Crystal like substance

[kschroeder]

My first brew is still carbonating with about a week to go. I just looked at the bottles and it looks like there is a small film of crystal like substance on the bottom.

What is this and is it normal? Will it go away?

 

[MrHadack]

My first guess would be it is yeast settling at the bottom of the bottle, which is perfectly fine. How long has the beer been carbonating?

 

[kschroeder]

I bottled it on the 8th.

 

[MrHadack]

Are you seeing something similar to this?

 

[kschroeder]

Yes, that looks like exactly what I have. So this is ok right?

 

[MrHadack]

Yup! That's yeast, and it's fine.

No matter how well you siphon the beer out of the fermentor (even if you cold-crash it) there is always yeast still floating around in the beer. And that's a good thing, because that's what causes beer to carbonate in the bottle. Add some priming sugar and cap the bottle, and the yeast will eat the sugar and release CO2. The CO2 builds up, and then dissolves back into the beer. The yeast, when done, can sink to the bottom just like they did during fermentation.

 

[kschroeder]

Thank you very much