a few bottling questions

[gone]

i just bottled my third batch, a brewers best european bock kit. the first thing i noticed when i took the lid off the fermenter was "flakes" floating on top of the beer. my first two beers didnt have this. was this just part of the krausen? it seemed normal in every other way.

i boiled my priming sugar for about five minutes but didnt let it cool very much before adding the beer. could this harm the yeast and affect the carbonation?

i sanitized my bottles in starsan. i know everyone says dont fear the foam. but there were some serious bubbles in the bottle after i dumped out the liquid. most of them rose to the top as i filled them with beer but i didnt know if they could oxidize the beer at all.

thanks, im still learnin

 

[NateKerx]

the flakes are most likely break or hops that never settled out of your fermentor, nothing to be too concerned about. use a piece of steel wool over the business end of your racking crane to avoid sucking this stuff into your bottling bucket.

the hot sugar water isnt going to mess up your yeast, a few cups of boiling water wont do much to swing the temperature of 5 gallons of beer.

starsan is bubbly. I know it's hard, somethimes things get foamy but just stick to the instructions on the bottle and... don't fear the foam!

 

[BlindLemonLars]

I'm sure the flakes were just bits of yeast/krausen being held afloat by surface tension. A few days before I plan to keg or bottle, I will often give my better bottles a gentle nudge...just enough to create a tiny ripple on the surface, which moistens any floating bits and encourages them to sink. Then I crash cool, if you've got the means it really helps everything settle to the bottom.

A cup or two of hot sugar solution in five gallons of beer is not enough to cause any problems.

You already know the answer regarding the StarSan...don't fear the foam! It'll be fine.

 

[MaynardX]

Flakes are more then likely yeast colonies. No worries .

I hardly ever let my primer sugar cool enough as i should. It is a minimal amount of temp difference when adding to 5g of wort.

I don't use star san, so I can't answer this one.

Learn away! Just remember...the only bad question is an unasked one!

 

[gatsmark01]

it is a very good post...