A little more than a week into my 1st batch

[adamhimself]

So, its been roughly 9 days or so since I brewed my first batch and put it in the fermenter. I opened up my "ale pail" today and was hit with a heavy aroma of beer. I didn't really smell anything else other than a heavy smell of alcohol.

I took a gravity reading and its at 1.011, which according to the directions is dead on. Started at 1.043.

Right now my carboy is soaking in some star san and I moved the bucket to a counter top so all the sediment can sink to the bottom. I will siphon it off to the carboy tomorrow and let it sit for another week.

I do have one issue though. There appears to be little "stuff" floating around in the beer. I looked through a bunch of pictures of infected batches and my stuff doesn't look anything like that. No thick layer of krausen or anything. I do see little specs no more than the size of a fly floating around in it. They have a off white, almost beige color. Is this yeast? I expected it to float to the bottom by now. I used Munton's Brewer's Dry Yeast. To be honest, it doesn't look appealing with all that crap floating around right now.

Anyways, my Texas Bock arrived in the mail earlier this week. I am going to brew that either tomorrow or this weekend. Now that I have Star San, I am going to sanitize the **** out of the pail and anything that touches the wort.

Does anyone know what those things floating around might be?

 

[Beerthoven]

That stuff floating around is just yeast, leftover bits of krausen or bits of hops or whatever. It's nothing to be worried about. It will settle out in the secondary.

Congratulations on a successful first batch.

 

[adamhimself]

Awesome. Thanks.

Also, is it me? or does Star San kind of stink? It has a horrible odor to it.

I just want to make sure its ok to soak my stuff in the Star San and that it won't impart any nasty aroma or flavor to my beer.

 

[adamhimself]

So, I just transferred from primary to secondary. I made sure everything went ok and was sanitized. The only hiccup I occurred was allowing the siphon to come out and forced some air down into the secondary and made it bubble. I cringed as I think I am not suppose to aerate it. Right?

 

[Beerthoven]

Starsan does have a bit of a smell, but it won't affect the beer. Some residual foam is fine, too.

It's true that you want to minimize O2 exposure at this point, but a little air in the syphon isn't a big deal.

 

[MattHollingsworth]

All sounds good. You're doing well.

 

[TipsyDragon]

i would of waited till the hydrometer readings stopped falling before racking to the carboy. just because you hit your target reading doesn't mean its actually done.

but i agree with everyone else you have nothing to worry about.

 

[adamhimself]

Thank you everyone for responding. I appreciate the input.

So, it seems like a little bit of the top is clearing and as you go down the more hazey it gets.

I watched the little "specs" that made it into the secondary. Now that I can see them in the carboy, I can see what they are doing.

They float on the top or along the edge of the carboy for a little bit. They start sinking to the bottom and as soon as they fall into the brown haze abyss, they come shooting back up quite quickly. They keep doing this over and over and rather quickly (I watched for 5 minutes at most)

 

[MattHollingsworth]

Thank you everyone for responding. I appreciate the input.

So, it seems like a little bit of the top is clearing and as you go down the more hazey it gets.

I watched the little "specs" that made it into the secondary. Now that I can see them in the carboy, I can see what they are doing.

They float on the top or along the edge of the carboy for a little bit. They start sinking to the bottom and as soon as they fall into the brown haze abyss, they come shooting back up quite quickly. They keep doing this over and over and rather quickly (I watched for 5 minutes at most)

Typical yeast behavior. Fun to watch.

 

[johnsahagian]

You sound way farther ahead of where I was on my first batch.

 

[adamhimself]

Cool. Thanks Matt.

It smelled so delicious. I can't wait to try it.

Johnsahagian,

Heh, thanks. I geek out on something when I get into it. I started by reading lots of books and websites and then signing up on here. I have a local friend, too, who is into homebrewing so we talk about it frequently. It helps to know someone locally.

 

[MattHollingsworth]

Cool. Thanks Matt.

It smelled so delicious. I can't wait to try it.

Johnsahagian,

Heh, thanks. I geek out on something when I get into it. I started by reading lots of books and websites and then signing up on here. I have a local friend, too, who is into homebrewing so we talk about it frequently. It helps to know someone locally.

Sure, no problem. If there's a local homebrew club, those are also good for talking to other brew geeks (former Oregon Brew Crew member myself).

 

[DirtyPolock]

As a word of advice since I am currently drinking my first batch now. If you are not impressed with the first bottle you drink, do NOT worry at all. I though my first bottle was okay, but after another two weeks in the bottle it is only getting better and better in taste. All of my co-workers that home brew say that the last bottle is always the best and they really enjoy the ones that were lost in a closet and aged for months.

 

[adamhimself]

Thanks again Matt. There is a local forum I am a part of and I need to get involved with them. I've just been busy with school and work

DirtyPolock, that is what I hear and I definitely plan on letting it bottle condition for a good while before I actually drink it.

So, once again I am freaking out a little bit. The almost "leafy" looking stuff has appeared again and is different from the little white specs. They are very small (dime sized at most, maybe smaller) and are kind of see through. They look almost like dried pieces of lettuce or cabbage that are kind of transparent. They are white or brown in color and are forming on top. It was there in the bucket and its there in the carboy.

I saw them this morning when I woke up. Right now there aren't a lot, maybe 6 or 7 little ones. The beer still is more hazey the lower you go. The temp has been a steady 68-70 degrees F.

If it is an infection (which I have tried reading up on) won't it go nuts and the entire top layer fill up with this stuff? Its not chunky, yet, at least, but I am just worried I might bottle something that could potentially ruin the flavor of my beer or, worse, make me sick.

I tried to take some pictures, but the glass reflects easily and the pictures keep coming out poorly.

I found this picture and its the closet I can find to what my beer currently looks like: (except I dont have the ring of sediment around the edge)

 

[MattHollingsworth]

You should stop opening it up to look at it and just relax. Looks fine to me. Fermenting beer is ugly as hell. Don't go looking for problems. If you DO have any problem at some point, there's no point in worrying because once you have a problem, it's too late anyway. So just relax. This doesn't look unusual to me at all.

Infected beer wouldn't hurt you either. Relax man. Chill. And drink some craft brew to hold you over.

 

[DKershner]

You should stop opening it up to look at it and just relax. Looks fine to me.

+1, just so you'll leave it alone!

 

[adamhimself]

Haha thanks.

I don't have to open it up since its in the carboy. I am just looking through the glass.

The pic isn't mine btw!

 

[DirtyPolock]

There may also just be a bit of new fermentation that is going on with your move to the secondary which is why you are seeing this on the top. The yeast that moved around just "woke up" a bit and they are likely trying to ferment a little bit more of the sugars that are left over. With me being a newbie I wouldn't take this as fact but from what I have read about you usually have nothing to worry about if you sanitized.

As for when you do bottle your beer since this is your first batch I actually encourage you to try a bottle after about 10 days of bottle conditioning, I know it's hard to drink just one of your own beers. This way you can actually taste what is going on with the beer in the various stages. I did this and it is letting me taste what an early beer tasted like, and it helps to give a better appreciation for the conditioning phase of homebrewing.

It seems as though you have done a lot of ground work research for your first batch so I am willing to bet that you didn't make a major mistake and ruin your first batch. So incase you haven't heard it yet, RDWHAHB (Relax Don't Worry, Have A Home Brew). Since this is your first batch, have a commerically available beer and save the bottles for yourself.

 

[MattHollingsworth]

Haha thanks.

I don't have to open it up since its in the carboy. I am just looking through the glass.

The pic isn't mine btw!

Okay, but still. Stop worrying. Nothing unusual from what I see from you. Your beer is not very statistically likely to get infected.

 

[DKershner]

Okay, but still. Stop worrying. Nothing unusual from what I see from you. Your beer is not very statistically likely to get infected.

Seriously, you are more likely to have a 11th toe than get an infection on your first batch.

 

[adamhimself]

So, this morning I woke up to find my airlock bubbling a little bit. A small layer of what I think is krausen has formed. There are small points in the krausen that are more solid and beige in color.

Looking interesting!