Muddy-looking APA wort

[Sadu]

Hi everyone, I have just started brewing and did my first 2 batches as extract kits then did my first all-grain 3 days ago.

I checked the gravity today and noticed that it was very muddy brown and a lot of heavy suspended particles in the wort.

This never happened with the extract batches, since the extract is all filtered / whatever by the manufacturer.

So is this muddy color and heavy particle suspension normal for a 3 day wort, just part of the process? Or is there something I need to be doing different in the boil (whirlpooling, better filtering?)
I'm in no hurry for this batch but I'm doing another boil tomorrow and if I need to do things differently then I will.

For the record, it's an APA BIAB full boil. I noticed a bit of hot break approaching boiling point, which went away quickly. I haven't brewed before so I don't know what it should look like but it seemed there was less than I was expecting. I maintained a moderate boil for 60 mins. Cascade Hops at 60/30/15 and Irish Moss at 10 all just chucked into the kettle, no bag. Cooling took 40 mins with a small immersion chiller. Looked like miso soup while chilling, with an amber clear liquid on top and sludgy particles sitting underneath the surface. I stirred throughout the cooling to maximise liquid contact with the copper.

Used a hose to siphon into the ferm, with the end of the hose going into a sanitised sieve and the output of that going into another sieve. These gunked up real good and I had to empty them a few times. Everything from the kettle went into the ferm, apart from what the sieves removed.

Pitched rehydrated US-05 at 20c, aerated using electric drill, fermentation was a lot slower to start than the extract batches, no airlock activity but I have krausen and gravity has dropped 20 points. Taste seems ok, better than the extract brews at the same point in the cycle.

Is there anything I need to be doing differently here? I'm sure this will clear up in time but I wanted to ask if this is completely normal or if I could be filtering the chunks out better / whirlpooling / using a bag for the hops etc.

 

[evchenko]

A more vigorous boil may have caused more hot break but I wouldn't worry about it too much mate, you don't seem to have done anything particularly wrong there. A bit of time and chilling your beer down in the bottle for a while before serving (or chilling your keg down) should make a big difference.

People also cold crash before bottling/kegging which may be an option but I'd save that until later.

 

[CA_Mouse]

Most likely yeast and proteins in suspension. 3 days is a bit early to be worrying about gravity. Leave it be until at least day 10. After fermentation is complete it will drop clear. Usually by day 14 or so, it should be ready to bottle or cold crash for kegging.

 

[RM-MN]

Yes, all grain will leave you with more particles in suspension. No that doesn't hurt. Clear wort isn't needed to get clear beer. I don't filter out anything, everything goes into the fermenter. Maybe I would filter out some of the hops if I used a lot especially if I were saving yeast.

 

[Sadu]

Awesome thanks for the replies. Waiting is fine.

I have been taking gravity readings regularly to better understand the process, not because its necessary or out of anxeiety. Finding it real interesting how the flavours change over the course of fermentation and conditioning. Real happy with the taste so far, can't wait to get these carbonated and in the fridge.

 

[mongoose33]

Here's a pic of a couple of my beers; the one on the left was not, shall we say, the most appetizing in appearance.

After fermentation was complete, the yeast and other particulate matter started dropping and it cleared to what you see on the right.

If you look very carefully (use a flashlight), you can see the churning of the fermentation, of the yeast rising in the wort. When fermentation ends, this will cease and things will settle out.

 

[CA_Mouse]

Awesome thanks for the replies. Waiting is fine.

I have been taking gravity readings regularly to better understand the process, not because its necessary or out of anxeiety. Finding it real interesting how the flavours change over the course of fermentation and conditioning. Real happy with the taste so far, can't wait to get these carbonated and in the fridge.

Just remember that every time you open your fermenter you are giving a small chance for contamination to become present. Personally, I don't even take a sample for 16 days, I just make sure that I have enough in my pipeline that I can wait for the yeast to do their job.

 

[Sadu]

Soooo, I found what was causing the muddiness. This brew has a jurassic sized layer of trub at the bottom, it sits about an inch above the spigot. The sample I pulled must have been half trub. Hard to see as my ferm vessel is quite opaque. In the top of the fermenter is the lovely light amber colour that I was expecting.

Gravity is right where it should be, temperature is sitting constant. And to top it off, I ripped the top off one of my first batch of Coopers kit lager which is still carbonating and even though it's only been in the bottle a week it tastes just as good as the noname mass-produced swill from the shop that I'd normally be drinking.

So boom, I don't have to buy beer anymore. It's all upwards from here. Life is pretty good