Finished Beer Looks Funny

[TheBrewingBear]

Those little yeasties never cease to amaze me with the stunts they pull while they make beer. I went to pop the lid off of my latest batch, and this is what I saw.

At first I was shocked, pissed, disappointed, etc. I took a sniff and it smelled like yummy hoppiness and maltiness. I went ahead and racked it to my keg. You might be able to see in the second pic where there are clumps of yeast clinging to the bubbles.

The sample tasted pretty good for a young 8% ale. I dry pitched two packs of US-05 and kept it in my buddy's keezer set at 62* for two weeks. It spent a week at 70ish after that to finish it up. I did have to walk it across the street before the last week which might have jostled more yeast loose than usual.

My money is on yeast rafts. Has anyone else seen them get this frothy? Any other theories?

 

[j1n]

Do you have a better picture? Ive never had any krausen on my beer with US-05 past 2 weeks. Usually drops out after a week.

You get any peachy notes from the beer? US-05 @ 62 is a bit low. 65-68 IMO is ideal for US-05.

 

[kh54s10]

Did you take gravity readings to determine that it had reached final gravity? Or did you shake it up just before opening?

It looks like it wasn't done or it was shaken.

 

[TheBrewingBear]

These are the only pics I took. My smartphone camera skills suck.

According to my poorly calibrated hydrometer (tastebuds), the beer finished dry with some caramel notes as expected. I'd say it's finished. It might have sloshed around somewhat while carrying it back home from my friend's house across the street. If that caused the bubbles, I'm surprised they stayed in tact for a whole week of sitting still.

 

[j1n]

You're prob right, id guess all the sloshing around did it too. As long as it taste good, thats all that matters.

 

[TheBrewingBear]

As long as it taste good, thats all that matters.

Amen!

I didn't detect any peach notes. Is this a common quirk of keeping US-05 too low?

Fermentis says 59 - 71 is "ideal". Ambient inside the keezer was 62*, so the beer would have been closer to 68 during the active fermentation.

 

[hunter_le five]

Amen!

I didn't detect any peach notes. Is this a common quirk of keeping US-05 too low?

Fermentis says 59 - 71 is "ideal". Ambient inside the keezer was 62*, so the beer would have been closer to 68 during the active fermentation.

Last time I fermented with S-05 @ 62*F (wort temp, not ambient) I got peach notes. Not too strong, but noticeable enough to bother me.

 

[unionrdr]

That's just krausen foam. No worries.

 

[j1n]

Amen!

I didn't detect any peach notes. Is this a common quirk of keeping US-05 too low?

Fermentis says 59 - 71 is "ideal". Ambient inside the keezer was 62*, so the beer would have been closer to 68 during the active fermentation.

The yeast strains temp range is a good guideline but there is a sweet spot within that range. for US-05 most like to ferment 65°F-68°F as the ideal temp.

Another example would be Nottingham yeast. The temp range is 57° to 70°F but i wouldn't dare go anywhere above 65°F with that yeast. ideal for that one would be high 50s to low 60s. i like to ferment it at 60°F for clean results.


If that was the ambient temp then id agree that the beer temp was most likely high 60s which is great for the yeast you used.