Floating chunks vs. target bottling date

[ajfranke]

I've made that classic beginner's mistake: I tried to get the yeast to fit to my schedule, instead of vice-versa.

Two weeks ago I brewed a partial-mash weizenbock, planning to let it sit in primary for 2 weeks, then bottles for 3, just in time for a competition's judging day. My planned bottling day is this Saturday, so last night I opened the bucket to take a gravity reading and found this:

Despite a slight acetaldehyde flavor in the gravity sample (kinda disappointing, considering that I thought this to be my best preparation of fermentation conditions yet), I'm pretty sure that the stuff floating on top isn't an infection. However, I don't know exactly what it is (yeast at work, or just break material), or especially whether or not I should delay bottling until it sinks. Of course, the longer that I wait to bottle, the more I risk not having carbed beer by the target date.

Anyone who's seen something like this before care to chime in?

 

[asterix404]

I have seen this stuff in my beer before but a lot less. It is not penicle so you don't have an infection. I am guessing it's yeast dust or krausen that hasn't dropped out yet. Has your FG been reached? I have racked into the secondary with stuff like this on the top. You don't have high krausen so it's not vigorously actively fermenting. If the FG or very close to the FG has been reached, then I would bottle.

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

It's residue left from the krausen. I'd let it settle before racking/bottling. You may miss your competition date, but if you still have that stuff on top after only two weeks, your beers not done. The general consensus here is to primary for 3-4 weeks minimum to let your beer clean up and fall clear. Yeast works on it's own timeframe, not ours. We have to work around their timeframe, not ours. The risk of bottling too early just to get into a comp is unfinished beer and a low score. The risk of waiting is good beer and no score. Personally, I'd choose the latter.

 

[unionrdr]

Yup. Beer is like bbq,it's done when it's done. You def can't rush goodness. I let mine sit on the yeast cake for at least a week after a stable FG is reached. They clean up their by-products,& settle out to a slight haze. Then I prime & bottle.
I've got my whiskely Ale in bottles 5 days now. Gunna be tough to wait till the 3rd week of August to sample one for how well it's mellowing & carbonating.
But that's part of the game. Patience is the #1 thing to learn in brewing. Every facet of brewing takes whatever time it takes to get done right.

 

[ajfranke]

Has your FG been reached? I have racked into the secondary with stuff like this on the top. You don't have high krausen so it's not vigorously actively fermenting. If the FG or very close to the FG has been reached, then I would bottle.

The occasion of opening the bucket was to take the first of the two-separated-by-three-days gravity readings, so I don't know if it's completely stable yet. However, the number is within experimental error of the FG that Hopville predicts.

It's residue left from the krausen. I'd let it settle before racking/bottling. You may miss your competition date, but if you still have that stuff on top after only two weeks, your beers not done. The general consensus here is to primary for 3-4 weeks minimum to let your beer clean up and fall clear.

My initial hope was that since clearing isn't too big an issue with a weizenbock, the time in primary could be reduced. Judging by the blow-off tube, the fermentation was fly-and-die (off in 4 hours, quiet in 4 days) and had me hopeful that this plan was proceeding on schedule. The floaty stuff was (obviously) unexpected, but the small patches of bubbles in the picture support your opinion that the yeast aren't quite done.

At this point, I think my plan of action will be to check it again on Saturday for the second gravity reading. If the floaty stuff is still there, continue the wait for at least another three days. I just really don't like the prospect of opening the bucket many more times. If I am going to be opening the bucket to check on it, I'm almost tempted to bottle a few beers directly from the primary every 4-7 days and see how more time in the fermenter affects the final product. :fro: A crazy and tricky and not-so-rigorous experiment, but the results might be interesting.

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

Good call on waiting. Can you open just by removing the bung, or is it one of the lids with just a grommet for an airlock? Either way, just be sanitary and quick when you open a fermentor and you should be ok. Good luck in competition if ya get the beer finished for it!!!

 

[ajfranke]

Grommet. The bucket's the only thing I have which can handle a 5+ gallon batch, and this recipe was for 6 gallons. I often rack to a 5-gallon secondary, simply for "pipeline considerations."

And thanks!

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

No prob! Is it your first comp? I'm anxiously awaiting entering a judging for the first time. I'm hoping my nut brown ale will be ready and bottle conditioned by the aug 5 deadline to get into the state fair mashout. I spoke with a pro brewer about bottle conditioning in a warm room. Using a healthy repitch of dry yeast and corn sugar @ bottling time, and conditioning at a controlled 80*f, their beer is apparently ready to hit the distributor in only 8 days! I may try that to get mine ready in time.

 

[ajfranke]

Yup, first comp, and a state fair as well!

I ended up bottling most of this brew last night. The competition brews were bottled this past Saturday using a growler and a funnel as an ersatz bottling bucket (oxidation risks be damned), but I actually didn't have enough bottle caps on hand to do the whole batch! :cross: And call me crazy/searching for it, but I did notice much less acetaldehyde in a sample from the batch bottled last night, than from the gravity sample on Saturday. Oh well, live and learn to be patient.

Also, I wish I'd known to search this forum for "yeast rafts" before posting this thread. In that case, I would have found many threads covering the topic (especially the first, with a very similar image to mine). While very useful, it's an often-annoying flaw of the search tool that it can't translate jargon.

I'll have to keep that fresh yeast trick in mind for the future. I didn't realize exactly how much priming sugar the yeasties will have to eat, to get up to the target 4.2 units of CO2 (~9 oz. for 5.5 gallons! ) suggested for a weizenbock.

 

[Revvy]

It was just krausen kurdels. Some yeast after they flocculate leave chunks on the surface. But they stay on the surface and float down when you rack, and they just stick to the trub at the bottom. It's really nothing to worry about.

 

[ajfranke]

It was just krausen kurdels. Some yeast after they flocculate leave chunks on the surface. But they stay on the surface and float down when you rack, and they just stick to the trub at the bottom. It's really nothing to worry about.

Thanks, good to know of the proper term for them, and I haven't started worrying yet. I saw your similar comment in this thread after figuring out that searching on "yeast rafts" would lead me to helpful information. I'd like to think that my Search-Fu is strong, but sometimes knowing the right jargon makes the difference.

So, for the record, WB-05 (plus a pinch of WLP300 and Aventinus harvested yeast) may create krausen kurdels.

 

[Homercidal]

I would not give that stuff a second thought. I would suggest more time on the beer, just for good conditioning though.

If you need to bottle in time for the comp, just siphon carefully from underneath, trying not to disturb that stuff, and mix well, but gently in the bottling bucket.

Eventually that stuff will probably fall on it's own, but it may take a long time.