FG reading I took on 3/7 was still 1.016,down from 1.020 at the 1 week mark. I want to dry hop for a week,so I'll wait till it's just a lil hazy.
So,what I'm saying is it'll clear up & get better all by itself. Just relax & let the yeast do all the work. Less chance of oxygen getting into that way too. All that transferring back & forth could cause an infection.

 

[broadbill]

The cloudiness is yeast....let it be. As fermentation slows, the yeast will drop out of solution.

Don't bother with a secondary fermenter at all, IMO...keep the beer in your primary fermenter for 3 weeks then syphon off right into your bottling bucket. The beer might still be a little cloudy, but not like it is now.

If you are hung up on doing a secondary fermentation, I would suggest switching fermenters around on your next batch. Do the primary fermentation in your bottling bucket, then secondary in the other bucket (the one without the spigot). Then your bottling bucket will be free to clean up and use when you are ready to bottle post-secondary.

Hope this helps.

 

[aggiejay06]

I don't see anything unusual here...you got a cloudy storm of yeast fermenting like crazy in there. This isn't something that I would personally rack into secondary...I only do that for oak additions, dry hopping, or fruit additions (which I don't do). Some people swear by secondary...it's a huge battle going on right now. If I were you, I'd leave this beer in primary 3-4 weeks and then bottle it.

I always put my hops directly into the pot and strain them out later. Just make sure the strainer is well sanitized (boiling is best if it's a wire mesh strainer).

 

[unionrdr]

I used a hop bag with my hop pellets. It was easy to clean up,just fish it out of the brew kettle with my long spoon & drain. The bags clean up real easy in a sauce pan of simmering water. Some even sparge the hop bag.

 

[larrychris109]

is it still ok to bottle after gravity reading stays same for 48-72 hrs? or will it clear up more the longer i leave it in the primary fermenter?

 

[aggiejay06]

Patience is a virtue when brewing...don't rush to bottling. The yeast do a great job of cleaning up some of their by-products. When I started, I bottled 10 days after I brewed...now I wait at least 3 weeks. Since I started waiting, there's a certain house off-flavor that's missing, so the beer is tasting better to me.

You should get another primary fermenter so you can have multiple batches fermenting at once and fill up your pipeline. Then it's easy to be patient because you have nicely aged bottles to drink!