Advice on next step

[Sportshoes]

Hi all.
I’m fairly new to home brewing. I’m on my third brew. First two went well. The one I’m doing now is Brewer’s Best American Cream Ale. It’s now 8 days old in the Carboy. Haven’t done this one before so not sure what’s normal.

From day 1 of fermentation I thought the vented gas had an odd smell. I thought it was acidic. Maybe like spoiled milk. I suspected possible contamination but let it go. As of today (day 8) it is still producing vented gas quite regularly (a bubble every 30 seconds or so) and it appears to still have healthy Krausen that hasn’t fallen yet. I don’t see anything like a pellicle.

I thought this was a bit odd, I checked an SG. It is now below the desired FG of 1.010. It’s around 1.005. OG was 1.050

Color is good but it’s quite cloudy. I left some aside to see if sediment will settle.

I had a taste and it doesn’t taste bad. It tasted like nothing actually. It’s quite bland. There’s clearly a good alcohol content, but I don’t taste much hops.

Not sure where to go from here. Let it continue until krausen falls, bottle it now, dump it? Not sure

Thoughts?

thanks

 

[devilssoninlaw]

From what I can see in the pictures, it looks just fine. Though maybe take advise from more experienced brewers, as I've never had any kind of infections.

I have brewed that kit and the taste is fairly subtle. I would continue on as usual and bottle/keg it, good luck!

 

[Sportshoes]

Thanks. But the Krausen hasn’t fallen and it’s already below desired FG. So should I bottle before the Krausen falls? It’s clearly still actively fermenting

 

[Dland]

Probably should not bottle until it stops working, or you may end up with bottle bombs. Too early to dump it too, let it work out until it calms down, then see what you have.

It may have an infection that is causing it to work out more than expected, but it still may be OK beer, only time and your taste buds will tell.

What yeast did you use, what temp is it fermenting at?

 

[ncbrewer]

Be aware that if it is infected, you'll have to deal with the contamination in the equipment.

 

[Sammy86]

You should let it ride...do not bottle until after the krasuen has fallen...remember yeast are living organisms and sometimes they are going to do better than expected.

My advice, you let the krausen fall, check gravity and go from there.

 

[Sportshoes]

Probably should not bottle until it stops working, or you may end up with bottle bombs. Too early to dump it too, let it work out until it calms down, then see what you have.

It may have an infection that is causing it to work out more than expected, but it still may be OK beer, only time and your taste buds will tell.

What yeast did you use, what temp is it fermenting at?

Safale US-05 @ 69F

 

[bracconiere]

that doesn't really look like my understanding of krausen? looks like a blanket of dormant yeast...give it a jiggle see if they fall out....

 

[Sportshoes]

Definitely not dormant. Still producing lots of CO2

 

[McKnuckle]

I’d like to put a finer point on the advice received thus far: Never, ever bottle beer that is still fermenting. No exceptions.

You either have an infection that is taking the beer down to exceptionally low gravity, or it’s just enthusiastic beer yeast. But either way, bottling won’t stop it. It will only result in bottles that potentially can explode, which is a serious risk to your safety.

 

[Jtvann]

Definitely not dormant. Still producing lots of CO2

Also ... don’t discount Bracc’s advice. There’s a difference in CO2 produced by fermentation and CO2 that bubbles up every in a while from slightly carbonated beer.

Don’t remove the air lock, but giving it a slight swirl around just to see what happens isn’t going to hurt it at all. The krausen could have just been extra thick and sticky and is now just stuck to the sides. Give it a swirl and see if it falls.

 

[Sportshoes]

Thanks. All great advice. Hopefully it will settle.

 

[bracconiere]

if it is done, that looks like prime teritory for a repitch!

 

[Dland]

try not to confuse the 'sitch,,,brac... {; .... OP says is only on third brew

 

[Snuffy]

Doesn’t look bad to me. Let her go til she’s done. Get the same FG 3 days in a row and bottle. I never had an (unintentionally) infected batch, but if I did, I would see it thru and give it a shot. I am not averse to the right kind of funk. Won’t hurt you. If it’s no good, you can dump the bottles. Plastic vessels would probably be best used for washing the car after that. My guess is just mean yeast. Patience, grasshopper.

 

[bracconiere]

OP says is only on third brew

well anyway in my wide mouth fermenter, knowing what i've learned about hot and cold break proteins...and trub in general here...i'd grab a strainer and get that yeast off the top....at $4 a pack, prime money....

 

[Sportshoes]

I, of course, remembered today that I'm an Infection Doctor and know how to do microbiology. Unfortunately I don't have the right equipment at home, but I was actually able to do some rudimentary staining and used a crappy microscope.

You can see the nice plump healthy Yeast and although not overrun with bacteria, there appears there may be some bacteria present, but I don't have proper Gram stain or a good microscope to help identify the bacteria. Possibly lactobacilli. So there's probably some contamination, but it doesn't seem extreme. As you can see bacteria aren't visualized great with this scope and my bad staining, so could be artifact and not actually bacteria, but the yeast are clear.

Would be great to have a good microscope and Gram stain supplies at home.

 

[McKnuckle]

Cool! You might be new to homebrewing, but I think we can see what kind of gear you need to be grabbing next. Yeast isolation and culturing could be your thing! Not to mention posting pics.

 

[tracer bullet]

Unless you need the fermenter I'd consider letting it go until the end, be it stopping bubbling and settling out, or doing something really ridiculous like glowing in the dark (haha). See how it tastes then. I'm not advocating drinking spoiled beer but just on the (seemingly very) slim chance it's actually OK. I've been fooled before by yeast.

 

[Snuffy]

I, of course, remembered today that I'm an Infection Doctor and know how to do microbiology. Unfortunately I don't have the right equipment at home, but I was actually able to do some rudimentary staining and used a crappy microscope.

You can see the nice plump healthy Yeast and although not overrun with bacteria, there appears there may be some bacteria present, but I don't have proper Gram stain or a good microscope to help identify the bacteria. Possibly lactobacilli.

Lacto could be a good thing. I’ve paid extra for that before.
And sorry about the grasshopper bit, doc. Hard not to post with a buzz on here.

 

[Sportshoes]

Krausen fell. FG a bit low, but brew seems OK.

thanks again

 

[John Coo's Brews]

Krausen fell. FG a bit low, but brew seems OK.

thanks again

Now that it's been a month and a half, I'm wondering how this batch turned out, taste-wise. I'm asking because I'm working on one myself that is a bit suspect.

Similar in that the Krausen didn't fall shortly after the fermentation stopped. Also, I was getting in the last few days of fermentation, a bit of a sulphur odor, similar to some cider fermentations I've done. I'm in an opaque plastic bucket on this fermentation, and when I opened it today (expecting to transfer to 2ndary), I was surprised that I still had 2 - 3 " of foam on top. OG was similar to yours at 1.055, and is now at 1.006. I'm using a yeast that has a high attenuation (2 previous batches were both at 88%, aided by the addition of some portion of "Candi sugar/syrup" - this batch had 1 lb of braun sugar), so I'm not too surprised at my gravity - but I've never had the "foam" linger for so long, nor have I had the sulphur odors with my beer batches. The yeast I used came from a top-cropped previous batch, so some possibility of contamination. I plan to continue on and hope the yeast, as it goes dormant, can "help" out on the sulphur, or that the fermentation helped to "off gas" the sulphur compounds as well.

 

[Sportshoes]

Actually it turned out really well. After bottling, I tried it every few days. It had an off taste but after about two weeks it was pretty good with some subtle off taste and after a month it was great and I’m loving it. I made the same recipe again to see if it was reproducible and it was. I had a thick Krausen which only fell after some gentle nudging. Same odd acidic smell. It’s bottle conditioning now.

Your sulfur smell may be a bit more of an issue though.

In any case I learned a valuable lesson that dumping a batch can be premature and patience is really important.

thanks for asking and good luck.

 

[McKnuckle]

US-05 will sometimes (often?) stay on top like that for a bit, even after reaching FG. Also, you learned that beer tastes better after 3-4 weeks conditioning. Nothing new there. Patience is key in brewing. Drinkable beer is available quickly, but it won't be at its best. It's a simple thing, really, that is easier to accept once you've brewed for a while and aren't obsessing over every step in the process.