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Weird 'things' floating in the fermenter

Discussion in 'General Homebrew Discussion' started by SoxFan44, Apr 4, 2011.

 

  1. #1
    SoxFan44

    Member

    Posted Apr 4, 2011
    We opened our fermenter to transfer to a secondary for dry-hopping and we saw 3-4 things floating up top that sort of resembled jelly fish. The beer smelled fine, so I just removed them before I racked to the secondary. Any idea what these things are? It was a Rye-PA if that makes any difference. Didn't get any pictures either :/
     
  2. #2
    EoinMag

    Well-Known Member

    Posted Apr 4, 2011
    Well seaweed adds a gelatin like substance to the boil to cause coagulation and clumping of particulate matter......maybe yours looked like jelly fish? I'd leave them in there the next time, it's not like you didn't put them in there yourself.
     
  3. #3
    RMFS

    New Member

    Posted Jul 7, 2011
    i just kegged my RYePA and i dry hopped it but when i opened the bucket there were a ton of jellyfish like substance. i kegged all but the top 4 inches of batch so hopefully itll turn out fine. would like to know what it is floqating though. any ideas
     
  4. #4
    Zamial

    Well-Known Member

    Posted Jul 7, 2011
    umm without a pic this turns into a guessing game. My guess is bacon because I love bacon!
     
    scrambledegg81 likes this.
  5. #5
    NordeastBrewer77

    NBA Playa  

    Posted Jul 7, 2011
    Those jellyfish sound like small colonies of yeast on top still fermenting your beer. They'll eventually fall out after FG is reached.
    Unless of course, you added jellyfish extract to your boil, in which case theyll be there for the duration.:ban:
     
  6. #6
    makomachine

    Well-Known Member

    Posted Jul 7, 2011
    Jellyfish only are a problem when you have a lot of baitfish contamination in your beer. Work on removing the baitfish in your process and jellyfish will no longer be an issue!
     
  7. #7
    stageseven

    Well-Known Member

    Posted Jul 7, 2011
    How did it smell? Were the "jellyfish" clear or did they have a color to them? Did you taste any?
     
  8. #8
    NordeastBrewer77

    NBA Playa  

    Posted Jul 7, 2011
    Oh man, could you imagine how to describe the mouthfeel of a jellyfish ale?! The term 'prickly' wouldn't begin to do it any justice!
     
  9. #9
    NordeastBrewer77

    NBA Playa  

    Posted Jul 7, 2011
    Did they sting?:ban:
     
  10. #10
    bluemoose

    Well-Known Member  

    Posted Jul 7, 2011
    I hope they didn't drink much of your beer. :mad:
     
  11. #11
    NordeastBrewer77

    NBA Playa  

    Posted Jul 7, 2011
    It's the baitfish that drink all the beer. The jellyfish just guard it. :ban:
     
  12. #12
    RMFS

    New Member

    Posted Jul 7, 2011
    thank you all for those great ideas i will be sure to pull the bacon so the baitfish will stop drinking the beer therefore giving no reason to have the jellyfish guard it from them. and yes jellyfish do sting when eaten. on a serious note it looks like the coagulated sugar before boiling however there were four of them the size of butter sticks, and it was at the end of dry-hopping for 2 weeks in the second fermentor.
     
  13. #13
    killian

    Well-Known Member

    Posted Jul 8, 2011
    pics would help
     
  14. #14
    RMFS

    New Member

    Posted Jul 8, 2011
    sorry, i got no pics. it was 230 in the morning when i kegged it.
     
  15. #15
    Chipper

    Active Member

    Posted Aug 3, 2011
    How did you beer turn out? I saw the same thing in mine last weekend. It still smelled very good though. I racked to my bottling bucket and left most of those bacon jelly fish on top, but I think at least one got to the bottling bucket.
     
  16. #16
    NordeastBrewer77

    NBA Playa  

    Posted Aug 3, 2011
    Oh man, I forgot about this thread!!!!

    Chipper, if there's jelly fish in the beer, get a water report from the city right away. They're s'posed to filter those sorta things out.
    Seriously, it's probably yeast rafts, no biggie. But without a pic of what you're talking about, all we can do is speculate. And crack jokes about marine life in the fermenter.
     
  17. #17
    cmoon

    Well-Known Member

    Posted Aug 3, 2011
    [​IMG]
     
  18. #18
    NordeastBrewer77

    NBA Playa  

    Posted Aug 3, 2011
    Ouch! :mug:
     
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