Is this Beer Destined For The Drain ?

[lee c poole]

Hi All

I am new to brewing and the forum so would be grateful for any suggestions.
I have brewed three all grain beers using the grainfather with great success, I have recently bought a conical fermenter (fast ferment). Fermentation finished after seven days ( two gravity readings taken over two days 1.012). To aid clearing of the beer I added Beer Brite which didn't work so then I added Kwik Klear. After a week the beer is still cloudy, but worse than when it started and has a froth on top. The beer also smells quite malty.
I am now thinking is it past saving and should it be thrown away.
I have below listed the ingredients.
thanks Lee

Marri Otter 3.5 kg
Crystal 1 KG
dextrose 1/2 KG
Challenger hops 30g
east kent goldings 10g
first gold 5g
Target 5g
1 Protofloc tab
English Ale Yeast

 

[@RoyalGallon]

Have you tried another gravity reading? Has it dropped from 1012?

 

[kh54s10]

I would give it another week, then give it a taste before dumping it. I have never heard of Beer Brite and don't know if the 2 clearing agents could do anything. I usually don't use any clearing agents, Gelatin is the only thing I have used. Cold crashing is something that I have recently started. Most of my beers clear on their own. The others - if they taste good I really don't care if they are not clear.

Oh, I see it has already been another week. What does the surface look like. Anything that looks like a spider web. Thinking that the froth could be signs of an infection.

 

[lee c poole]

H

Have you tried another gravity reading? Has it dropped from 1012?

Hi
Just done at your suggestion it is 1008, and appears to be gassy, any ideas
cheers lee

 

[kh54s10]

Can you post a picture of the froth? It might be that you have an infection.

 

[lee c poole]

hi

here are the pics of the foam

thanks lee

 

[lee c poole]

 

[kh54s10]

Good news, that doesn't look like an infection. It looks like a dark beer. What crystal? I would expect it to take a little longer for all the flavors to meld. I would give it another few days and take another reading. I have not found that what you get before carbonation is a true representation of the carbonated beer. I have had a few where I tasted the fermented beer and said "this one is not going to be so good" But after they were carbonated, they were quite good.

 

[Dland]

Some aging in bottle or keg, at a nice cool or cold temperature, along with carbonation, often improves flavor markedly. I have had brews I did not like that much on initial kegging turn out quite good after a month.

 

[mongoose33]

What is Beer Brite? I googled it and the only thing that came up is this:



It looks like it might be gelatin finings. My experience with such finings is that you need to add them to cold beer or beer that's going to be crashed. Same thing with Kwik Klear--it appears to include gelatin, assuming I have found the correct item online. Typically I crash the beer and when it's around 50*F/10*C, I'll add the finings, and take it down as close to 32*F/0*C as I can.

Your beer is rather dark. Finings will cause suspended material, such as yeast, to drop out. "Brite" beer is beer that doesn't have particulate material in it, so it doesn't look hazy. It doesn't change the color beyond the extent to which suspended particulate matter alters it.

But you're not going to get a really dark beer to look "Bright." It may be clear, but it's not going to suddenly become golden colored if the recipe has elements in it that make it dark.

What type of Crystal malt did you use? It comes in various colors, designated by a code such as 20L, 60L, 120L, and so on. The L is a code for the "Lovibond" scale, a measure of the darkness of the malt. Two KG of Crystal malt is a lot; if you used a dark Crystal like 120L, you'll have a darker beer, and it'll not "drop clear" to a nice yellow hue. Further, that's a lot of Crystal in a recipe; if it's a dark Crystal, as I suspect it is, it'll give you a good deal of sweetness.

Here's a glass showing a dark lager I do. You can see it's not bright as in yellow, but at the bottom you can see it's sort of translucent. With a dark beer, that's about the best you'll do--and if it's a really dark beer like a stout, you may not even see through it at all.

 

[@RoyalGallon]

As the gravity had dropped it was probably still fermenting. Try reading again tomorrow and see if it’s steady.

Looks pretty good to me!

 

[GPP33]

The only thing I found when I googled “Beer Brite” is this. Hopefully you didn’t add this to your beer.

Edit: I see Mongoose33 found a gelatin based clarifier, never mind.

Beer Brite Cleaner and Sanitizer 8 oz.

This superior cleaner and sanitizer is designed to destroy spoilage organisms on contact.

Beer Brite is a very effective cleaner, as well, and is formulated for the type of protein, sugar and soil deposits found in the brewery.

 

[lee c poole]

Hi all

thank you so much for your replies, i used 1kg of 60L crystal,
You have all given me some hope to continue, i will do reading again tomorrow.
The harris beer brite is the one i used, not the cleaner.
fingers crossed and ill let you know how it goes
cheers lee

 

[MapleGroveAleworks]

New brewers tend to mess with their fermenting beer too much. Stop taking gravity readings and opening the lid. Leave your beer alone for 2 weeks minimum and let it do its thing. This beer is fine, but it won't be if you keep exposing it to infection.

 

[shortyz]

looks like beer, quit screwing around with it and leave it alone.

 

[GPP33]

New brewers tend to mess with their fermenting beer too much. Stop taking gravity readings and opening the lid. Leave your beer alone for 2 weeks minimum and let it do its thing. This beer is fine, but it won't be if you keep exposing it to infection.

looks like beer, quit screwing around with it and leave it alone.

^ what they said.