Foamy, sediment filled beer

[laxandbeer]

Hello,
Long time reader, first time poster. First off, thank you all for your postings. I have learned so much from readings these forums.

I was brewing my second all grain batch last night and noticed that, unlike the first batch, this batch was very foamy after aerating the beer (right before adding the yeast). It wasn't krausen, it looked like head on a glass of beer, which I've never really seen at this stage. Also, normally, when filtering the beer, I typically find that hops and other sediment clog the filter regularly. However, last night, the beer went through (three times) with almost nothing getting caught by the filter. When taking the OG, it seems high, and you could clearly see sediment in the beer (which began settling to the bottom) and there was foam at the top.

Background on the beer: it is a fat tire clone, and is actually the same recipe I used for my first AG batch, which had none of these problems. The only thing that was different between this time and the first time is that I brewed in a garage in 16 degree weather (the first time it was 35). Also, I put three drops of fermcap in the wort right at the beginning of the boil. I did use one tablet of whirlfloc with 10 minutes left in the boil, but I've used whirlfloc before.

So in your experiences, is any of this anything I should worry about? Is this because of the fermcap or temperature, or is it something else?

 

[smagee]

I don't think I've ever aerated and *not* gotten foam like that you describe. Everything sounds normal to me.

 

[hercher]

You don't have anything to worry about. But why are you filtering before adding yeast? It seems unnecessary.

 

[laxandbeer]

I was under the impression that filtering it through a funnel and screen helps with aeration. I did it three times because I normally clog the filter with sediment, but nothing got caught the first time through. I thought that was strange based on my (limited) experiences, so I filtered it two more times. Do you think the large amount of sediment is why the OG was high?

 

[KraphtBier]

What was the temp of the wort going into the fermentation vessel? Sounds to me like you may not have had the best cold break. If you don't drop the temp enough to flocc out the proteins and other junk then most of it will stay in suspension and make its way into the fermenter. I've made this mistake in the past. Don't worry, the beer will be fine. You will have more trub in the fermenter but it will settle out. Worst case scenario you will have a lesser volume of beer to rack to the bottling bucket/keg.

PS. If you post your recipe along with temps and times for everything it will be much easier for us to help