Is my amber ale bad.

[ProFireStarter]

I'm new to brewing and this is my first batch. I'm not sure if I'm just psyching myself out or if its actually bad. I've looked and I've seen beer that was said is good, and beer that is said to be bad that looks just like mine.
Update: haven't tasted it yet as I'm only half way done with fermentation (day 7) but it doesn't smell bad. At least not to me

 

[ProFireStarter]

View attachment 712721

 

[ProFireStarter]

I'm new to brewing and this is my first batch. I'm not sure if I'm just psyching myself out or if its actually bad. I've looked and I've seen beer that was said is good, and beer that is said to be bad that looks just like mine.View attachment 712722

Update: haven't tasted it yet as I'm only half way done with fermentation (day 7) but it doesn't smell bad. At least not to me.

 

[treacheroustexan]

Don't worry, looks normal.

 

[McKnuckle]

Relax! This is not drinkable beer yet. But please close it up and stop peeking. Letting in oxygen is not the best thing to do at this stage (or from this point forward, really).

Beer takes a little while to become enjoyable. After active fermentation is done, when the yeast drop out and things start to settle, the yeast then spend a little time metabolizing byproducts of fermentation. We call this "cleaning up" for short, and it's the first step in conditioning. Conditioning is the process - which takes a few weeks - of smoothing out and clearing that will make your raw, "green" beer into something more refined.

The "few weeks" is really a few days in the fermenter, then the 2-3 weeks carbonating in bottles, and finally another 2-3 weeks sitting in the cold.

If this is a kit, be wary that the directions are often quite poor and outdated. You might want to check in here for guidance before taking action.

 

[Sailingeric]

Even when the beer is done, it will still taste a bit off until it is carbonated.

 

[ProFireStarter]

Relax! This is not drinkable beer yet. But please close it up and stop peeking. Letting in oxygen is not the best thing to do at this stage (or from this point forward, really).

Beer takes a little while to become enjoyable. After active fermentation is done, when the yeast drop out and things start to settle, the yeast then spend a little time metabolizing byproducts of fermentation. We call this "cleaning up" for short, and it's the first step in conditioning. Conditioning is the process - which takes a few weeks - of smoothing out and clearing that will make your raw, "green" beer into something more refined.

The "few weeks" is really a few days in the fermenter, then the 2-3 weeks carbonating in bottles, and finally another 2-3 weeks sitting in the cold.

If this is a kit, be wary that the directions are often quite poor and outdated. You might want to check in here for guidance before taking action.

Thank you. I was just worried. This was my first and only time opening it and don't plan on it again. And it was a kit but I've watched tons of videos and looked a lot of stuff up so I didn't follow the instructions exactly.

 

[ProFireStarter]

Even when the beer is done, it will still taste a bit off until it is carbonated.

Yea, I didn't plan on tasting, as I said only half way done with fermenting, but again it didn't smell bad to me. Thank you. O really appreciate the input, because I was going to make sure it wasn't sour in bottling bucket before bottling it.

 

[ArizonaGoalie]

Rule of thumb: if worried about how your fermenting beer looks and tempted to take a peek, it's a sign to have a beer instead.

 

[ProFireStarter]

Don't worry, looks normal.

Thank you. Definitely needed reassurance.

 

[ProFireStarter]

Rule of thumb: if worried about how your fermenting beer looks and tempted to take a peek, it's a sign to have a beer instead.

Duly noted. Lol. Thank you

 

[jrgtr42]

Yea, I didn't plan on tasting, as I said only half way done with fermenting, but again it didn't smell bad to me. Thank you. O really appreciate the input, because I was going to make sure it wasn't sour in bottling bucket before bottling it.

HOnestly it's not a bad thing to taste it part way through - as long as whatever means yuo're taking the sample is sanitized. It won't taste like it does when finished, but you can at least get a sense of it, and certainly tell if there major off-flavors in there.
I don't recommend it, (there's people that will be taking samples every day... then wondering why they're a gallon down at the end.) but it won't hurt anything if the lid is open anyway.
As it is, your primary fermentation is probably done by now, and now you're in the next step, the dropping out and cleaning up, as McKnuckle said. But patience is probably the hardest thing for any new brewer to learn (and many veteran brewers too.)
Personally, I'll check in on mine the first day or two, then leave it along for a couple weeks or more - I normally give my beers 3 weeks in fermenter, checking gravity at 2.5 weeks, then again at expected bottling / kegging day to make sure it's not moving.
|If it has moved, I'll put it away for another week if needed. I'm in no rush to get through everything.

 

[Reneauj62]

I'm new to brewing and this is my first batch. I'm not sure if I'm just psyching myself out or if its actually bad. I've looked and I've seen beer that was said is good, and beer that is said to be bad that looks just like mine.
Update: haven't tasted it yet as I'm only half way done with fermentation (day 7) but it doesn't smell bad. At least not to meView attachment 712722

Looks normal. Probably your yeast yo are using. What yeast are you using? Its not that the yeast are bad or anything is wrong but, some yeast are just like that. Nothing to worry about.

 

[mashpaddled]

Did you transfer all the trub from the kettle into the bucket? Looks a lot like krausen with a lot of hop material in it. Nothing to worry about if that is the case.

 

[seatazzz]

If you watch your beer fermenting through the entire process (glass/plastic carboys are the best for this) you WILL be disgusted at how it looks during the various phases of fermentation. Fermenting anything isn't pretty at the beginning; eventually you will appreciate every step along the way and it becomes a thing of beauty. Doesn't smell all that good either, since yeast can produce sulfurous smells a 'la rotten eggs. My favorite go-to dry yeast, Nottingham, looks like ugly egg-drop soup when it's just getting started. I will +1 to the above, and various other posts here, to LEAVE IT ALONE and don't open your fermenter until at least day 5. You risk letting oxygen into the beer otherwise, which will really do some harm. Patience, that noble virtue, is the elusive ingredient that needs to be listed on every beer recipe. As long as your sanitation is on point, you shouldn't need to worry about infections either.

 

[McKnuckle]

The best way to exercise patience is to overwhelm your fermentation management abilities by having 3+ batches going in different stages at once. 5+ is even better.

At that point you have to keep written records and make periodic mental assessments about what each fermentation needs, if anything, at a given moment. And hence you're much more likely to forget something, or procrastinate, thereby leaving things alone, which is what they need far more often than we allow.

Patience is the bane of the new brewer!

 

[Thestarkmancometh]

Not to highjack a thread, but I'm in a not to dissimilar situation and just wanted a sanity check. This is hard cider (from a kit) that I wasn't sure properly fermented over a few months. I racked to to a carboy and added in (first time adding in any clarification agents) some Bentonite and Sparkolloid) to it, but during the racking process the airlock broke and I didn't have a replacement. I sanitized the bung and taped it shut because I didn't have any better options and then went out to the store the next morning to buy a replacement airlock; about week later I opened the closet and am greeted by

It looks similar to what the OP has, but I'm confused because it's had a few months to ferment. I don't see anything coming out of the airlock which makes me think it's some sort of infection.

Any help would be appreciated!

 

[ProFireStarter]

Looks normal. Probably your yeast yo are using. What yeast are you using? Its not that the yeast are bad or anything is wrong but, some yeast are just like that. Nothing to worry about.

I've bottled it and it looks great now. Just has sediment in the bottles. Not a lot but more than I'd like. Looking at filtering it next time.

 

[ProFireStarter]

The best way to exercise patience is to overwhelm your fermentation management abilities by having 3+ batches going in different stages at once. 5+ is even better.

At that point you have to keep written records and make periodic mental assessments about what each fermentation needs, if anything, at a given moment. And hence you're much more likely to forget something, or procrastinate, thereby leaving things alone, which is what they need far more often than we allow.

Patience is the bane of the new brewer!

I've bottled it and it looks great now. Just has sediment in the bottles. Not a lot but more than I'd like. Looking at filtering it next time.

 

[ProFireStarter]

If you watch your beer fermenting through the entire process (glass/plastic carboys are the best for this) you WILL be disgusted at how it looks during the various phases of fermentation. Fermenting anything isn't pretty at the beginning; eventually you will appreciate every step along the way and it becomes a thing of beauty. Doesn't smell all that good either, since yeast can produce sulfurous smells a 'la rotten eggs. My favorite go-to dry yeast, Nottingham, looks like ugly egg-drop soup when it's just getting started. I will +1 to the above, and various other posts here, to LEAVE IT ALONE and don't open your fermenter until at least day 5. You risk letting oxygen into the beer otherwise, which will really do some harm. Patience, that noble virtue, is the elusive ingredient that needs to be listed on every beer recipe. As long as your sanitation is on point, you shouldn't need to worry about infections either.

I've bottled it and it looks great now. Just has sediment in the bottles. Not a lot but more than I'd like. Looking at filtering it next time.

 

[ProFireStarter]

Did you transfer all the trub from the kettle into the bucket? Looks a lot like krausen with a lot of hop material in it. Nothing to worry about if that is the case.

Yea. I believe that's what we did. I have brewing bags and such, I'll use them next time.