Does this look normal. I have never seen like this on the top. I'm worried as this is my first time harvesting and using yeast over. The one is a coffee chocolate stout. The other is a blonde ale. Both have looked like this for about 4 days. Since the krausen dropped. The stout taste great I haven't tasted the blonde. I would like to again harvest and reuse but want to make sure this isn't an infection. The chocolate stout used cocoa powder and it's the first time I have used that so wondering if that is the reasoning for this weird look. They are a week old today. Fermentation lasted just 2 days. Pitched a huge starter in the stout and didn't use a starter on the blonde. I should also note I was beyond sanitary with everything. I boiled the water for washing, boiled the mason jars for 15 mins then also sprayed down with starsan. Soaked and sprayed EVERYTHING with starsan before use. Was very cautious. View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1455312404.590208.jpgView attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1455312420.860252.jpg
Infected?
- Thread starter Izzie1701
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Looks normal.
Looks normal.
On a side note, are you ready to bottle these? Opening buckets at will is not a good habit. Things will drop or blow in...
Was taking a hydrometer reading and sample. Going to transfer to secondary and cold crash.
Was concerned because the initial brew with this yeast dropped completely clean on the surface. Didn't have any floaters so this is looking a little different. Initial brew was a stout.
Was concerned because the initial brew with this yeast dropped completely clean on the surface. Didn't have any floaters so this is looking a little different. Initial brew was a stout.
I'm pretty sure all of my big stouts go through a phase that looks exactly like the first picture...
Cheers!
Cheers!
You can take a sample through the grommet hole. You just lost all the CO2 covering the beer, exposing it now to air and whatever may float in with it.
There is no need to rack to secondaries, they only causes more problems, such as infections.
Please clean and sanitize the lid well. Pay special attention to the recessed rim area. Also wipe and sanitize the bucket rim, then replace the lid. A small Starsan soaked washcloth is great to wipe those areas a few times.
How long has it been in the fermentor? I'd give it 2-3 weeks, regardless.
If the beer is done, go ahead, cold crash and bottle away.
There is no need to rack to secondaries, they only causes more problems, such as infections.
Please clean and sanitize the lid well. Pay special attention to the recessed rim area. Also wipe and sanitize the bucket rim, then replace the lid. A small Starsan soaked washcloth is great to wipe those areas a few times.
How long has it been in the fermentor? I'd give it 2-3 weeks, regardless.
If the beer is done, go ahead, cold crash and bottle away.
I'm petty sir that is Zika virus...damn Brazilian mosquitos. Please package with recommended priming sugar and send to me for environmentally responsible disposal.
I don't have a grommet hole. Couldn't find a lid that came with one. Only had a lid that has a fixed air lock. Have finished 12 brews with it only lifting the lid to take sample and no issues yet. The CO2 is heavier then air so it won't float away as long as I don't rip the lid off fast. That I did learn in some uni Chem class I usually had a few beer before. I also transfer to secondary as I don't have a fridge space big enough to cold crash the fermentor in. It's quite a bit wider then my carboy. Especially my 3g carboy and these are 3g batches. I'm bottling these brews not kegging and really want the blonde to be clear. Trying to impress a buddy that thinks home brew can't be as good as store bought so want it to sparkle.
The CO2 blanket is a myth in a wide open container. Maybe in a narrow, deep test tube the CO2 in the bottom half remains pure longer. But in the end the gasses will mix. Air movement will speed that up immensely. By the time you hover your camera over the bucket the CO2 "blanket" is already history.
Just let your beer be and ferment for 3 weeks. There's no point in taking gravity samples before. It should be ready for cold crashing and bottling then. If you can't find a way to get your fermentor inside the fridge or other cold area to crash, you don't have much choice. Still, racking to another vessel can introduce infection and oxidation so keep your sanitation immaculate, keep minimal head space in the secondary and don't burp air.
You're saying there is no way to slip a skinny 1/4"OD hose down that airlock and siphon/suck some beer out for a test?
Just let your beer be and ferment for 3 weeks. There's no point in taking gravity samples before. It should be ready for cold crashing and bottling then. If you can't find a way to get your fermentor inside the fridge or other cold area to crash, you don't have much choice. Still, racking to another vessel can introduce infection and oxidation so keep your sanitation immaculate, keep minimal head space in the secondary and don't burp air.
You're saying there is no way to slip a skinny 1/4"OD hose down that airlock and siphon/suck some beer out for a test?
Been doing this since day 1 to dry hop and take a gravity read, I lift the lid once after 14-20 days in and once more when time to keg and never had an infection or noticeable oxidation. I wouldn't stress it.
I agree, when there's a valid reason you have little choice. The "opening at will" part just isn't beneficial. That's why I developed the siphoning through the airlock hole method for gravity sampling. No need to lift the lid until I'm racking and I may even get around that at some point.
As long as you clean and really mop the underneath of the rim area well with sanitizer and spray it liberally around there, it should be OK. And again, clean and resanitize those critical areas before putting the lid back on.
What dumbfounds me is the huge variation in levels of cleanliness I've read on these forums and no relation to infections....people here who have such anal methods (way beyond me) like sterilizing when only sanitizing is needed, etc...throughout each step of brewing yet post about their infection and how the heck it could happen given their practices and then someone who does almost nothing with sanitation and never gets an infection. It's pretty amusing. I am somewhere in between, if anything on the more slack side of sanitization. I think the only time I sprayed down my lid before replacing it was on my first 2 batches, after that I figured I don't place the bottom side of the lid onto anything so why bother...not saying your methods are excessive re: the lid just that sanitizing techniques here range immensely.
