Extract home brew infection??

[Dexter9]

Hi,

I’ve recently started trying to home brew again ( with no success previously).

I added the hops after 7 days the other day and found the walls of the fermenter to have some “dirt” on them higher than the beer level. The beer was never this high in the fermenter, it’s only 18L in a 23L tank.

I was wondering if this is infection or if this is normal enough? Can I continue with bottling?

Note the yellow “granules” on the brew are the hops.

If I can bottle. Has anyone used grandfather high performance cleaner on glass bottles, or can suggest it is okay to do so? And is there any sugar I can buy in the local shop that will do for carbonation?

Thanks

 

[lumpher]

The "dirt" on the side is dried krausen. Perfectly normal where it was foaming during fermentation.

 

[DBhomebrew]

You can use table sugar, DME, LME, honey, dextrose (corn sugar), maple syrup, fruit juice, etc. Just be sure the calculator you are using knows or assumes the same sugar source. Do use a calculator. Available for free and bottle bombs are no hyperbole.


For one example...
https://www.brewersfriend.com/beer-priming-calculator/

 

[Dexter9]

Thank you both for the advise.

I’d never heard of bottle bombs before so definitely appreciate the advise.

Would you be able to advise on the following?
-the instructions say to move the beer to a warm place for two weeks when first bottled. What would be an acceptable temperature for this considering it’s an IPA? It then says to move it to a cold place for one week. Again what would be an acceptable cold temperature?
-I’ve tried a sample of the beer out of the conical fermenter, taking it from the tap at the bottom. It comes out really cloudy and eventually clears up, leaving sediment at the bottom of the glass. When transferring the beer to the bottles, should I pump it from the top of the beer to avoid sediment or can I transfer it from the tap at the bottom?

Thanks

 

[IslandLizard]

If I can bottle. Has anyone used grandfather high performance cleaner on glass bottles, or can suggest it is okay to do so?

[EDITS] Any generic or homemade "brewery" cleaner such as (homemade) PBW, washing soda (sodium carbonate), Oxiclean (sodium percarbonate), TSP (trisodium phosphate), or TSP/90 (sodium metasilicate) or mixtures of them can be used to clean brewing equipment, including bottles.

Specialized "brand name" products can be relatively expensive, without offering any benefits over generics. Look at the ingredients list...

Avoid using dish soap, as it can affect foam stability in your beer!

I've used (cheap) washing soda dissolved in water to clean bottles. Use a bottle brush to scrub and clean the inside well. Any spec of dirt left can cause spoilage/infection, and even bottle bombs. If they're very dirty, a couple days of pre-soak with some detergent will help loosening any caked-on crud. I've used storage totes filled with bottles and detergent (water and washing soda) to pre-soak for a week. Most labels floated off.

Soaking and/or brushing the cleaning liquid onto the sides of equipment helps remove it. A presoak in water with a little of any of those detergents added (1 tablespoon per 5 gallons/20 liters) should help to loosen caked-on deposits. Cleaning/soaking solutions can be recovered/reused until the grime starts to become too gross.

Or if you don't want to make gallons of it, brushing repeatedly with a somewhat stronger solution (1/2 - 1 Tbsp per gallon/4 liters) should work just as well. Use a soft, non-scratching brush or pad.

 

[DBhomebrew]

That looks perfectly healthy to me.

 

[hotbeer]

Everything looks normal. Except for the color of those hops! I've only used pelletized hops and for the types I've used a yellow like that will be a sign they are very stale and yech smelling and tasting.

Were these pelletized hops or something other?

Most any sugar or syrup can be used for carbonation. I've used plain table sugar with good results.

 

[Rish]

acceptable temperature

Low to mid 70s for warm, mid 30s for cold will work. Welcome back!🍻

 

[ncbrewer]

Has anyone used grandfather high performance cleaner on glass bottles, or can suggest it is okay to do so?

I've tried many bottle cleaning methods and finally settled on bleach. (I don't use it for anything else.) Papazian's Complete Joy of Home Brewing discusses using bleach at the rate of 2 fluid oz in 5 gallons of cold water with an overnight soak. I've found it to be an ideal solution. It must be rinsed thoroughly with hot water afterword. I use a jet washer.

(Sorry - couldn't delete this)

the instructions say to move the beer to a warm place for two weeks when first bottled. What would be an acceptable temperature for this considering it’s an IPA? It then says to move it to a cold place for one week. Again what would be an acceptable cold temperature?

With most ale yeasts around 66F - 68F is a good temperature for active fermentation. After 2/3 - 3/4 of the expected attenuation has taken place, the temperature can be increased by 4 - 10 degrees. Storing cold isn't necessary.

I’ve tried a sample of the beer out of the conical fermenter, taking it from the tap at the bottom. It comes out really cloudy and eventually clears up, leaving sediment at the bottom of the glass. When transferring the beer to the bottles, should I pump it from the top of the beer to avoid sediment or can I transfer it from the tap at the bottom?

Not knowing the details of your set-up, I can't really comment, other than transferring the clearish beer and leaving the sediment.

With all my comments I'll add: ymmv.