Can this be anything other than Star San?

[kombat]

I brewed an English Pale Ale this morning. The yeast was a repitch of S-04 harvested from an Amber Ale batch. Krausen is already forming and the airlock is popping. But I've got this weird stratification

If anyone else posted this, I'd say, "Yup, that's Star San." But in this case, that's extremely unlikely. I'm positive the carboy was totally empty. I chilled through my plate chiller, directly into the carboy.

The plate chiller was sanitized with Star San, but I discarded the first quart of wort once I turned on the pump and started chilling. I can't figure out what this is.

Is it possible this is the beer/water from the yeast slurry from the previous batch? It was an Amber, but I would have diluted it to top up the jars of yeast to minimize headspace. Come to think of it, if that we're the case, that beer/water would have lower gravity than the new batch, and this could sit on top. I've just never seen this kind of stratification before when it wasn't Star San.

Anyone want to weigh in?View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1462662976.813089.jpg

 

[cyanmonkey]

It's your pitch.

 

[Sammy86]

Looks normal...leave it alone to do its thing!

If it starts changing color or growing then you've got a problem!

 

[kombat]

So fermentation is in full effect now (after just 12 hours!), and the stratification is gone. We'll see if it reappears as fermentation winds down.

 

[fun4stuff]

So fermentation is in full effect now (after just 12 hours!), and the stratification is gone. We'll see if it reappears as fermentation winds down.

I've gotten that many times without an issue. I always thought it was hot /cold break material. You can see it in your pot as you siphon usually. Definitely not starsan.