Action During Aging Process: Good or Bad?

[whis121surfing]

So I brewed a Barleywine on 3/5 and let it Primary for 1 month then I racked it to a carboy to allow it to bulk age for 6 months (was the plan). The barleywine has now been in the secondary since 4/5 and it is now 5/25. Last week I started to notice some bubbles gathering on the surface which has been clear since I racked it. So out of nowhere this started happening and the bubbles have been slowly building on the surface and I can hear a popping sound when I put my ear to the carboy. It doesn't look like a normal Krausen and I hit my final gravity of 1.019 at the time of racking, 4/5. Is this just a slight restarted fermentation or could it be autolysis? I thought maybe if it has been sitting on the yeast, Trappist, for this long that maybe this is a sign of autolysis and the popping sound could be the cells dying. I don't think it could be an infection due to the high ABV and lack of any action for about a month and a half in secondary. Sorry about the pictures but the condensation inside the carboy is making it difficult to get a good shot. Should I just keg it and throw it in the keezer? I was avoiding that just bc of lack of space in the keezer but I'll make room if I have to since it is going to sit for so long. Thanks

Temp has been consistant in my closet between 70-76 degrees F.
OG: 1.090
Rack Gravity: 1.019
Never had sanitation issues.
Only time the beer was exposed was during the rack.

 

[HollisBT]

The pics are pretty unclear, but I'm willing to bet this is just co2 coming out of suspension in the beer. 1 month shouldn't be long enough to start autolysis or do any damage.

I say RDWHAHB, and keep your ear away from your fermenter.

 

[winvarin]

It's hard to tell from the picture. But if it's just bubbles and not any new particulate matter (pellicle or something like that), then my bet is that it's just CO2 naturally coming out of solution. You likely have enough CO2 in the head space. If you're really concerned, pop the stopper and take a quick whiff. Does it smell bad?

Otherwise, I say leave it to age and it will be fine. I like bulk aging big beers like you're planning.

From an autolysis standpoint, if you left it on its primary yeast cake for a month, you're fine. I routinely leave much smaller beers on the primary cake for 3 weeks or more. But since you've now put it to secondary for bulk aging, the amount of yeast left in suspension (and falling out) is significantly reduced.

RDWHAH

 

[winvarin]

Yeah, what Hollis said. Darn my slow typing skills.

 

[whis121surfing]

Thanks guys. I'll take a whiff and let you know. When you put all that work into a beer and see something you are not used to it's straight to HBT for support or more like a restriction from doing something too hasty especially when you have already RDWA(HadWayTooManyHomeBrews).

 

[whis121surfing]

So when I got home I brought the carboy to my kitchen to investigate. The movement cleared some condensation so I got this pic. What it seemed to be was the thinnest layer of film and CO2 coming out of the beer that then became trapped under the film. The whiff smelled amazing! It was so good that I decided to keg it to cold store it for the remainder of its life so I can test along the way.

 

[bwomp313]

I had a recent similar thing. Had a barleywine aging for about 4 1/2 months. On the yeast cake I might add, I don't buy into that autolysis stuff and regularly leave stuff in primary for 2-3 months. Well anyway, it had something that looked similar all over the top for quite some time and when I finally secondaried it the other day on top of some oak, it didn't taste or appear infected at all and was crystal clear. So it's probably nothing to worry about.

 

[whis121surfing]

I had a recent similar thing. Had a barleywine aging for about 4 1/2 months. On the yeast cake I might add, I don't buy into that autolysis stuff and regularly leave stuff in primary for 2-3 months. Well anyway, it had something that looked similar all over the top for quite some time and when I finally secondaried it the other day on top of some oak, it didn't taste or appear infected at all and was crystal clear. So it's probably nothing to worry about.

Thx. I took a swig from the hydrometer bc it smelled so freakin good and it was amazing. Mine was crystal clear too. I can't wait for the barleywine to cold age for a while and taste again each month. :rockin:

 

[diegobonatto]

Looks fine for me....its only yeast rafts going into suspension due to CO2 that accumulated inside clamps.

Beer should clear again in a few weeks.