11 days after my pitching and my mini batch look like this! Is it normal?

I will put in bottle in two days but I'm a bit worried to see stuff on top, is that normal? In the bottom it looks like this, is that normal too? Thanks in advance for your help!

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yes. yes. no problem.

 

Your beer looks normal for this stage of the fermentation, but it doesn't look like it is ready to bottle. Have you taken any specific gravity readings?

 

I have not taken. Next time because my refractometer was not yet calibrated. I biab this one with about 4 pounds of base malt in 1.5 gallons + some specialty malts for half a pound. I had 1.2 gallons after boiling about. I had full conversion and I would think of the gravity being 1.040 to 1.050 so if I finish 1.010 I'll be 3.9%abv to 5.2%abv. À bit low for an oatmeal stout. Do you advise taking a reading?

 

When bottling, to prevent exploding bottles, I feel knowing when final gravity has been reached is important. From your picture the yeast/trub layer does not look very compacted. The yeast may still be slowly working and yet.

An SG reading in a few days, followed by another a few days later would help. A refractometer won't be very accurate though in the presence alcohol unless you can calibrate it for the beer as it is now. I am not an expert on refractometer calibration. There are conversion calculators that can get you close to SG, but at this point you only need to know if it changes over the next week for the safety of your bottles.

 

Did you say you used 4 pounds of base malt for a1 gallon batch? If so that's gonna be a big beer

 

I used about that yes. About 1.5 kg of two row pale ale and I had some 250 grams Munich as well. Maybe more 3.5 pounds. It will be interesting if it turns well carbonated to find alcohol levels in it then. The grains from the bag, the evaporation and the amount of hops sucked in so much liquid. I had thrown in East Kent goldings in three hop additions for 75 gr. I expected to get more from it because there is barely 1 gallon.

 

Yes! Hop gunk up top, yeast gunk down bottom.

 

Is the hop gunk ok or should it be avoided? I used pellets and a funnel with a strainer when I transferred to my carboy but seems like lot of hop material went through. If it should be avoided, any tips how to avoid that gunk? Also should I put pellets in a hop bag or should I throw them in straight? Thanks

 

original post photos look good, perfectly normal. YOU MADE BEER!

there's not a lot of "you should" or "you must" in brewing beer

a few "you should not" or "must not" and even those are mostly "you probably shouldn't"

but most of it comes down to personal preference and what you want to do

you can use a hop bag or throw them in straight. up to you. you will still make beer.

you can use a strainer or not. up to you. you will still make beer

enjoy the obsession

 

Thanks! So hop material in the fermenter can be good? If one can chose between no hop material in the fermenter or some, no preference?

 

So 1.75 kg plus some dark roasted malt? I think you're way underestimating at 1.040-1.050. Just those base malts alone and only 70% efficiency would give you about 1.081 in 1.2 gals of post boil wort.

 

It's a tradeoff; you can leave the gunk in, at the expense of a small amount of beer going to bottle /keg. You can get a bottle or more beer at the end, at the expense of taking the effort to filter.

Either way is good/not bad, comes down to how you want to so it.

Do it one way, next time do it the other way. It might happen you discover a flavor/quality difference between the two, a lot of people don't. If you do, you just choose the way which makes the better beer for you.

So many different ways to end up with beer, none of them wrong, just different and some work better for some and worse for others.

 

I am fermenting 65lt of beer in 100lt hdpe blue barrels and have never seen any activity in my airlock. Maybe the space is too much for the co2 to push up but i never had a problem

 

Looks perfectly normal. I'd give it a quick shake to make the stuff on the surface sink. It always does. I do this a couple of days before I keg (or bottle). Don't pick it up and spin in circles, just rock the carboy a bit. Probably not necessary at all, but otherwise that stuff might get sucked into your siphon when racking to the next container.

 

I believe that James Spencer (Basic Brewing podcast) did a blind test recently. The fermentor WITH the tons of cold break from the boil kettle was a better beer than the one in which they filtered/avoided the break material.

So, I wouldn't worry at all about that stuff in your fermentor.

 

Your comment is of interest because I have 60 litres fermenters too and I'm planning to ferment sometimes 25/30 litres only. I had post a thread and everybody was saying no problem and it I even better for more oxygen to yeast. I'm not convinced about though about too much space being good, I don't know... Maybe someone can help...

 

Headspace can be an issue. During normal fermentation, with airlock in place, no problem. But open it up a few times and all that O2 and airborne bacteria can cause issues. So, if you are brewing small batches in large fermentors, try not to open at all until it's time to rack to bottling bucket or kegs.

 

Sorry what do you mean by giving it a quick shake to make the stuff on surface sink? Not sure how that would work...

 

After about 10 days, I look at my fermentors (as you're doing now). If there is ANYTHING floating on the top, I just give it a quick shake. That disturbance always causes the floating material to sink.

 

I don't recommend shaking it about, personally. What you're seeing in your fermenter is a sign of health and yeast happiness -- leave it be and let it settle naturally over the coming days/weeks. Many people will "cold crash" (i.e. drop the temperature of) their batch in the fermenter before bottling because it causes the crud to settle firmly at the bottom, thus clarifying the beer. I don't have the means to do this so my beer tends to have a bit of sediment at the bottom, which I don't mind at all.

 

I just bottled it and I'm very worried how it is going to turn. I'm very lost with how racking works. I have this Mini racking cane tubing, a small part that fits on the bottom of the racking cane and a plastic thing to strangle the Silicone tube. When I put my fermenter above with the bottom of it being over the mouth of my bottle it didn't work at all. Please help. There is no strength in sucking the fermented beer I had to use a strainer and funnel to pour into my bottles. So much oxygen pick up there... I need good instructions to rack please help. Thanks

 

To create a good siphon the bottom of the "from" container must be higher than the final level of the surface of your beer in the "to" container. If you are racking from your fermentor, the greater the distance to your bottling bucket will have the greatest siphon action.

Can you post a link to the siphon you are using? This will help to solve your problem.

 

Meh, if the final product tasted pretty good, then just wait 3 weeks for it to carb up, then throw the whole batch in the fridge. This will help slow any chemical reactions that are going to over-oxidize it. Then consume fairly quickly. Unless you've just splashed this thing around since it's been done fermenting, it will take a couple of months, at least, until you'll really notice the effects.

 

Here is my cheap racking cane I'm supposed to use but don't get why it doesn't work... The bottom of my fermenter was 10" above the mouth of my bottle. It was sucking the fermented wort just at the height of the beer in the fermenter but no higher??? I have these 1 gallon fermenters and got that cane with them... Thanks for help

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1. Fill the racking cane and tubing with starsan. Completely fill it.
   
2. Put your sanitized finger over the open end of your tubing or place a clip to close it off.
   
3. Place racking can into the beer and position it above the trub.
   
4. Bring the sealed end of the tubing below the level of the fermentor and place it with a coil into the receiving vessel

• keg
• bottling bucket containing priming soln.

555. Remove the seal (finger or clip)

Ever present gravity and atmospheric pressure will allow the beer to flow until the syphon is lost.

There are some simple tools available to remove the need to fill the tube with starsan. An auto-syphon and sterile syphon starter are two I have used. I only use the latter now.

Position racking cane above trub


Receiving Vessel positioned below the FV with the beer flowing in.


Leave a little for the beer-gods killing the syphon without letting air into the receiving vessel.

 

Do you really mix the starsan with the beer in the keg?

 

You can calibrate a refractometer in seconds.. Tap water is very close to 1.000. Distilled is 1.000. Mine has a little screwdriver to adjust. zero it out then take a reading. Be advised that a refractometer does not do well for gravity readings after fermentation has started. Alcohol skews the reading. There online calculators that will get you close but they are inaccurate. A hydrometer is better.

I agree with the previous responses. You have a partially finished fermentation that looks like it is going very well.

 

No but if you do this process it will total perhaps 1-2oz of correctly diluted starsan in a 640oz keg. I've probably got more volume in starsan foam in the keg anyway. Same would be true of a bottling bucket.

Not an issue for the beer. The other way is to start a syphon by sucking. This is also easy but is not a practice I follow for making beer I plan to share with others. They might understandably have reservations about drinking said beer if they knew every ooze traveled through a hose that had been in my mouth.

If I'm syphoning gas I've no such problems.

I use a sterile syphon starter so don't follow this process I outlined.

The OP however has a simple racking cane and tubing. This is the normal approach for this basic setup and will serve them well

 

I have never tried that. I used to suck the hose to get it started until I bought an auto siphon. Im never going back.

 

That was a generous reply -- cheers mate

 

Turkey baster works wonders as a siphon starter