Black Krausen Ring

[Arizonabeer]

Hello everyone!I am new to brewing and put together a kit to start my first batch of beer. I have a spike flex SS fermenter and love it. I just finished my first American Pale Ale and it smelled amazing and looked relatively clear. I did notice a black ring and some small black spots on the Krausen. There are some posts that talk about this being machining oil and others saying it's from the hops in the beer. Have people definitively determined what the black stuff is? Any idea if the beer is safe to drink or not? Any ideas to get rid of it. See pictures below.

 

[jdauria]

Seems to be common in new stainless steel and will stop happening after a few uses. Just watched a video on the new Anvil Conical and same thing happened. Don't take my word as gospel but pretty sure it's safe, as I have not see any stories of people who have gotten the black ring dumping their beers or getting sick from it.

 

[kevin58]

I believe Brian at Short Circuited Brewers on Youtube mentioned this while working with a new Anvil rig. The consensus is that it does no harm and will go away after the second or third use.

 

[Templar985]

I have a Spike flex plus and have had the same thing for four batches or so. The beer was fine and tasted good. That issue will go away after a few batches of use with the fermenter. I think the Alkaline Brewery Wash supplied was only sufficient for the initial cleaning of 4 gallons instead of the 7, I wish I used more to make sure the machining oils were completely washed away before I used PBW to clean the fermenter.

 

[TaylorBrewed]

You will see this when using new ss fermenters but your beer will turn out fine.